What Is a Yule Log? This Holiday Tradition Has Some Weird Roots
What Is a Yule Log? This Holiday Tradition Has Some Weird Roots
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Quick holiday pop quiz: What is a yule log? Some might say it’s a large hunk of wood thrown in the fireplace at Christmas; while others may argue it’s a dessert. Who’s right?
Well, the definition of a yule log has changed quite a bit since medieval times. Here’s the log lowdown, so you can trot it out before your own holiday hearth and impress your guests!
Circa 1100: The yule log is burned to please pagan gods
For starters, the word “yule” is Old English for the winter festival celebrated by civilizations in Northern Europe to honor the winter solstice, way before Christianity.
The tradition of a yule log harks to the 12th century, when revelers would venture into the woods and chop down the biggest log they could find and burn it as an offering to pagan gods in a bid for good health and abundance. Back then, the yule log was steeped in superstition: If it didn’t catch fire on the first attempt, it would bring bad luck. If you didn’t keep the ashes until next year, more bad luck!
The yule log tradition continued through the centuries, but as hearths shrank—and got increasingly crowded by pots and pans—the chunk of wood dwindled in size and significance.
Circa 1600: The yule log becomes a dessert
At some point in the 1600s, the yule log tradition branched off and evolved into a cream-filled sponge cake that was rolled up and covered with marzipan or frosting to resemble a log—complete with meringue mushrooms.
According to History.com, bakeries in Paris started producing these cakes in the 19th century, calling them bûches de noël, and today it’s not uncommon to see this holiday dessert on dinner tables around the world.
Still, the fame of the yule log cake does not overshadow the familiar vision of an actual log crackling in a hearth. Many people still burn yule logs today, or festoon them with holly, evergreens, ribbons, and candles as a festive decoration in their homes, kinda like the stunted cousin of a Christmas tree.
1966: The yule log makes its TV debut
In 1966, the New York City TV station WPIX aired a groundbreaking, yet dead-simple video that will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Christmas Day this year: a yule log burning in the hearth, crackling gently against a soundtrack of classic Christmas music. The station recognized that fireplaces had become scarce in the apartments of modern New Yorkers, and wanted to give them, well, some sort of hearth to gather ’round.
Although this broadcast ran for four riveting hours that day, the video is actually only 17 seconds long, running on a continuous loop (which is why you never see a hand tossing more logs on the fire).
For whatever reason, this yule became, well, a thing. Even famous.
“Fred Thrower, the station’s manager, may not have realized it at that time, but he had just given birth to a Christmastime tradition that touched a generation,” said Lawrence F. “Chip” Acuri, the foremost expert on the broadcast and webmaster of the official fan site (theyulelog.com).
The yule log “program” took a hiatus from 1989 to 2001, and in 2008, the show went national, so that fireplace-less revelers across the country could bask in its glow.
The original video was filmed at Gracie Mansion, the New York City governor’s residence. But the film deteriorated over time and had to be reshot in 1970. By then, Gracie Mansion wasn’t an option, so WPIX searched high and low for an identical fireplace, and found one in Palo Alto, CA. So the new yule log footage was filmed there.
For a long time the original footage was assumed to be lost—until in July of this year, when WPIX digital director and archivist Rolando Pujol unearthed the original 1966 footage, restored it, and transferred it to a digital format.
To celebrate its 50th birthday, the footage will air this year on Tribune stations from 11 p.m. to midnight on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas morning from 7 to 8, followed by the 1970 version from 8 a.m. to noon.
2015: The yule log becomes a YouTube sensation
More recently, this curious fascination with the virtual yule log has given rise to riffs on the TV classic. One of the most haunting is a five-hour loop of “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader burning on a pile of yule logs. While it would have been extra dramatic to dub in “The Imperial March” instead of Christmas music as the flames danced around Darth Vader’s corpse, the only sound you’ll hear is a crackling fire.
There’s also a video of a yule log with Jesus. . .
. . . and one of Lil Bub the famous cat.
. . . and most recently, one from Marvel featuring the hearths of homes for Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and others. Each video is full of clever little details Marvel fans will undoubtedly recognize, like Iron Man’s helmets placed on the mantel beneath a portrait of Tony Stark.
No matter which version of the fireside video you watch this season, if any at all, you will be partaking in a tradition that has roots that go much further back in history than most of us could have imagined.
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