My dear friend and mentor Colleen Chesebro has a new book called Fairies, Myths, & Magic II-A Winter Celebration which was released on 1st December.
Colleen said to me. “Willow you and I both love myths and legends. One legend that remains to this day is the burning of the Yule log during the winter solstice. I found it interesting how this ancient tradition is still part of our celebrations. Many people light bonfires to celebrate the longest night of the year. If you live somewhere where you can’t have a bonfire, candles burning indoors is always a nice substitute.
So here’s a bit of history behind the tradition. During the Winter Solstice, Pagans burned huge logs to honor the return of the sunlight. The end of the darkness was at hand with spring not far off.
The Yule Log often comprised an entire tree specifically chosen for the occasion. It was cut and brought indoors, with the end piece of the trunk placed inside the fireplace, while the rest of the tree stuck out into the middle of the room.
Wow! Just imagine that , it would take up a great deal of room and be a real fire hazard by today’s standards.
Anyway, the people rubbed the log with a mixture of oil, salt, and mulled wine. Often, the new log was mixed with the remains of the previous year’s log, which was kept in a box under the bed. It was believed these ashes brought the family good luck, saving the household from lightning strikes, and even forest fires!
Learn about more Yule traditions in Fairies, Myths, & Magic II—A Winter Celebration. This is book two in the series, with the first book dedicated to summer and the summer solstice.
About the Book:
In this second book in the Fairies, Myths, & Magic series, step into a world where dark fairies, and other magical beings converge in a collection of poetry and short stories inspired by winter and the celebration of the winter solstice.
From Autumn’s scary fairies to the forgotten female characters of Yule, prepare to embrace the magical winter solstice myths from around the world. Meet Frau Holle in the Wild Hunt, Befana—the Christmas Witch of Italy, and the Japanese goddess Ameratasu who controls the springtime. Prepare to embrace the Scottish trows, The Irish Goddess of Winter—the Cailleach Béara, and Snegurochka—the Snow Girl.
Learn how to make Yuletide rituals part of your celebration by embracing the symbols of Yule by decorating with evergreens and crystals.
Fairies, Myths, & Magic II Links:
Colleen’s Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Colleen-M-Chesebro/e/B01N9MV2RX
Amazon Universal Link: https://mybook.to/FairiesMythsMagicII
About the Author:
An avid reader, Colleen M. Chesebro rekindled her love of writing poetry after years spent working in the accounting industry. These days, she loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction.
In addition to poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of her writing community on Word Craft Poetry.com by organizing and sponsoring a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, where participants experiment with traditional and current forms of Japanese and American syllabic poetry.
Colleen Chesebro is an assistant editor of The Congress of the Rough Writers Flash Fiction Anthology & Gitty Up Press, a micro-press founded by Charli Mills and Carrot Ranch.
In January 2022, Colleen founded Unicorn Cats Publishing Services to assist poets and authors in creating eBooks and print books for publication. In addition, she creates affordable book covers for Kindle and print books.
Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie.
Find Colleen here:
Word Craft Poetry: https://wordcraftpoetry.com
Colleen M. Chesebro, Author, Poet & Unicorn Cats Publishing Services: https://colleenmchesebro.com
Facebook Page: Colleen M. Chesebro, Poet & Author: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085941528913
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/colleen-m-chesebro-6b856b237
Here is some information I learnt in Canada about how trees can raise from fires like the phoenix,which supports the Yule logs story/ legend/ Myths and Magic Book.
Jack pine and lodgepole pine have serotinous cones (protected by a waxy coating) that require the heat of fire to release their seeds. Fire also produces favourable conditions for the seeds of these pines to germinate. Information here.
Giant sequoias are the largest trees on Earth. They can grow for more than 3,000 years. But without fire, they cannot reproduce. The giant sequoias really are born of fire. Information here
willowdot21 
