The Chrflstmas Encycilopedfla

Second Edition

William D. Crump

McFariand & Company, Inc., Publishers Iefferson, North Caro]ina, and London the 1880s after a work by an artist identified Wesley, Hark! The Heralil Angels Sizg (New

Illustration research and selection by Linda Campbell Franklin

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Crump, William D., 1949- The Christmas encyclopedia / by William D. Crump.- 2nd ed. P. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-7864-2293-9 (illustrated case binding: 50# alkaline paper) @ l. Christmas-Encyclopedias. I. Title. GT498s.C74 2006 394.2663'03 -d.c22 2005025349

British Library cataloguing dara are available

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, orby any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover image @2005 BananaStock

Manufactured in the United States of America

McFarland 6 Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, leferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub-com 443 Yule

Christmas means something more to them intstone, Bar- than before. Mrs. Throckmorton donates the rie and Dixie, lodge as a year-round vacation spot for the rck, and WallY orphans, and Santa himself arrives with the Jones, Judy's ideal gift for Yogi, a picnic basket. :, rvho wouid Voices: Sue Allen, fohn Borks, Darvs But- plains the rea- ler, Paul DeKor-te, Darlene Lawrence, Edie e man realizes Lehmann, Ida Sue McCune, Don Messick, his daughter. Marilyn Powell, Michael Redman, Andrea Blanc, HenrY Robinson, Marilyn Schreffier, Hal Smith, John lvin, Don Mes- Stephenson, and lanet Waldo. Written by n, Waldo, Janet Willie Gilbert. Produced by Lewis Marshall. -I,lark Evanrer. Directed by Ray Patterson. Hanna-Barbera I by Steve Lum- A relatittely short Yule log k being dragged to the fre Productions. VHS: Turner Home Entertain- New s. \rHS: Turner in an Elizabethan-era scene in Harper's ment. 98 min. Monthly Magazine, December 1884. See also Hanna-Barbera Christmas Car- lhristmas Car- toons; Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christ- a time when Odin's son Thor rode through the mas Caper. skies in a chariot pulled by two billy goats, Gnasher and Cracker; and a time for feasting. Yule Because heavl' 56rr.-ber snows barred live- rn animated car- Midwinter celebration observed by pre- stock from grazing, Iarge numbers of cattle n The Yogi Bear Christian Celtic and Germanic tribes of north- were slaughtered for feasts and for sacrifices to :s from Hanna- ern Europe. Whereas some believe that Yule Odin. Hence, St. Bede the Venerable (673?- ;vndication from extended from rnid-November r.rntil the end of 735),the English Benedictine rnonk and histo- Yogi, that series January, others hoid that it originally com- rian, referred to November as Blotmonath , SnagglePuss the menced in November but switched to the time ("Blood Month"), and the entire season paral- . Additional Yogi of the winter solstice through contact with, and leled the abandon of the Roman Saturnalia. les. influence from, the Roman Empire. Another From the fifth century onward, the Chris- g in JellYstone view is that the festival originally centered tianization of northern Europe gradually wit- ne, Yogi Bear and around [he winter so]stice. nessed local Yule customs merging with those bv the reveirY of "Yule" derives from lul, rvhich in turn is of Christmas, and by the eleventh century, Yule toon characters, thought to derive from several sources, includ- and Christmas had become synonymous holi- :puss, Augie Dog- ing the Germanic Giul and the Saxon hweol days. The formerly venerated gods had fallen ho are attending (both meaning "wheel"); the Germanic Geola away, but other vestiges of Yule remained, . Jell1'516ns Lodge' ("feast"); and "Jolnir," an alternative name for including boisterous revelry and the Yule log series of mishaPs Odin or Woden, king of the Norse gods, to with its associated superstitions. mit in an attemPt whom sacrifices of boars were tnade at this time The Yule log is thought to have evolved the olvner, to sell (a boar symbolized Freya, Norse fertility god- from the Zagmuk, a New Year festival of rvith Herman ts dess, who lode in a chariot puiled by a boar). ancient Sumer. According to Sumerian n's young brat of a Yule celebrated fertility and the rebirth ofiife mythology, the supreme god, Marduk, annu- istmas as much as and the sun, the latter visualized as a return of ally saved the world from dying at year's end by the Christmas Eve the "burning wheel" at the winter solstice. defeating the monsters of chaos in the under- Lse of his attitude, Yule was a time for bonfires, a symbol of world. The burning of wooden effigies of those cornpany comPared the returning sun in the heavens and the monsters was believed to assist Marduk in his Yule iogs. 'hrockmorton also pronrise of spring, and for revelry and clamor task; hence, primitive to repel evil spilits which were believed to Recalling those midwinter bonfires of past to r,vhom Yogi and inhabit the lvinter darkness. It was a time for ages, the Yule log of the Middle Ages slowly qr,rised as Santa and divination and magic; a time when Odin, rid- burned all during the 12 days of Christmas, Iest ualiy she takes PitY ing upon his white, eight-legged steed Sieip evil befall the house or hail r,vherein the flame e and shares Christ- ner, descended to collect the souls of Viking prematurely died. To burn a log for this dura- ell. When theY both warriors slain in battle to his palace, Valhalla; tion generally required an entire tree trunk, undeserved gifts' YuIe 444

dition in some locales requiring that the log first be dr:agged trround the exterior of the house or hall a specified number of times to dispei any ei'il. In medieval England, tenants often pre- sented Yule logs to their landlords, who in turn furnished their meals for as long as the Iog Ziggy's Gi (1982). burned. On the same note, slaves in the ante- i\,j bellum United States were granted rest from toon based or their work for this duration; to prolong the created by To burning, slaves first soaked the log in rvater. Respondi A number of other customs and supersti- tas for charity tions surrounded the Yule log, including the fi'audulent lir following: Company. Do A person casting a headless shadolv from policeman int the light of the fire would die within one year. the ring, Zigg In certain parts of England, the log was deeds, such as banded ol hooped with strips of the same tree. his emptv ket Crrrrttrnastur A Vicforian Yule scene, with e ver), big YLle log As each band snapped, the rnaster of the house man. (obviously the bottottt of a pollarded rree like tltose was expected to furnish his guests rvith a fresh Ziggy's still standing). From Robert Chsmbers, ed., A Book borvl of cider or liquor. The bands were often lVlrs. Ostblont of Days ( Lond o n and Edinbur gh : Chn nft er s, 187 9 and cop also ). associated with pairs oflovers, and the order of t of Christmas the snapping bands predicted the sequence of rvhich rvas piaced headlong into the fireplace their weddings. This pr-c and advanced as needed, with the remainder Upon beating the log, one could see evil occupying a ialge portion of the room. Tradi- spirits departing in a shorver ofsparks. tionally, each family selected their orvn Yule 1og A barefoot person, squinting person, or a for the following season on Candlemas, Feb- flat-footed woman approaching the log brought ruary 2, a day that, until the Second Vatican bad luck. Council (1962-1965), had officially ended the Ashes from the log, ifplaced in fruit trees, Christmas season in the Roman Catholic irnproved the crop yield, and if placed under Church. Logs often were of ash rvood iu mem- the bed, prevented lightning from striking the ory of a legend holding that the Christ Child house. was first washed and dressed by an ash rvood Toda1,, the custom of burning a Yule log fire; alternativell', Iogs cut from fruit trees still exists in Europe and the United States, became toke ns of the fertility of the land. Logs albeit on a much smaller scaie tiran in earlier could also be of oak, olive, or birch rvood. The days. Instead ofcontinuousiy burning a log for log rvas never bought. It was laid up to dry dur- days, the trend is to burn the log only dur ing the spring, and a piece of the previous 12 ing Christrnas Eve and Christrnas Day; alter- year's Iog rvas saved to light the nelv 1og, the natively, some prefer to burn their log for ,. latter act symbolically cycling the light of iife briefperiod on each ofthose 12 days. In Frauct from one year to the next. the Yule log survives only as a log-shaped cake Because of the belief that spirits of family the birche de Noijl ("Christmas log"). ancestors became rnanifest in the glowing See also Saturnalia; Supelstitions; The embers, a libation of wine poured over the log Twel'r,e Days of Christmas (tirne period beforehand honored their tnemories, and all Winter Solstice. wl.ro touched the log first purified themseh'es by washing their hands. A ceremony invoking blessings for Christrlas and the comiug new Yule Log year customarily preceded the lighting, the tra- See Yule