Yule log and what is really known about it

A black and white engraving of villagers hauling a large log through a snowy lane toward a manor house, with dogs and children running beside them. — The Yule Log, from Robert Chambers, The Book of Days (1864). Public domain. Credits

When it is kept: Christmas Eve
Where it fits in the year: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Yule is a very old Germanic word for a midwinter season. A month name appears in a Gothic calendar from about the year 350, and Bede, writing in the 700s, says the English once called December and January "Giuli".¹ Most of what we know about Norse Yule feasts comes from stories written in the 1200s by Christian writers, long after the people had become Christian.^1,2

No old Norse or Anglo-Saxon text describes a Yule log. The first firm records of a special Christmas log are from the Middle Ages, such as a German record from 1184 about a tree for a Christmas Eve fire. The words "Christmas log" are in Robert Herrick’s poems of 1648.² In Britain a big log was burned on Christmas Eve for at least 300 years. People kept a piece of the old log to light next year’s, and believed it guarded the house from fire.³

The Bûche de Noël, a rolled sponge cake shaped like a log, appeared in the 1800s, probably in France.⁴ On December 24, 1966, the New York station WPIX first aired a television Yule Log: a fireplace and Christmas music. It was the idea of the station’s president, Fred Thrower. The first film was a loop only about 17 seconds long.^5,6

A guess, not a record

Many say the Yule log is an ancient pagan or Viking custom for the winter sun. No ancient text describes one. The pagan link was first suggested in 1725 by Henry Bourne, with thin evidence, and scholars still disagree about the log’s roots.^2,3

Old belief

Folk belief said that a charred piece of the log, kept in the house, would protect it. It is reported as a belief, not as something that was shown to work.^7,2

Disputed

A French baker is often named as the inventor of the log cake, in a particular year. The only source is a later writer’s own account, so the baker and the year are unconfirmed.^7,4

Sources

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