Yule Be Sorry

As a sign of appreciation, Heinrich Himmler frequently gave SS members a Julleuchter ("Yule lantern").

Merry, merry Christmas, and a happy holiday to you

If you've been good all year, maybe Santa Claus'll visit you

Bright lights on the houses down the street

Stockings full of all the Christmas treats

When you're with the big band and the yabba-dabba yuletide

A happy sleigh ride, and a merry, merry Christmas time...

Yule or Yuletide ("Yule time" or "Yule season") is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples. Scholars have connected the Wild Hunt, the god Odin (Wotan/Watain), and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZev5FInleQ

Yule comes from the old Norse jól and Old English géohol which was a season of hunting after the harvest was done.

The feast of Yule lasted three days over the Winter Solstice and marked the beginning of the new year.
Shortest Day of the Year in the Northern Hemisphere. The December solstice can be on December 20, 21, 22, or 23. The North Pole is tilted furthest from the Sun.

Yule was similar to Passover in Jerusalem before the Temple was destroyed. For Passover, the Jewish people would bring lambs, birds, and other animals for sacrifice. The blood would be offered on the altar and the meat cooked for the Passover meal. According to Norse historian and saga translator Lee M. Hollander every nine years Germanic (Norse) farmers were compelled to come to the temple hof and make sacrifices and feasts over a prescribed period of time during yuletide. Yule was celebrated in Germanic countries with animal sacrifices where the sanctified blood was then used to paint the altar, temple posts, and the supplicant himself as part of the ritual. He was literally "washed in the blood". This was followed by feasts, storytelling and drinking around a large communal fire. In Grettis Saga Yule is described as a time of "greatest mirth and joy among men."

Nazi ideologists claimed that the Christian elements of the holiday had been superimposed upon ancient Germanic traditions. They argued that Christmas Eve originally had nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ, but instead celebrated the winter solstice and the 'rebirth of the sun', that the swastika was an ancient symbol of the sun, and that Santa Claus was a Christian reinvention of the Germanic god Odin.

The name of the tree, Christbaum or Weihnachtsbaum, was the fir tree, light tree or Jul tree. The star on the top of the tree was sometimes replaced with a swastika, a Germanic "sun wheel" or a Sig rune, and swastika-shaped tree lights.

The dates of Hanukkah and Christmas were when the (2nd Temple) was rededicated. The early Church chose December 25th, the birthday of Greek god Zeus/Roman god Jupiter.

The oldest tradition of the Yule log which had sacrificial significance. A whole tree or a large tree trunk was carefully chosen, felled and hauled to the long house ceremoniously. The end of the trunk was laid on the hearth and lit with a brand from the previous year's yule fire as the rest of the tree stuck out of the hearth into the room. The tree trunk was pushed into the hearth as it burned for 12 days (from Christmas Eve to Epiphany). At the end, the unburned part of the tree was extinguished and saved to start the fire next year. Storing the leftovers of the Yule log under a bed would protect the home from lightning strikes (a nod to Thor/Zeus).

The Yule Goat

Thor was said to have a chariot that was pulled across the sky by two goat bucks. During Yule they would either bring gifts to well behaved children or demand gifts on behalf of Thor.

The Hanukkah Miracle of My First Yule Log
"My Yule Log was one of a kind and it was authentic, in ways both to nature and my own spirit"
https://medium.com/tell-me-your-story-and-experience/twelve-pastry-chefs-and-the-buche-that-stole-christmas-62798ccf619