ISABELLA FERRARI | STAFF REPORTER

Burning a log, putting out porridge and eating good food.

These are traditions for Jó’l, more commonly known as Yule.

Cambria York, a senior vocal performance and historical musicology major, is part of a religion known as Forn Siðr, also called Heathenry, a modern Pagan new religious movement, and celebrates Yule.

One of the many good foods they described was risalamande, a Danish rice pudding served with a red berry sauce.

It contains shaved or diced almonds, but it also has a whole almond–and whoever gets the whole almond gets a special gift.

But Yule is also about staving off the cold.

“It’s about keeping warm because the winter is a dangerous time,” they said.

The celebration lasts for 12 days from the end of the winter solstice to the new year.

Yule celebrates many things, from the coming of the new summer to togetherness. One celebration is leaving out porridge for the nisse (pronounced ni-SUH), which are little house spirits comparable to Santa’s elves. The difference is that they are “ambiguous in morality.” They do not want to be left out of celebrations.

“Leaving a little beer and leaving a little porridge for them is always a good gesture,” York said.