↟ Midvinterblot/Juólblót/Hókunótt – Guóð Juól ↟

❄️ Native Scandinavians in Sweden celebrating Julblot and Midvinterblot at full moon. Today on January 25th this year, the first full moon after the new moon of the Winter Solstice occur here in Scandinavia. This is one of the most important dates in our pre-Christian culture, and according to our Old Norse calendar the original celebration of Jul/Yule takes place today together with Juólblót/Midvinterblot. Jul is a very old Scandinavian tradition that has it’s roots in the old Germanic Winter Solstice celebrations and Midvinterblot.

❄️ It is the second blót that Odin enacts in the Ynglinga Saga, a blót during midwinter that lasts three nights. In the sources, midwinter is referred to as “Hókunótt” and it was at Hókunótt that the heathen Jul was celebrated. This blót is much disputed, but one thing that is certain is that Jul was not originally celebrated on December 24 in our pre-Christian Scandinavia. In the Saga of King Håkon the Good, it is written that he moved Jul from Hókunótt (midwinter time) to the Christian holiday at the birth of Jesus (December 24-25).

❄️ Jul is an ancient pagan tradition that has gone by many different names in many different cultures and has over time assumed just as many forms. Who is then Jólnir? The truth is that we don’t know for sure whom -or which Nordic gods our ancestors honored during Jul. Most sources claims that Odin associates with Jólnir, but it’s also suggests that it could just as well be Frej who is Jólnir himself, the god of Jul.

❄️ Miðjum Vetri (Midwinter) was according to pre-Christian time reckoning in the middle of the winter half year, which today is around January 14 according to the current Gregorian calendar. The calendar in Scandinavia has changed a few times and few people today know how to calculate the original lunisolar calendar as the months and dates of celebrations and traditions shifts every year. But today is one of the most important dates in our Norse culture, no other tradition has had as much importance as this one. You can read more about Jul and it’s customs in a previous post. Guóð Nordisk Juól! 🌲