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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 9826674" data-attributes="member: 6787503">Just a general question, if anyone knows the answer to this, but did the Norse/Germanic peoples wait for the solstice to be observed and then count the following lunar month as the latter Yule (with the Yule-day festival at the full moon as your quote says), or might they have chosen the nearest new moon to the solstice as the beginning of the latter Yule whether it preceded or followed the solstice itself?For example, this year the solstice was on the 21st/22nd (In ancient times it wasn't observed until the 25th, but for this example, it doesn't matter.), but the new moon preceded it on the 19th/20th. Would then we now be in the month of the former Yule with the month of latter Yule beginning at the next new moon on January 18th/19th and the Yule festival itself coming with the full moon on February 1st/2nd, or would we already be in the month of latter Yule with the festival coming with the full moon on January 2nd/3rd?If it's the <ahem> former, as I suspect it is, then Yule is starting to look a lot like another name for Groundhog Day.ETA: I ask because Bede strongly implies Giuli (Yule) is derived from a word for the solstice (December 25th) which the Anglo-Saxons called midwinter, but maybe it's a mistake to mix AS Yule with Norse Yule.</blockquote>