Yuletide

What's Yuletide? What's the difference between Yuletide and Christmas? What is Celtic Christmas music? Plus, hobbits show up in my latest Christmas single.

It's all on Pub Songs & Stories #246.

WHO'S PLAYING IN THE PUB TODAY

Welcome to Pub Songs & Stories. This is the Virtual Public House to share stories and inspiration behind music with your host Marc Gunn. Subscribe to the podcast and download free music at PubSong.com.

0:25 -  WHAT'S NEW?

• The kids got to decorate a Christmas tree yesterday. It was not ours. Which seemed kind of an odd thing to do. Maybe it's my solitary nature. I never thought of tree decorating as a communal experience. But then again, I've never had friends quite like those I have living in Georgia. Hopefully, our tree will be up by the time this goes live. Because I also need to get some pictures and videos to promote the holiday season.
• Today's show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. Thanks to my newest Patron: Brian Petty. I can't begin to thank you enough for your support. I'm getting closer to releasing my new song "Blink" over on Patreon. More than just a video. I also recorded "Come Adventure With Me". That's the next single for In the 'Verse podcast. And very soon, I will share my plans for 2022. They will include a big change to this podcast and other things I do.
• What are you doing while listening to Pub Songs & Stories? I'd love your thoughts and feedback. So take a picture of yourself or where you are or what one of these stories reminds you of. Post it on social media. Use the hashtag #pubstories so I can find it and share your story.
• What song would you like to hear more about?

1:46 - WHAT IS YULETIDE?

Here's some of what Wikipedia has to say about Yule:

"Yule is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples. Much like Christmas, it has pagan roots. Scholars connected the original celebrations of Yule to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Modraniht.

Later departing from its pagan roots, Yule underwent Christianised reformulation, resulting in the term Christmastide. Some present-day Christmas customs and traditions such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others may have connections to older pagan Yule traditions.

The Saga of Hákon the Good credits King Haakon I of Norway who ruled from 934 to 961 with the Christianization of Norway as well as rescheduling Yule to coincide with Christian celebrations held at the time. The saga says that when Haakon arrived in Norway he was a confirmed Christian, but since the land was still altogether heathen and the people retained their pagan practices, Haakon hid his Christianity to receive the help of the "great chieftains". In time, Haakon had a law passed establishing that Yule celebrations were to take place at the same time as the Christians celebrated Christmas, "and at that time everyone was to have ale for the celebration with a measure of grain, or else pay fines, and had to keep the holiday while the ale lasted."

Scholars have connected the Yule period to the Wild Hunt (a ghostly procession in the winter sky), the god Odin (who is attested in Germanic areas as leading the Wild Hunt and bears the name Jólnir), and increased supernatural activity, such as the Wild Hunt and the increased activities of draugar—undead beings who walk the earth.

Modraniht, an event focused on collective female beings attested by Bede as having occurred among the pagan Anglo-Saxons on what is now Christmas Eve, has been seen as further evidence of a fertility event during the Yule period."

You can read more about Yuletide on Wikipedia.

Now I've heard it said that JRR Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, in part, to give England its own folk tales. So one of the things I love about my first story is that Yuletide better encapsulates the hobbit winter celebrations than say Christmas. At least in name.

4:55 - STORY OF YULETIDE

During live shows, I talk about the little hobbit village that happens every three years in Kentucky. It's called ALEP, A Long Expected Party. A gross of Tolkien enthusiasts gather together at the Shaker Village to celebrate all things Lord of the Rings.

Not just celebrate. To Create.

Folks who go to ALEP become a part of the world Tolkien created. Yes, there are amazing stories we get from Michael Drout. But also, there's art, and writings, and costuming, and music. All by people who love Lord of the Rings so much that they create their own art.

Nancy Flynn is one of those people. She enjoys my music and sends me lyrics now and again. She wrote the lyrics "The Smial or the Tree" from my CD, Sci Fi Drinking Songs.

In 2012, she sent me lyrics to two Christmas songs: "Christmas in the Shire" and "Yuletide".

I loved the lyrics for both. "Christmas in the Shire" was the first song that I set to music. It's also still my favorite Christmas song that I love to hear. I love the melody. But it is nothing without the wholesome down-to-earth lyrics that accompany it.

That's one of the things I love about hobbits. It's just down-to-earth. Or down-to-middle-earth as the case may be.

The other song, "Yuletide" sat on my shelf for quite a bit longer.

The lyrics are again down-to-earth. It's a song about how hobbits celebrate Yuletide. There