The Oera Linda Forum

God Yule everyone. There isn't much to this theory but I think it is fun. That being 'Godfreyad the Old' as mentioned in 'Yule, Script, and Numbers' is the predecessor for the following father Christmas archetypes that arose throughout history. We don't have much on Godfreyad aside from a single sentence -

The ‘witkeaning’ — that is: sea king — Godfreyad the Old made individual counting numbers thereof, for both the Standscript and the Runscript.

We know that he is old, celebrated during yule, wise enough to devise a counting system, and if his name is any indication of character he would've been a good Fryas. It has been understood by many scholars that the folklore of 'Santa Claus' or 'Father Christmas' is pre-christian in nature. Many claim the origin is with Odin / Wodin and his 'wild hunt' (Which interestingly in some folklore he isn't always the leader of, see: https://norse-mythology.org/the-wild-hunt/)

The connection to Odin to me was always reasonable, but the wild hunt being correlated with gift giving, feasts, etc. never connected with me. The wild hunt doesn't seem explicitly connected with Yule, instead simply happening within the same season as it - and it is more of a terrifying ghostly apparition than a feast-day celebration. I think Godfreyad as the origin of Santa Claus makes more sense than Wodin.

I wish a Merry Yule to those in the northern half of Wralda, from the Southern. But I think i missed where Godfreyath is celebrated during Yule.

Jol-like Yule indeed!
Yes, chapter 6 suggests that thanks to Frya's, Festa's and Godfreyad's* respective creations of the various writing and counting symbols, the Fryasbern saw reason to yearly celebrate the Yule:

It is, therefore, not unfitting that we should celebrate the Yule every year.

(*GODFRÉJAD — this name means 'God-asked')
In case some here have missed it: Bruce and I recorded a video about Yule in Oera Linda (link).