Yule tide meditations 5 – the Yule Boar

“The Boar’s Head in hand bear I—“

No longer is the Yuletide boar paraded through the feasting hall so that men can lay a hand on his back and swear their oaths for the new year, but the Christmas ham still is the center of the feast, basted with brown sugar, or studded with pineapple rounds and cloves. Family and friends affirm their bonds by exchanging gifts, and feast together to affirm abundance. Instead of the Greek “Chi”, let us read the X in X-mas as the Runic “Gebo”, “the Gift”, whose crossed arms signify exchange. We exchange gifts, love, energy, and in so doing, balance each other and the world.

We raise the drinking horn to hail Freyr and ask for peace and good seasons in the coming year.