Ærra Geóla, „before Yule", is the first of the two Yule months and leads into the darkest time of the year – toward the winter solstice and the great feast of Jól.
Name & Meaning
The two months around the solstice were called Geóla (Yule) by the Anglo-Saxons – the Ærra Geóla before, the Æftera Geóla after. Bede derives the name from the „turning of the sun", from which the day grows again. German Julmond/Christmond carries the same dark solemnity.
Work & Custom
Outside the fieldwork rests; indoors one prepares the Yule feast: baking, drawing candles, decking the hall, laying up stores for the feast days. With Mothers’ Night (Módraniht) and the solstice the year’s opening begins – and with it the twelve Rauhnächte, in which the borders to the otherworld were held to be thin.
Bede’s Testimony
The Giuli months take their name from the turning of the sun toward the growing of the day.
— Bede, De temporum ratione ch. 15.
Sources
Bede, De temporum ratione ch. 15 (Giuli, Módraniht); German month names (Julmond/Christmond).