William Harrell

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2025-01-09 17:11:37

This is a repost as we get closer......

Some history on the changing or standardizing of the Yule celebration.

Hákon the Good (c. 920–961) was the son of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and was raised in England, where he converted to Christianity. When he became king of Norway, he sought to convert his people to Christianity as well, but this was met with resistance from the pagan Norse population. He worked to integrate Christian practices with traditional Norse customs to avoid conflict, which is where the idea of "moving" or adjusting the timing of Yule might come into play.

Hákon the Good is known to have issued laws that required the Christian observance of certain Christian holidays, while also allowing Norse traditions to continue, including aspects of the Yule festival. One of his key moves was to decree that the feast of Yule should be celebrated at the same time as the Christian holiday of Christmas, which was closely tied to the Winter Solstice. This alignment helped to ease the transition for the Norse people, as they could continue celebrating at the same time as they had before, but now under a Christian framework.

In this sense, while Hákon the Good didn't technically "move" the date of Yule (which already had Solstice associations), he helped standardize the timing of the celebration with the Christian observance of Christmas. His efforts contributed to the Christianization of the Yule festival, making it more in line with Christian customs while preserving key elements of the older pagan tradition.

Dr. Andreas Nordberg: “The pre-Christian Yule feast occurs at the first full moon after the first new moon following the winter solstice, while the disting took place at the third full moon according to the same method of calculation.” (Jul, disting och förkyrklig tideräkning Kalendrar och kalendariska riter i det förkristna Norden Uppsala 2006, P.4)

This is a repost as we get closer...... Some history on the changing or standardizing of the Yule celebration. Hákon the Good (c. 920–961) was the son of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and was raised in England, where he converted to Christianity. When he became king of Norway, he sought to convert his people to Christianity as well, but this was met with resistance from the pagan Norse population. He worked to integrate Christian practices with traditional Norse customs to avoid conflict, which is where the idea of "moving" or adjusting the timing of Yule might come into play. Hákon the Good is known to have issued laws that required the Christian observance of certain Christian holidays, while also allowing Norse traditions to continue, including aspects of the Yule festival. One of his key moves was to decree that the feast of Yule should be celebrated at the same time as the Christian holiday of Christmas, which was closely tied to the Winter Solstice. This alignment helped to ease the transition for the Norse people, as they could continue celebrating at the same time as they had before, but now under a Christian framework. In this sense, while Hákon the Good didn't technically "move" the date of Yule (which already had Solstice associations), he helped standardize the timing of the celebration with the Christian observance of Christmas. His efforts contributed to the Christianization of the Yule festival, making it more in line with Christian customs while preserving key elements of the older pagan tradition. Dr. Andreas Nordberg: “The pre-Christian Yule feast occurs at the first full moon after the first new moon following the winter solstice, while the disting took place at the third full moon according to the same method of calculation.” (Jul, disting och förkyrklig tideräkning Kalendrar och kalendariska riter i det förkristna Norden Uppsala 2006, P.4)

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