Yule festival and rough nights

This midsummer or Yule festival was once celebrated for twelve days. It was the rough or smokey nights when the yard, house and stable were smoked out with aromatic herbs. Very nicely explained by Wolf-Dieter Storl.

The rough nights - from the winter solstice to Christmas and New Year's Eve to Epiphany - legendary, primeval, mysterious. Only when they are over does the transition into the new year seem complete.

Many of the customs known today, which are still practiced during the Christmas season, have their origins in pagan tradition. So does the Advent wreath. Just as the Yule festival became Christmas, the Yule wreath became the Advent wreath we know today with its 4 candles.

December 21st to 22nd is the winter solstice.

The rough nights (also rough nights or smoke nights) were holy nights for our ancestors.

How now? Rough nights or rough nights?...

I wish you all a Happy Yule Festival

The rough nights, the 12 holy nights between Christmas or winter solstice and Epiphany, have always been considered a holy time.

The period from December 24th to January 6th is one where the curtain between the Otherworld and our visible world is very thin. A time for rituals, for commemorating ancestors, for cleansing, but also for prophecies and dreams.

After the Christmas holidays, the time also known as “Rauhnächte” (Rough Nights/Smoky Nights) or “Twelve Holy Nights” is just around the corner. During these days, special things are said to be happening and the connection between this world and the hereafter should be much closer.

For the Germans, the rough nights were a special, sacred time when they did not work. Instead, the time was used for the family, for celebrations and for oracles.