While some people use the word Yule as a synonym for Christmas, there’s more to it than the goings on of December 25.

YULE

According to dictionary.com, yule is the ancient name in the Germanic lunar calendar for a winter festival in the months of December and January. Later, yule referred to the 12-day holiday associated with the Feast of the Nativity after the widespread adoption of Christianity across Northern Europe.

The word has Gothic origins, but English speakers are most familiar with yule through associations dating to its original use. For example, the yule log, as in the lyric “See the blazing yule before us” was originally a real tree limb or trunk, but it now makes an appearance at Christmastime as a cake shaped like a log.

Yule also hass associations with a farm animal. The yule goat carried Father Christmas on his back and is a symbol of Christmas throughout Scandinavian countries. The yule goat may have associations tracing back to Norse mythology. The now-famous comic book god Thor rode in a chariot pulled by two goats that could also be eaten and magically regenerate into living creatures again.

YULETIDE

While Yule can refer to both Christmas itself and the season, Yuletide references the season as a whole — essentially that period from early December to early January.

Most people associate yuletide with singing carols, a tradition in Northern Europe, also known as wassailing.

YULELOG

The yule log, yule clog, or Christmas block is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a Christmas tradition in a number of countries in Europe. The origin of the folk custom is unclear. Some scholars have observed that, like other traditions associated with yule, the custom may ultimately derive from Germanic paganism. Regardless of its origin, for the Christian feast of Christmas, the yule log symbolises the battle between good and evil.