Yule etymologically is of the same root as the word wheel, the wheel of time (jul is norwegian for wheel), the wheel of annual time in this case (not the wheel of the earth’s axial precession), and when the yule log was finished burning (for 12 hours or 12 days), a piece was taken from it to use to start the fire on next year’s yule log, the cycle of life as it was called, based on nature worship. The month of July was named for Iulus, the fifth month of the latin calendar, and renamed (put in mid summer too) for the emperor Julius Caesar in his day.
