Tonight we go back to the darkest night of the year: the winter solstice, around 21 December, when the sun is lowest and the night longest. After it, the days begin to grow longer again.
Learn from Songs · Festivals: The Winter Solstice and Christmas · Part 2 of 4 · B1–B2
Yule and the Winter Solstice: The Holly and the Ivy
Part 2: long before Christmas, people celebrated the winter solstice, the return of the sun. Germanic and Norse Yule, Roman Saturnalia, Persian Yalda, Chinese Dongzhi, the Druids’ Alban Arthan and the Unconquered Sun. used to and would for old customs, the passive (the log was burned), comparing cultures (whereas, similarly, both… and), and telling history from legend, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos, Demetria and an old English carol.
SOPHIA
PHILO
The sun is reborn. No wonder people celebrated.
SOPHIA
Exactly. All over the world, people lit fires and lamps, decorated their homes with green plants that stay alive in winter, and feasted. Our song is about two of those plants, the holly and the ivy.
MARCOS
Plants? I thought this was about feasts!
Before you listen: the song
Northern Europe, Rome, Persia and China
Yule (Old Norse jól) was the midwinter festival of the Germanic and Norse peoples. The English monk Bede, writing in 725, says the old English year began with “Mothers’ Night” at midwinter. People used to feast, drink and make sacrifices, and in later centuries they would burn a great Yule log. The Norse sagas say that King Haakon the Good of Norway moved Yule to the same time as Christmas in the 900s, as Scandinavia became Christian. Many customs, such as evergreen decorations, wassailing (from Old English wæs hæl, “be well”) and the twelve days of feasting, were absorbed into Christmas.
Saturnalia was the Roman festival of Saturn, from 17 December, later stretched to 23 December: feasting, games, presents of candles and little clay figures, and role reversals in which masters served their slaves. Yalda Night in Iran celebrates the longest night with pomegranates, watermelon and the poems of Hafez, staying up to welcome the sun; in 2022 UNESCO recognised it as world heritage. Dongzhi in China marks the moment when yin, the dark, reaches its peak and yang, the light, begins to grow; families eat dumplings or sweet rice balls (tangyuan).
History or legend? Some popular solstice traditions are modern. The Druid name Alban Arthan comes from the 18th-century Welsh writer Iolo Morganwg, and the story of the Holly King and the Oak King, who fight at each solstice, became popular in the 20th century. The Romans did celebrate the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti) on 25 December, listed in a Roman calendar of 354 CE; some modern pagans celebrate it again as the Natale del Sole. The carol: “The Holly and the Ivy” is a traditional English carol, first printed in the 1700s, which gives Christian meanings to two ancient midwinter plants. Annie Lennox recorded it in 2010.
In the darkest night, people everywhere have hoped for the return of the light.
Listen: the holly and the ivy
PHILO
Listen to Annie Lennox. Which two plants are in the song? What do the holly’s white flowers, red berries and sharp prickles stand for?
SOPHIA
Notice how an old midwinter plant is given a new, Christian meaning. Then answer Section A.
🌲 Listen to the song: “The Holly and the Ivy” (traditional English carol), sung by Annie Lennox (2010).Listen to the official recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “The Holly and the Ivy”, Annie Lennox.Read the lyrics →
Used to and would for old customs
MARCOS
People used to burn a Yule log. They would sing from house to house. They didn’t use to have Christmas trees.
SOPHIA
used to + verb = a habit or state in the past that is not true now. would + verb = repeated actions in the past (not states): They would light fires every winter. But not: They would live in the north → They used to live in the north.
The passive for customs
DEMETRIA
The log was burned for twelve days. Houses were decorated with holly. Yalda is celebrated in Iran. The festival was moved to 25 December.
SOPHIA
be + past participle when the custom matters more than who did it. History writing uses it all the time: The tradition was brought to England in the 1800s.
Comparing cultures
PHILO
Both Yalda and Dongzhi celebrate the longest night. Whereas the Romans gave candles, the Chinese eat dumplings. Similarly, people in Iran stay up all night.
SOPHIA
both… and, whereas / while (contrast), similarly / likewise (similarity), unlike + noun: Unlike Saturnalia, Yule was a northern festival.
History or legend? Two views
MARCOS
Lots of websites say Christmas is “just a pagan festival”.
SOPHIA
Some historians argue that the date of Christmas was chosen to replace the sun festival. Others point out that early Christians calculated it differently, counting nine months from 25 March, the day they believed Jesus was conceived. We’ll look at this properly next time. For now: always ask how old a tradition really is, and who says so.
Sophia’s comparison: Hanukkah and the Kronia
PHILO
Our winter festival, Hanukkah, falls near the darkest time of the year. For eight nights we light lamps, one more each night. The light grows as the nights grow longest.
SOPHIA
And we Greeks have the Kronia, the old feast of Kronos, which the Romans made into their Saturnalia: a time when the world turns upside down, and the servants sit at the master’s table.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| used to + verb | past habits and states | People used to burn a Yule log. |
| would + verb | repeated past actions | They would sing from house to house. |
| was / were + past participle | the passive for customs | Houses were decorated with holly. |
| both… and / whereas / similarly / unlike | comparing cultures | Unlike Saturnalia, Yule was northern. |
| argue / point out | reporting views | Others point out that… |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. What is the winter solstice?
2. What does “jól” mean?
3. What did Romans give at Saturnalia?
4. What do people eat at Yalda?
5. Where does the name Alban Arthan come from?
6. What does the carol do with the holly and the ivy?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. People to burn a Yule log. (habit)
8. They sing from house to house every winter. (repeated action)
9. Houses were with holly. (decorate)
10. Yalda and Dongzhi celebrate the longest night.
11. Saturnalia, Yule was a northern festival. (contrast + noun)
12. Yalda is in Iran. (celebrate)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “People would live in small villages.”
14. “The log was burned for twelve days.”
15. “Both Yalda or Dongzhi are winter festivals.”
16. “Unlike the Romans, the Chinese eat dumplings.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Festival fair. In groups, each person prepares a one-minute talk about one midwinter festival (Yule, Saturnalia, Yalda, Dongzhi, Hanukkah, Christmas). Use used to / would and the passive. Then compare them.
Discuss. 1. Why do so many cultures celebrate the longest night? 2. Is it important to know whether a tradition is ancient or modern? 3. How did your family celebrate midwinter when your grandparents were young?
Write (150–180 words). Two festivals of light. Compare two midwinter festivals. Use both… and, whereas, similarly, the passive and used to.
Now play the gamebook: four festivals in one week in Alexandria, and a quarrel in the barracks.Play the gamebook →