this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2026
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[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago

Yule or jól was new year for the Vikings. First day of Yule was the first day of the new year.
This was probably the biggest holiday for the Vikings, and celebration started the evening before, just like we start celebrating New Years Eve in the evening before new year today.
In Scandinavian countries Jul is still celebrated December 24 as "Jule aften" (Christmas evening).
The Vikings celebrated with food and mead, and it was a 3 week "holiday".
In 1575 new year celebrations were finally moved to December 30, and the Christian church tried to rename Jul to "Kristmesse" similar to Christmas for English speaking countries.
Today Jul is still a mix of the old traditions and the celebration of the fable of the birth of Christ.
We have many traditions that include "nisser" (pixies) and children's songs about them. "Nisser" are a more popular imagery of Christmas than anything Christian.

So yule was not religious, it was a new years celebration.