Yule 2008- A Reflection on the Longest Night
Jack in the Green- Cedar Light Grove, A.D.F.
In the early
200's C.E. the ruler in Rome whose name was Aurelian, did the
unthinkable. He dethroned or at least moved the
Temple of Jupiter, the High God, and in his place
he put an altar to a deity he called Deus Sol Invictus, which means the
Unconquered Sun God. Aurelian argued that all solar deities were
to be found in this one God, including Jupiter
himself. Sol Invictus would also include Apollo, Ra, Mithra, Sol,
Yahweh, and dozens of other solar deities.
The cult of Sol Invictus would only last a few years in the Temple
of Jupiter. But it would continue as a cult in the empire until the
rise of Christianity under Emperor
Theodosius.
The Emperor Aurelian was a controversial leader with a very controversial lifestyle. He dressed often as a woman, played the role of the sacred whore, and indulged many of his appetites in hedonistic manner. Yet his combining of numerous deities into one is a creative and somewhat modernistic approach to paganism which many Neo-Pagans today also find themselves doing.
And it is the honoring of the birth of this generic Sun God, that we as modern pagans often celebrate at the time of Yule. Yule is one of the four Quarter Days that was especially honored by the Germanic and Norse in ancient times. The others being, Midsummer, the Fall Equinox, and Ostara. It is the shortest day of the year. It is the moment when the days begin getting longer, culminating with its apex at Midsummer.
For agricultural societies, the sun played a most important role. Its seasons and shifts were followed with great interest. When was the best time to plant, to harvest, and to lock away one's harvest during winter? Priests and holy practitioners followed time honored traditions to ensure that the sun would return in its promised cycle. Rituals were developed to honor the sun and to receive its blessing, to postpone its wrath. In the northern countries where the winters were most severe, even the slight turn of the sun towards spring brought renewed hope and thanksgiving.
These ancient practices find their expression throughout history, and within nearly all cultural groups. And they clearly find their way into the present. The Yule Log, the Christmas Tree, caroling, mistletoe, and many more Christmas traditions have their origins in our pagan past. Even the day of Christmas, December 25, was taken from that of Mithras, a popular Persian Sun God, who was said to have been born on that day.
As we Druids celebrate the longest night, as Christians celebrate the holy night of Jesus' birth, as Jews celebrate the miracle of the Temple and light the Menorah, perhaps we are all joining with that ancient and pagan eccentric, Emperor Aurelian, as he honored his Sun God, Sol Invictus, finding a unity of deities within a plurality of names, a syncronicity of cultures embedded in the yearly rebirth of that sacred star, our father, the Sun.
Return to the Page of High Rites
The Emperor Aurelian was a controversial leader with a very controversial lifestyle. He dressed often as a woman, played the role of the sacred whore, and indulged many of his appetites in hedonistic manner. Yet his combining of numerous deities into one is a creative and somewhat modernistic approach to paganism which many Neo-Pagans today also find themselves doing.
And it is the honoring of the birth of this generic Sun God, that we as modern pagans often celebrate at the time of Yule. Yule is one of the four Quarter Days that was especially honored by the Germanic and Norse in ancient times. The others being, Midsummer, the Fall Equinox, and Ostara. It is the shortest day of the year. It is the moment when the days begin getting longer, culminating with its apex at Midsummer.
For agricultural societies, the sun played a most important role. Its seasons and shifts were followed with great interest. When was the best time to plant, to harvest, and to lock away one's harvest during winter? Priests and holy practitioners followed time honored traditions to ensure that the sun would return in its promised cycle. Rituals were developed to honor the sun and to receive its blessing, to postpone its wrath. In the northern countries where the winters were most severe, even the slight turn of the sun towards spring brought renewed hope and thanksgiving.
These ancient practices find their expression throughout history, and within nearly all cultural groups. And they clearly find their way into the present. The Yule Log, the Christmas Tree, caroling, mistletoe, and many more Christmas traditions have their origins in our pagan past. Even the day of Christmas, December 25, was taken from that of Mithras, a popular Persian Sun God, who was said to have been born on that day.
As we Druids celebrate the longest night, as Christians celebrate the holy night of Jesus' birth, as Jews celebrate the miracle of the Temple and light the Menorah, perhaps we are all joining with that ancient and pagan eccentric, Emperor Aurelian, as he honored his Sun God, Sol Invictus, finding a unity of deities within a plurality of names, a syncronicity of cultures embedded in the yearly rebirth of that sacred star, our father, the Sun.
Return to the Page of High Rites