Christmas memes 2025
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Not exactly a meme, but...
Odin was known as Jólnir, the Yule One, a name that bound him to the winter solstice and the sacred season of Jól.
Yule marked the deepest darkness of the year, when the boundary between worlds was believed to weaken.
It was during this time that Odin rode through the stormy sky leading the Wild Hunt.
He was not a gentle holiday figure but a god who wandered the world in disguise, watching humanity and deciding who was worthy of reward or doom.
People made offerings during Yule to appease Odin, the ancestors, and the spirits of the land so that winter would not claim their lives or livestock.
The image of a bearded man who travels through the winter night, judges human behavior, and dispenses favor or punishment comes from this ancient Yule tradition.
His shadow still survives today in the figure of Santa Claus.
