Viking Yule Quotes

In addition to legal assemblies such as the one at Thingvellir, major public rituals were part of the celebration of the three big festivals around which the Viking calendar turned. One of these was Winter Nights, which was held over several days during our month of October, which the Vikings considered to be the beginning of winter and of the new year generally. The boundary between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead was thin, and all sorts of uncanny things were bound to happen. At this festival, the divine powers were petitioned for the general prosperity of the people. The second critical festival was Yule at midwinter - late December and early January - Which, with the arrival of Christianity, was converted into Christmas. Offerings were made to the gods in hopes of being granted bountiful harvests in the coming growing season in return. The third major festival was called "Summer Time" (Sumarmál), and was held in April, which the Vikings considered to be the beginning of summer. When the deities were contacted during this festival, they were asked for success in the coming season's battles, raids, and trading expeditions. The exact time of these festivals differed between communities.

In the centuries after the Norman Conquest, the three recorded Anglo-Saxon names for the festival – Midwinter, Yule and Christmas – were joined by other additions, such as the French borrowing noël. Today, although ‘Christmas’ is by far the most common name for the festival, ‘Yule’, ‘Noël’ and even ‘Midwinter’ are still words that belong to the familiar vocabulary of the season – fossilized in carols, if not in active use. This diversity of names, reflecting waves of Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman settlement, testifies to a festival that has grown and adapted, like the English language itself, with the introduction of new cultural influences.