Yule Log
Originally, the Yule Log was a huge wooden log which burned in the fireplace.
This is where the Christmas term ‘Yuletide’ comes from.
Nowadays Yule logs are represented by cakes in the shape of a log.
We wish you a merry Christmas
Background
Yule is a period of thirteen days beginning at the shortest day of the year, around the 20th December.
In Northern Europe this was celebrated by burning a huge log in the fireplace. This gave them hope that brighter days were coming as they looked forward to shorter nights and longer hours of daylight.
The log was placed in the hearth and continued to burn throughout the season, until it turned into ashes.
Did you know?
French bakers first created a dessert as a substitute for the traditional burning of the Yule Log in Napoleonic France when chimneys were not allowed to be used. Families would then sit around this sweet log instead of the warm hearth.
It is decorated as a log that is ready to burn.
It is usually made as a chocolate cake filled with butter icing.
It is normally cut from the end like a cut log of wood.
Just as Yule gave people hope for brighter nights, Christians have a hope for the future because Jesus promised that if we believe in him we will spend eternity with him in heaven.
The Bible says
Titus 1:2
We have a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.