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The Yule Log and La Bûche de Noël

At Christmas time, people all over France and Belgium serve the “Bûche de Noël” – a cake shaped and decorated to look like a tree trunk. In Anglo-Saxon cultures, many people still burn a “yule log” in their fireplace at Christmas. There is even a television station in New York that shows a program of yule log burning on Christmas Day, for those who don’t have a hearth at home. You can download the TV Yule Log to your iPod or visit theyulelog.com, its online fan site.

In France, the tradition of actually burning the logs began to disappear as houses no longer had large hearths. The big log was replaced by a smaller branch set in the middle of the table and surrounded by small pastries or treats. This eventually became the cake known as the Bûche de Noël, first described in 1879.

The Origins of the Yule Log

The origins of this classic French dessert and the tradition of the burning Yule Log can both be traced back to pre-Christian winter solstice celebrations. On the winter solstice, December 22^nd by the modern calendar, Northern European cultures would search for a large tree trunk to burn as a symbol of the rebirth of the sun, as an offering of thanks to the sun for returning to the earth, and as a ritual to celebrate the returning fruitfulness of the earth.

This pagan tradition continued into the middle ages, becoming more closely associated with Christmas. During this time, the ceremony of the burning log became more elaborate. The logs were decorated with ribbons and greenery, and sometimes sprinkled with grains or cider before being set alight. In Yugoslavia, the Yule Log was cut before dawn on Christmas Eve, and carried into the house at twilight. The wood was decorated with flowers, silk and gold, and then doused with wine and grain.

In the Provence region of France, families sang songs asking for blessings on their crops and flock as they went to cut the yule log, which was carried around the house three times and christened with wine before being set ablaze. Another French tradition was to light a log, sprinkled with wine, before going to church. If the log was extinguished when the family returned, it was a bad omen. In England, holly was used to help light the fire, and people toss a sprig of holly onto the blaze to burn up the troubles from the past year and to protect their house from fire.

Traditionally, the Yule Log was kept burning through the night, and sometimes as long as twelve days. A small fragment of its wood would be saved to light next year’s log, and its ashes were often scattered on the fields to bring fertility in the next year.

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