Jul or jol ([jʉːɽ]) is the term used for the Christmas holiday season in Scandinavia and parts of Scotland. Originally, jul was the name of a month in the old Germanic calendar. The concept of jul as a period of time rather than a specific event prevailed in Scandinavia; in modern times, jul is a period of time stretching from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Eve, December 24, to (traditionally) mid-January at the date of Epiphany with the month of December and Christmas, and the week up to the New Year, as its highlight. The modern English yule and yuletide are cognates with this term.[1]
The term jul is common throughout Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, Scotland and the Faroe Islands.
Whereas the start of jul proper is announced by the chiming of church bells throughout the country in the afternoon of 24 December, it is more accurate to describe the season as an eight-week event. It consists of five phases: Advent, julaften, romjul, nyttår, and The End of Christmas, very often with Epiphany, the thirteenth day of Christmas, as the final day of the season. From the original beginning on Christmas Day, the custom of Julebord has spread to the entire season and beyond, often beginning well in advance of December.
The modern day celebration is largely based on the Church year and has retained several pre-Reformation and pre-Christian elements.
The central event in Scandinavia is Christmas Eve (julaften), when the main Christmas meal is served and gifts are exchanged. This might be due to the old Germanic custom of counting time in nights, not days (e.g. fortnight), as it holds for other holidays like Midsummer Eve (Jonsok, lit. 'Wake of St. John') and St. Olav's Mass (Olsok, lit. 'Wake of St. Olav'), with the main celebration on the eve of the official church day.
- ^ Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874:326).