Yuletide is another word for Christmas, Christmastime, Christmastide, Yule, and Noel. It denotes a period of time, December 24th through January 6th. The word Yuletide isn’t used as often as Christmas but is known through Christmas carols such as “Deck the Hall” (“Troll the ancient Yuletide carol…” or “while I tell of Yuletide treasure”), “The Christmas Song” (“Yuletide carols being sung by a choir…”), and “Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas” (“Make the yuletide gay…”).

The word Yule can loosely be translated to mean feast; it comes from the Anglo-Saxon word geol, which means feast. In pre-Christian times, the entire month of December was a feasting month due to the winter solstice celebrations. Yule was probably applied to Christmas as well because of the feasts. Another interpretation of the word comes from the Old Germanic word Jol, which means a turning wheel and refers to the sun wheel that rises after the winter solstice.

Yule or Yuletide is a winter period and event that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic peoples and some neighboring peoples as a religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The earliest references to the event are by way of indigenous month names (lasting between what is now mid-November and early January), whereas the event may have been centered on or around Midwinter (winter solstice). Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, increased supernatural activity, and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Modranicht.

One way of defining yuletide is as a noun that simply means the season of Yule, aka Christmas. Yule is another word for Christmas, so Yuletide is another way of saying Christmastime or the season of Christmas. Officially, the Christmas, or Yule, period extends from December 24, Christmas Eve, to January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. The terms ‘Yule’ and ‘Yuletide’ have now become archaic and are rarely used in colloquial speech. These terms are really only still used in holiday carols, such as “Deck the Halls” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

The word ‘Yule’ also has Scandinavian, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon etymological roots. According to these heritages, ‘Yule’ means a wintertime holiday.

Another definition of ‘Yule’ refers to one of the eight Sabbats celebrated in Wicca, which is an observance of the winter solstice.