A Yule log is a large and extremely hard log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or Christmas celebrations in several European cultures. It may also be associated with the Winter Solstice festival or the Twelve Days of Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or Twelfth Night.
The expression Yule log has also come to refer to log-shaped Christmas cakes, also known as chocolate logs or Bûche de Noël. The Yule log is related to other Christmas and Yuletide traditions such as the Ashen faggot.
Read more about Yule Log: Terminology, Historical Origins
Famous quotes containing the words yule and/or log:
“As I went on Yule day
In our procession,
Knew I jolly Jankin
By his merry tone—
Kyrie eleison.”
—Unknown. Jolly Jankin (l. Chorus.)
“It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be,
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May
Although it fall and die that night;
It was the plant and flower of light.
In small proportions we just beauties see,
And in short measures life may perfect be.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)