Lumpkin Baptist Church Youth Choir perform at Yule Log Ceremony, December 4, 1999. Photo: Mike Haskey

Westville Yule Log Ceremony

This event traditionally opens the Christmas season at Westville Village, a collection of restored antebellum buildings and artifacts near Lumpkin, Georgia. Westville, billed as "a working 1850 town," is peopled by local craftsmen practicing blacksmithing, pottery, basket-making, spinning, weaving, farming, fireplace cooking, candle-making, lye soap making, and other crafts. The yule log ceremony is a blend of nineteenth century church rituals and plantation customs, featuring a hunt for the log, hanging of the greens, choral music, lighting of the log, passing of the touch of peace, a wassail bowl, and the procession of the greens. The ceremony is documented in text and photographs and in the book The Magic and Mystery of Westville.

Originally submitted by: Paul Coverdell, Senator.

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