Ep: 90-Yule: Fear, Fire, And The Fight To Keep The Sun

What if your holiday lights are more than decor, and closer to a spell whispered against the dark? We dive into the oldest layers of Yule, where winter was terrifying, food was scarce, and people lit massive fires not for charm but for survival. From the longest night to the first thin promise of sunrise, we trace how ancient fear became ritual, and how those rituals glow inside the traditions we keep now.

We unpack the Wild Hunt, the storm-borne procession led by Odin that once filled the solstice sky with hooves and whispers. This isn’t a cozy Santa tale; it’s a story of doors barred, candles snuffed, and families listening for judgment in the wind. Then we ground that dread in symbols of endurance: the twelve-night Yule log as a bulwark against the void, and evergreens—fir, holly, ivy, mistletoe—carried inside as living wards. Each spark, crackle, and branch had meaning, from luck and warning to the steady message that life endures even when the world looks dead.

We connect those dark roots to the present day with simple, resonant practices: lighting a single candle at midnight, writing down fears and burning them, keeping a quiet home to honor the old stories, or placing evergreens at the door to guard what matters. Along the way, we touch Krampus, Gryla, the Yule Cat, and other winter spirits that remind us the season has teeth as well as tinsel. If you’ve ever felt the hush of a cold night and sensed something ancient stirring, this conversation gives it words—and offers ways to meet the solstice with intention, care, and a little wonder.

If this exploration moved you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves folklore, and leave a quick review. Tell us your solstice ritual or family tradition—we’d love to feature it next time.

Transcript

Opening Banter And Setup

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Tonight, we step into the dark roots of Yule, a festival born from fear, magic, and the fragile human desire to keep the sun from dying. This is Hold My Sweet Tea. And I'm Pearl. And we've made it to another podcast episode.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

We lived.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

We lived. And we're still in the thick of the creepsmith season. Yes, yes. That reminds me of the Backyard again's into the thick of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

I used to watch that with my child all the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Lord, all the things from the kitties little shows. I s I always bring up the PBS thing because I randomly get between the lions stuff stuck in my head. Oh yeah. And that, ooh, oh, dance in Smarty Pants. Yep. Because my son used to run around doing it all the time. Yep. Because he does have smarty pants, even now.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

And and I've recently discovered that the the woman who did um Choo-Choo Soul still has like this cool ass singing career. And if you remember, all aboard the Choo-Choo train, all aboard, all aboard, choo-too. Yeah. We used to sing that every time it came on.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Crazy stuff. Right. All the kiddo stuff. Love the kiddo stuff. Yeah. So what kind of cool thing you got going today? Well. Or tonight. Tonight.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

It's the longest night of the year. Not yet, but when this comes out at the end of this week, it will be the longest night of the year. And just surprisingly, that cool rhymes with Yule. And we are doing the darker version of Yule. Whoa. And what it is. So it's a little educational, a little bit dark. Because you know me. I like the the folklore and the history side of uh this whole true crime podcast.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Hey, and I went all the way off the rails and didn't even I didn't either.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Oh yeah, your last episode. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Was on a crazy train. Well, I promise.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

All aboard. Dun dun dun dun dun dun. Ho ho ho. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

We're stupid with the holiday season. There we go. But I promise my next episode will be a true crime episode to round out the end of the Christmas holiday. But we are going into Yule, midwinter, when the world is like covered in frost and silence. It is the longest night of the year. A night older than any religion, older than any recorded history. I mean, it's even older than languages spoken by the people who feared it. A night where the boundary between the world and the next grows thin. People were literally afraid of winter.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Of course.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

They broke over and yule lads and yule cats. Oh my god. But it was the longest night. So they're like, is the sun gonna come back up? Like, what's going on, you know? And I always remember growing up, my mom would tell me that like Christmas Eve was the longest night, but that was not true. It is the winter solstice, which is usually between the 20th and 23rd of December, somewhere in that little realm. So that is when Yule is.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

You know why Christmas Eve was the longest night?

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Because you yes, because she had to get stay up and put presents together under the truck. And then by the time she got to bed, we were like, it's Christmas morning. It's Christmas morning. That's why. I get it now. I get it. Damn it. I just went to sleep.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

I barely finished those milk and cookies.

Winter’s Peril And Solstice Anxiety

SPEAKER_02 4:52

We always had good milk and cookies. Yeah. I always I never I never bought store-bought. We always like baked cookies and did the whole like homemade treats. Yeah. But Yule was a night of gods, a night of spirits, a night where hope and terror walk hand in hand. So we're gonna go into like the dark roots of Yule. Um that was a big um. Sorry about that. So like I said, before, you know, before electricity, before central heating, before you going to the grocery store and getting your food and all that stuff, winter was not cozy. It was deadly. Like now we're like, oh, let's get all cozy for the holiday.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Holiday.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Celebrate. But the solstice marked the turning point, of course. A moment when the sun was lowest in the sky. Um, to the ancient people, like I said, it looked like and felt like the sun was like completely abandoning the world. Livestock would die. There was shortages of food. Like about that time, people were like, uh, you know, we only have like six potatoes in the root cellar, and we're gonna die.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

No, we will figure it. We don't figure it out. We need to eat Bob's big toe or something.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Bob's got a big toe. Let's go in first.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Look, I'm trying to try to use stuff you can live without now. You don't need that toe, Bob. You don't need to be balanced. You can fall down, it's fine. Right. Makes it easier if we have to eat something else. At least I'm not taking your thumbs.

Odin And The Wild Hunt

SPEAKER_02 6:45

But families would huddle together, you know, listening to the wind outside, howling. And it wasn't just a celebration, it was like a ritual, like plea to lure the sun back. So a spell to keep the darkness from swallowing the world whole. So they lit fires, they sang. If they had the food, they feasted because this wasn't out of joy, but they thought it was out of necessity because this would bring back the sun. So modern Christmas has Santa Claus, as we've discussed, because you know, Krampus, Gryla, all that stuff. But now we have Saint Nick, old Santa Claus. The old world had something far more terrifying. During Yule, people believed that the sky opened just enough for the dead and the divine to slip through. And leading them was Odin, of course, the all-father, the ruler of war, magic, poetry, the gallows, and the restless dead. But it was not a jolly gift giver, old Odin. He rode through the night on his eight-legged horse, hunting souls with the procession of fallen uh warriors, angry spirits, monsters, lost children, the drowned, the murderers, or murdered, you know, the storm winds of winter, like they were the wings and the hooves of the wild hunt passing overhead. So they would hear this and they were like, Odin.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

He is not a giver. Right. He is a taker. He is a taker.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

So people would barricade their doors. Um, they would hide, hide your wife, hide your kids. They would blow right a narcissist on an eight-legged horse. They would extinguish all the candles, and then they would pray not to be noticed. They would like just fly with the house, just fly with the house, don't notice us, you know. But skip me a single mistake, like a jar, a door left ajar, or a candle left burning, or anything like that, or a sound, like the quiet place. Oh no. It would draw the hunt's attention. So some believed the hunt abducted anyone foolish enough to be outdoors. Others believed it simply past judgment. Good fortune if you impress them, of course. Um, death or madness if you didn't. To this day, in parts of Scandinavia, people still speak of strange winds or shapes in the solstice sky, and they still call it the wild hunt. So then, so then, you know, you had the whole terrifying winter, the threat of Odin coming down and just getting worse over here.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Yeah.

The Yule Log As Shield And Omen

SPEAKER_02 9:49

But then you had the Yule Log. So this was a fire against the void. Um, in the dark world of early Europe, fire wasn't just warmth, it was protection. The Yule log was a massive tree trunk, large enough to burn for 12 full nights. Bringing into the home was like a ritual, almost like a funeral procession in reverse. So it was a whole thing getting this, and I'm sure it wasn't getting this massive log in your house.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

I can't imagine like just having to go. So instead of searching for a Christmas tree, you're out there searching for the biggest wood you could find. Right. Like the solid tree.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

You're like, this has to burn for 12 nights. Like it cannot go out. So as the log burned, though, people watched the flames for omens. Sparks meant luck, crackles meant warning, and smoke meant spirits passing by. If the fire died before its time, it was a sign that someone in the household would starve during the winter. Its ashes, after it had all burned down and everything, were later spread in fields, buried beneath thresholds to keep out evil. So today we have candles, fireplaces, twinkle lights. But beneath all of them is the same ancient ideas. Light something, anything, so the darkness doesn't take you. So Christmas is all about the the pretty lights. I like the pretty lights. Right. So it still has those roots, you know, from the ancient practices, it it's still brought into modern times.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Right. It's just changed a little.

Evergreens, Mistletoe, And Wardings

SPEAKER_02 11:45

But you know, you mentioned trees. So we're gonna kind of go into the evergreen part of the the whole ritual. So in a world where like every tree, every symbol of life withers and dies for months, there were a few that did not die. There was pine, fir, ivy, mistletoe, and of course me, Holly. Um, these were seen as like magical, defiant plants. So during Yule, people would bring them into their homes to invite that immortality inside. But evergreens weren't always like comforting. Um, Holly was believed to ward off the malevolent spirits. She's also magical and defiant. And I like to ward off malevolent spirits. But its berries symbolize blood, a reminder of sacrifices once offered during midwinter. So I have meaning. Ivy clung to the dead, mistletoe grew on trees like a parasite. Oh, fun. Right? People kiss under it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Kiss under the parasite.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Kiss under the parasite. It'll never be mistletoe again. It'll be a parasite. Fur trees crackled in the cold and whispered in the wind. People believe these whispers were voices, spirits, ancestors, gods speaking through the living branches. So when you decorate a Christmas tree, when you hang a wreath or garland, you're repeating an ancient spell, a spell against death. So even now, something in us recognizes like winter's threat. So we bring the forest indoors.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Even if it's plastic. Right. Which is crazy because a lot of people have no idea.

Modern Rituals With Ancient Echoes

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Right. They're like, it's a Christmas tree, it's Christian. It, you know, and Christianity adopted most of these ancient rituals from like the pagans, the Wiccans, the Druids, the Heathens, all these spiritual practitioners who were drawn to these older traditions. But modern mule has its own strange power. So many rituals include um silent reflection in the darkness, lighting a single candle at midnight, um, writing down your fears and burning them, um, inviting ancestors to walk with you, placing evergreens at your doorway to guard your home. Um, some leave offerings for spirits still believed to roam during solstice, not out of fear, but like out of respect because these are your ancestors. Others keep the house dim or turn lights off entirely, as people once did to hide from the wild hunt. Even, you know, and I say this loosely, the world today feels safer because it does not.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Um maybe safer from what you can't see. Right. Like the supernatural, they feel safer from that. Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

But you know, it's it's electrified, it's connected, it's modern.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Now you gotta watch out for the people that are alive, right? Not the dead ones.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

It's not the dead ones you have to fear, it's the the live. But something ancient still stirs in people during the Yule season. That feeling you get on a cold, silent night, the the one you can't explain. Like I've I've gone out early in the morning because the dog decided, you know, at three o'clock in the morning, I gotta pee. And you can just it's cold outside, it's just quiet, and you just get that feel. It's like the fall feeling you get, but you get that winter solstice feeling. It's cold in here. There must be some druids in the atmosphere or Odin in the atmosphere. There we go. Odio. Odio. We just created a new song. Always. So while Christmas celebrates angels, nativity scenes, um, Yule had its own seasonal beginnings. They're not as comforting, of course. So, like we've already discussed, Krampus, Gryla, the Yule cat. There was also the niece, which was a household spirit who was easily offended. Girl me too. There was trolls who said to roam freely on Christmas Eve. Um, Draegar, which was a Norse undead, like he would haunt grave mounds. So maybe like the living dead type thing. So Yule is the season where spirits walk, witches stir, and the dead remember the living.

Darker Yule Beings And Folklore

SPEAKER_00 17:02

And maybe the living should remember the dead. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

But you know, as this solstice, like I said, it it it's on the 20th this year. So as it approaches and the nights stretch longer, turn on your turn on your Christmas lights, burn a candle safely. Or if you have one of the fake ones, light it up. Don't let don't let the cat get in it.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Make sure it's got fresh batteries.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Right, put fresh batteries, you know. When you see your like your breath in the cold air, you are uh literally echoing a ritual thousands of years old. So not just to celebrate but to protect. So if you are somebody who celebrates Yule and you are somebody who has, you know, pagan rituals, then write some stuff down, burn it at midnight, release that crap for the year so you can start the new year when the sun starts to come back up and have a have a prosperous new year.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

I need one of those. Yes. Me too. I think I'm due.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

But yeah, that's my little brief history and fun of Yule.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

We wish a very prosperous year to the creator of our theme music.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Patty Salzetta. I just wanted to fit that in there real quick before we went on to something else.

Safety, Traditions, And Listener Outreach

SPEAKER_02 18:40

We are going on to the cold Yule. And I think like this year, I I know not talking about weather, but like it has been seasonably colder this year. So up north earlier. Yes. So bundle up, make sure you have a backup plan if your electricity goes out and all that stuff. Light some candles, turn your Christmas lights on if you can. But if you can't and you don't have electricity, burn a Yule log. Burn a Yule log. Go outside, have your kids help you drag it inside. Do some tradition.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

If you have a fireplace.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Right. If you have a fireplace. If not, don't burn Yule log in the house.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Right. Do it outside. Right. Y'all, y'all get around the fire pit. That's right. Wear 26 jackets. And 52 scarves. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

Bundle up and stay warm. Absolutely. Oh my goodness. And you know, while you're doing that, think of some stuff to send us.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yeah. We want to hear from you. Send us an email with your family's traditions at hold my sweet tea podcast at gmail.com. Yep. Or you can message us on Facebook, Instagram. Tiki talkie.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

You can even message us on Spotify.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

You can. Or Apple Music. They Like there's the ability to send messages everywhere. Everywhere. You can review our podcast on any of those platforms. That would be helpful.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Wonderful. And because we're giving you the gift of podcast and you feel obligated to gift us back. Share. Share. Like, follow us on YouTube. Do all those things. That is the gift that keeps on giving.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

And it costs you nada.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Nada. The cheapest gift ever.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Yep. The podcast costs us money.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

We're we're paying for the gift we give you.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Because we already know you're on the internet. So yep. Do it. Do it.

Closing Humor And Seasonal Sign-Off

SPEAKER_00 20:39

I haven't said that in a while. Right. Do it. Let me get my grumpy mama voice telling. Do it now.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

You better go do it.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Don't make me tell you again. Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

But you know, as you're as you're sitting there on Yule and you're going, God, this is like the longest night ever. Now you know why.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

And if you hear some flappy wind outside, turn your lights out and be quiet because Odin is flappy wind.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Flappy wind. I just like the image inside my head was weird. You hear Odin's flaps flapping. He's got that arm fat swinging. Like, you know, the bat wings. He's pretty old and he's probably like it's it's blowing in the wind, making flappy noises. Sorry, Odin. Don't come kill me.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

I was just like, I don't know. You could take my soul, it's fine. I don't use it anyway. Oh my goodness. But as always, all my sweet tea is a drunken theme production. And you guys remember stay safe out there, light a candle, do all that stuff I just told you to do. And just because we're dipping, doesn't mean you can't keep sipping. Bye.