Yule Know When You See it
Yule Festivites
The original Yule shared qualities of both Thanksgiving and Christmas as feasting and celebrating with neighbors and relatives was paramount (Eriksson). Even brewing beer was a necessary part of the celebration. It was an honor to the gods to use their best crops and meat they had available. Boar or goat sacrifices would also be made to appease their deities. More well known customs like the burning of Yule logs and decorating trees also occurred. The Yule log tended to be very large and they would save a piece of it for the following year. In some instances, the log would be placed under one's bed for good luck and protection.
Another well known Yule practice is decorating evergreen trees. Extremely similar to the modern day Christmas tradition, Yule tress in the past were also adorned with eye catching ornaments albeit Yule tree decorations had a much more natural aesthetic. Symbols of the sun and stars as well as herbal satchels were commonplace (Nothaft, 2012). For some time now, the most well known Yule (and Christmas) tradition has been gift giving.
Christianization
Yule was later Christianized and adapted into Christmas as we know it today. Many of the same customs are still seen but with slight variations (Nature, 1928). For example, the burning of the Yule log has remained mostly unchanged if one doesn't consider the cake variation of it. However, christians were weary of pagans and because of this they elected to have their feast on a specific day (Nothaft, 2012).