Customer Reviews

Yule: A Celebration of Light and Warmth (Holiday Series)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I was deeply disappointed by this book. There are misspellings, inconsistent use of type, and reversed or incorrect words. The bulk of the book is recipes and make-your-own-tradition ideas that still partake heavily of Christian symbolism and practice. The author's sources are academically and intellectually dubious, and out of date. For example, she cites (and misspells the name of) an encyclopedia of mythology in its 1968 edition. The historical information cited is often inaccurate. The attitude toward Christians and practitioners of other religions alike is smarmy and patronizing. Egregiously stupid errors include a statement to the effect that the early Christians inserted the word "Son" in the name of their new holiday because it would make people think of the "Sun" god. Duh-uhhhh--these people weren't speaking English, and "son" and "sun" are not homophones in any languages spoken in that region then or now. This one of the most poorly written non-fiction works I've ever read, and there was no reason it couldn't have been good. One star is too high a rating.

I was terribly disappointed with this book. Of the littlefactual information in it, most of it is easily found (and morecoherently reported) on Pagan/Holiday sites on the Internet. I thinkmy favorite bit of misinformation was her claim that Pilgrims(?)brought Santa Claus to the New World with them. Perhaps she wasunaware that the Pilgrims and Puritan Settlers of the New World didnot even celebrate Christmas. In fact, between the years of 1659 and1681 Christmas was illegal in the Massachusetts colony. They did notexchange gifts, believe in Santa or "celebrate" the holidayin anyway, it was far too Pagan for them...Sinter Klaas, as hewas called, came with the Dutch, not the Pilgrims, or Puritans, to theNew World when they began to settle New Amsterdam (what is now NewYork) in 1624. This is only one of the glaring mistakes I picked upon. This information is easy to obtain. All it takes is research.Beware. If your are looking for crafts and recipes you've found theright book. If you are looking for accurate information on the historyof Christmas and/or Yule keep looking, I'm sure you can do betterresearch than this.

As I read this book, I thought it should be called "Christmas" instead of "Yule". Morrison clearly has an affection for this holiday. However, the beginning history of this book has very little to do with Yule. It seems like more of a justification of pagans celebrating Christmas without Christ. And her 'history' is very suspect - as in referring to the Greek world as Persia. I think there is a danger of doing most of your research off of the internet.

I would recommend this book for the ritual / spells. Morrison can turn a magikal phrase and I was inspired by what she had to offer. To get the most out of this book, skip the beginning fluff and go right to the meat. If you really want a book on Yule, read "The Winter Solstice" by John Matthews. Now that is a pagan book on this great holiday.

I found this to be a wonderful book jam packed with interesting and useful knowledge of the holiday we call Yule/Christmas. The details of this holiday celebrated around the world by every religious group and every ethnic tradition. Being a pagan, I learned many new facts. Being a mother, crafter, and avid reader;I found this book more than adequately displaying a terrific flow of ideas and things to keep me entertained as well as busy throughout the upcoming cold months here in New England.

Dorothy Morrison has been an inspiration in all of her books that I have had the opportunity to read. I would recommend this book very highly for anyone that is interested in Christmas Lore and crafting. This book is also full of recipes for the season and not to leave out the pagan tradition of Yule, many wonderful rituals. Pick up a copy, read for yourself.

Unfortunately, this book made me feel less-than-jolly.

It quickly became apparent to me that Ms. Morrison uses the words Yule and Christmas interchangeably, which is absolutely not the same holiday at all. While they may have been originated from the same tradition originally they are not the same holiday now. When reading Yule trivia, I don't expect to read about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

In the very first paragraph, Dorothy takes the reader through a quick lesson in the history of the evolution of the Pagan celebration of the solstice to the modern day Christmas. To my personal dislike, she is very subjective and, admittedly in the first footnote, draws her own conclusions based on various sources. This can probably be an applied statement of her entire book- she continued her generalizations, biases, and drew her own conclusions. Why do I say this?

In the small portion of the book that is not arts and crafts- there are some very strong assumptions and large errors. First of all, the Oak King/Holly King archetypes are mentioned throughout the book as a Celtic gods traditionally celebrated at the solstice. This is not factually accurate, as there is no record of the Oak/Holly King in any Celtic mythology nor any other traditions from the culture. However, Sir James Frazer did make a mention of the King of Summer and King of Winter battling for their rule in The Golden Bough, which was expanded upon by the poet Robert Graves in The White Goddess. Neither sources can be called historical fact as both authors took some creative freedoms with their blending of ancient mythology and modern fiction. Graves gave the name to these archetypes, Oak and Holly, and it was first introduced to the Craft by Stewart and Janet Farrar in their book Eight Sabbats for Witches (which is now a part of A Witches Bible).

Upon further reading, there are much more modern and widely known errors that cast a shadow upon this book. According to Ms. Morrison, "China is predominantly Pagan" (pg. 24). Even at the time of publishing, China was prominently Atheist and the country declared its national "religion" as Atheist only two years later. The next most practiced religion (recorded at only 10-14%) is Taoism, which cannot be called Pagan by even the loosest definition; Taoism can be defined as a philosophical school of thought based on the texts of the Tao Te Ching.

Only two pages later, there is mention of an unnamed solstice tradition practiced by the Moslems and Hindus of India. "[They] celebrate the return of the light by placing oil lamps on their rooftops. To ecourage the Sun to shine, homes are decorated...These remind the Sun that He is a valuable part of existence and without His help, all of Nature would cease to flourish". (pg. 26) I wish Dorothy had included the name of this celebration, since the most predominant celebration of lights in India is Diwali- which is absolutely not the same celebration described in the book. Diwali is a four day festival of lights in October or November which is a victory celebration of good versus evil. The celebration is not of the return of the Sun, but of the return of Lord Rama from a 14 year exile and his killing the Demon King of Lanka (However, the celebration and it's deities change from region to region- but it is always a celebration of goodness triumphant over evil). Houses and public places are decorated to welcome the return of their deities. The lamps placed on the rooftops are not to encourage the sun to shine, but as a reminder of the inner light from within our souls. This is the biggest celebration in the Hindu world- since Dorothy did not mention the name of the extremely Pagan celebration she described, it only leads the reader to associate this celebration with the Pagan's Winter Solstice celebration. In my research, I have not found any Winter Solstice celebrations to match what had been presented in Yule, A Celebration of Light & Warmth.

What is curious to me, is that there is no mention in this chapter of the Shinto legend of Amatesaru, the Japanese goddess of the Sun, who withdrew into a cave until enticed out with music and dance (kagura). Japanese honor the goddess on the solstice in a celebration called "Tsukinamisai", which occurs every June and December. The Japanese Shinto celebrate the joy of the ending of the yin period of the sun, when it declines in strength, and the beginning of its growing power or yang period. The sun is of central importance in Japan; The Japanese royal family is said to be decedents of Amatesaru, She is said to be the guardian of Japan's people, and as the symbol of Japanese cultural unity. Her emblem, the rising sun, still flies on Japan's flag.

If Dorothy was trying to impress upon the reader a global celebration of the return of the Sun, this would have been an important inclusion to the book.

As it is, the inaccuracies in the first four chapters were so glaringly obvious, I became very skeptical if the information and legends presented had any truth at all.

The fifth chapter did little to show me that there was a command of the subject, as it is basically a chapter full of urban legends and superstitions- usually with no reference to the location of the origin of the superstition. For example: "Legend has it that animals can speak on Christmas Eve. Don't listen for them though- the same legend says it's unlucky to hear them!" (pg. 31) Which legend does this come from? From which country? For all I know, she could be creating these superstitions herself!

The book is mostly an arts and crafts, recipes, and party preparation book. From page 43 until almost the end of the book it is hard to decipher that it is even a Pagan book at all; unless you include the chants that are included with the various tasks. However, a concern of mine is that there is only chanting without any act of magick. There are no visualization techniques nor mention of any acts of will or intent. It is only an act with a chant to companion the motions, while in my mind is no different than singing a song or whistling while working. While there are many good decorating suggestions found in the book, there are quite a few decorations that I actually found myself asking "symbolically, what does this represent?". If the witch is intending to use their crafts as an act of magick, it should be very clear what each component of the craft represents and its use in the spell. And I personally don't feel that Styrofoam (polystyrene) should be an acceptable material for magickal workings.

The Daily Event Calendar that is included is also of question- I would have liked to seen some source reference as to why each of those days are significant to the deities mentioned. I would like to know why December 4th belongs to Pallas Athena. (pg 161) And the Halcyon Days mentioned on December 14th (pg. 168) are not a festival commonly celebrated, as implied, but a mythological legend originated by Ovid. The dates are also not correct, as the dates for the solstice and full moon change from year to year-but this can be expected from any out-of-date calendar.

To be quite honest, this book left me feeling a bit unsettled. For those who are not Pagan who are looking at how we celebrate the Winter Solstice, or a new Pagan looking for inspiration, this is not the material I would recommend at all. The Pagan community deserves accurate research, valid sources, and less ambiguity with the traditions and celebrations presented. There needs to be a line drawn between common Christmas celebrations and the celebrations of Yule. The two definitions, while sharing common roots, are absolutely not the same and the two words are not interchangeable.

Authors have a responsibility to present valid information to the readers. I think more authors should be a bit more mindful of what they publish... we do live in the age of information and facts can be checked instantly.

To Dorothy's credit, she obviously has a love of the holiday season, and is very enthusiastically sharing her personal traditions in this book.

Yule, A Celebration of Light & Warmth gets one star from me, purely based on the amount of recipes and possible useful party tips that some readers may find useful.



Sources used:
The CIA World Factbook - China. [...]
"Daoist Philosophy". The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.[...]
"Diwali". The Hindu Majan. [...]
"Diwali Meaning and Significance". Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India. [...]
"Be Happy - Celebrate Diwali" by Vinod Gulati.[...]
"Amaterasu-'-Mikami." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. via[...]
"Annual Cycle of Ceremonies". Isejingu. [...]

At first glance, I thought this book would be helpful when I spied it on the bookshelf at my local bookstore. However, when I opened it to the introductory chapter I learned that the culture which gave the name Yule (the Norse) where not even mentioned...at all. I finally found a blurb about them in the paragraph on mistletoe. But the story pertaining to mistletoe and the god Balder was completely wrong. All in all, when I flipped through the rest of the book, I found that if I did about a week's research online and in a few books, I could've done a better job with this than she did.

First off, let me point out that I have high standards when it comes to pagan books. I expect for my faith to be presented to the general public as something that should be taken seriously, not poked fun at. I realize that these may be high expectations, but nonetheless... The first chapter was funny to me because although I could understand where Dorothy was coming from in her explanation of the history of how Yule came to be I could almost hear the right-wing Christians raging on their pews. It was the way she explained it that seemed a bit of a stretch. On the other hand, I liked the way she presented the symbols of the season and where they originated. There were some good prayers. Also helpful to me were the recipes for the Yule Log Rolls and how to make a real Yule Log. Other than that I decided against purchasing this book. I'm hoping to find a concise book on Yule that digs deeper into the history and gives me a clearer picture of how people practiced Yule. (A NOTE TO EDITORS: If you are expecting to sell more pagan themed books of this kind, you need to start including full-color photos. If I am going to pay money for a book like this I want to see photos that go along with the recipes-what would a typical Yule table from 2006 look like for example?- and photos that go along with the craft projects. You cannot expect people to try the craft projects without knowing what they will look like.) This book is helpful for beginner pagans or nonpagans who just want a look at some fun history facts.

This book offers more information about Santa Claus than it does the gods/godesses associated with the Winter Soltice. The craft projects are cheesey and the recipes terrible. Save your money and do a little research yourself and if you want recipes or craft projects pick up one of those special Christmas magazines for ideas you can adapt for a pagan holiday theme.

I was terribly disappointed with this book. Of the little factual information in it, most of it is easily found (and more coherently reported) on Pagan/Holiday sites on the Internet. I think my favorite bit of misinformation was her claim that Pilgrims(?) brought Santa Claus to the New World with them. Perhaps she was unaware that the Pilgrims and Puritan Settlers of the New World did not even celebrate Christmas. In fact, between the years of 1659 and 1681 Christmas was illegal in the Massachusetts colony. They did not exchange gifts, believe in Santa or "celebrate" the holiday in anyway, it was far too Pagan for them. It wasn't until the Dutch started to settle the colonies that Santa made his appearance as Sinter Klaas. This is only one of the glaring mistakes I picked up on. This information is easy to obtain. All it takes is research. Beware. If your are looking for crafts and recipes you found the right book. If you are looking for accurate information on the history of Christmas and/or Yule keep looking, I'm sure you can do better research than this.

I tried very hard to like this book; the author seems so knowledgeable and pleasant, and I love the idea of this series, one book for each sabbat. But this is the first book I can remember that has both not enough information and too much. The author assumes one knows traditional pagan mythology such as the defeat of the holly king, so she doesn't retell the tale. It would've been nice to have a beautiful retelling and a section about this myth. At the same time, she goes on and on with craft projects, as if what the modern pagan is missing from her life is another way to create a wreath. When she writes charms, her rhymes seem painfully forced to me. And it doesn't do me much good to have an author say: this is what I do with my family to celebrate the holiday - do whatever you want. I finished this book with a feeling of dissatisfaction and vague confusion. I expected better than this.