Gotisk affaradag jul vid det bysantinska hovet: Ur Konstantin Porphyogennetos De ceremoniis, med anmärkningar av Nils Sjöberg, Johann Jakob Reiske, Martin P:n Nilsson och Pär Sandin

Abstract

The description of the "Gothic play" in Constantin Porphyrogennetus, De ceremoniis (vol. II pp. 181ff. Voigt) may ultimately go back to the Scandinavian custom "Affaradag jóla", during which Yule was driven out violently by aid of twigs, brooms and whips. The utterance "toul" may be a distortion of "ut, jul" ("out, Yule").