Yule log
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Yulelog.jpg
The Yule log comes from the Yule festival, which gave rise to many other popular Christmas traditions. The word yule means wheel, a symbol representing the sun, and the yuletide was a festivity celebrating the fact that the days would now start to get longer and warmer again. The yule log was a huge log (sometimes an entire tree) that was burned slowly throughout these days to herald the birth of this new sun. One end of the log would be placed in the fireplace with the rest sticking out into the room. The log was slowly fed into the fire over the course of several days until it was completely consumed.
Televising burning yule logs has become a Christmas tradition for some television stations in the United States.
It has also come to refer to log-shaped Christmas cakes, also known as "chocolate logs".