Yule, or the Winter Solstice, is the origin of much of what we in Western culture have come to think of as Christmas tradition. Many of us strive to teach our children about the way other families celebrate the holiday season, but Yule's significance is often overlooked even as practicing pagans from all walks of life are gearing up for wassail.
This wicca.com article explains the basic principles of Yule, and here, the writer provides suggested activities for children to mark the occasion, most of which are totally appropriate outside of the religious context of the holiday.
At Llewellyn Journal, this article explores some of the different Christmas symbols in their pagan context, with brief explanation and some craft ideas to help share the concepts with your child.
A Blog Of Two Witches offers a list of kid-friendly books about the solstice, as well as links to Yule-related printables for coloring, and more craft ideas are here at Crystal Forest (the cinnamon ornaments sound particularly interesting).
Yule may not be commercialized on a grand scale, but there are still gifts out there for the junior pagan on your list (something about the Waldorfness of these goddess dolls amuses me enough that I'm tempted to buy one).
Pagan readers are welcome to leave their Yule thoughts and links in the comments. Happy Solstice, y'all!
