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The custom of burning the Yule Log goes back to, and before, medieval times. It was originally a Nordic tradition. Yule is the name of the old Winter Solstice festivals in Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe, such as Germany.
The
Yule Log was originally an entire tree, that was carefully chosen and
brought into the house with great ceremony. The largest end of the
log would be placed into the fire hearth while the rest of the tree
stuck out into the room! The log would be lit from the remains of the
previous year's log which had been carefully stored away and slowly
fed into the fire through the Twelve Days of Christmas. It was
considered important that the re-lighting process was carried out by
someone with clean hands. Nowadays, of course, most people have
central heating so it is very difficult to burn a tree!
In
parts of France it is traditional that the whole family helps to cut
the log down and that a little bit is burnt each night. If any of the
log is left after Twelfth Night, it is kept safe in the house until
the next Christmas to protect against lightning! In some parts of
Holland, this was also done, but the log had to be stored under a
bed! In some eastern European countries, the log was cut down on
Christmas Eve morning and lit that evening.
In
Cornwall (in theUK), the log is called 'The Mock'. The log is dried
out and then the bark is taken off it before it comes into the house
to be burnt. Also in the UK, barrel makers (or Coopers as barrel
makers were traditionally called) gave their customers old logs that
they could not use for making barrels for Yule logs. (My surname is
Cooper, but I don't make barrels! My Great Grandfather did own a
walking stick factory though!)
The
custom of the Yule Log spread all over Europe and different kids of
wood are used in different countries. In England, Oak is traditional;
in Scotland, it is Birch; while in France, it's Cherry. Also, in
France, the log is sprinkled with wine, before it is burnt, so that
it smells nice when it is lit.
In
Devon and Somerset in the UK, some people have a very large bunch of
Ash twigs instead of the log. This comes from a local legend that
Joseph, Mary and Jesus were very cold when the shepherds found them
on Christmas Night. So the shepherds got some bunches of twigs to
burn to keep them warm.
In
some parts of Ireland, people have a large candle instead of a log
and this is only lit on New Year's Eve and Twelfth Night.
Different
chemicals can be sprinkled on the log like wine to make the log burn
with different coloured flames!
- Potassium Nitrate = Violet
- Barium Nitrate = Apple Green
- Borax = Vivid Green
- Copper Sulphate = Blue
- Table Salt = Bright Yellow
A
Chocolate Yule Log or 'bûche de Noël' is now a popular Christmas
desert or pudding. It's traditionally eaten in France and Belgium,
where they are known as 'Kerststronk' in Flemish.
They
are made of a chocolate sponge roll layered with cream. The outside
is covered with chocolate or chocolate icing and decorated to look
like a bark-covered log.
