| Making a Yule Tree |
| Diana Ferguson says in her book "The Magickal Year" that "The English word Yule is connected with giuli the Anglo-Saxon name for December, and there is also a possible link with the Anglo-Saxon word hweol, meaning wheel..." In Germany sometime around the 8th century, the people would decorate live trees as simpley a holiday tree (a pine tree in some parts of the world, but it in others it was often a fruit bearing tree) that symbolized rebirth and life. It wasn't until the sixteenth century that it was brough into homes and decorated for fun.The evergreen was seen as a symbol of rebirth and was revered by the ancient pagans. The Romans were quite fond of decorating with evergreens around the winter season because they symbolized life in a time of death (winter). The evergreen was ever-living, and for this reason it was seen as the God who never perished. Romans priests would cut down a tree and bring it back to the Goddess's Temple as a sacrifice. Theses kinds of traditions continued in many forms and in many countries, when finally the Christians adopted their version of the Yule tree. To create a beautiful Yule tree, you only need to look within nature for inspiration and supplies. You can use either a real or artificial tree, whichever suits you best. Then just decorate it how you want, but since were all Pagans and Pagans honor nature, the Yule tree should be a representation of nature, especially the winter season. For the tree shown above, I used an artificial tree because I like to put mine up early, and if I used a real one, it would die before Yule even came around! You can also decorate a tree outside, if you prefere. The first thing you want to start off with is the lights. I like the clear lights, it gives it a more natural feel, like tiny stars shinning in the tree. Then decide if you want any other base decorations, like ribbon, garlands, strands of popcorn or other things. I put gold ribbon and grapevines around the tree, and closer to Yule I may add strands of cranberries. Now think about the decorations. Things like pinecones, walnuts, fake snowflakes, bells, cinnamon sticks, cinnamn-apple ornaments, fake apples and pears (or any fruit), berries, fake birds and ribbons were some of the items put on my tree. Anything that can be found in nature can be placed on the tree, either real or fake (if real, watch that they don't rot!) Some ornamenmts you can make, like the cinnamon sticks and the walnuts. Just bye some walnuts and cinnamon sticks and glue colored ribbons to them so that they can hang. You can also collect pinecones and acorns and do the same. The Yule tree is different than the Christmas tree in that is is more nature oriented. Don't just throw up a mish mash of ornaments, give the tree a theme, or even a themed color, like red and gold like on my tree. Have fun with the tree, don;t rush decorating it, think about the items you want to place on it and what they symbolize to you. You can also make decorating the tree into a mini-ritual. |
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