In Serbia axe was still used as a protection against (thunder, hail) storms until recently. Before a storm, an axe was thrown into the yard with the blade facing the sky, "to cut the clouds, ice"...
People believed that axe was the weapon of the Thunder God, and by using the axe, people "enacted" the Thunder God himself...
Check my posts Jupiter Zeus Dolichenus, Teshub killing snake, Goibniu to see why the thunder gods were linked to (armed with) axes...
Why were Thunder Gods armed with axes?
A 15th-century engraving depicts the town of Ensisheim in present-day France being struck by a thunderbolt (stone)...I talked about this in my post "Jack and magic beans", about giants who lived on a stone sky and who hurled giants rocks down on earth...The original sky (stone) thunder gods...
People all over the world believed that thunderbolts were made of stone. Interestingly, people also thought that these thunder stones were actually (shaped like) stone axes...This belief existed in Europe until well into the Middle Ages...Which is why ancient stone axes were believed to be petrified lightnings and were kept as talismans as a protection against lightning strikes...
I talked about this in my posts "Thunder axe" and "Kataibates"...
People always used (iron) axe as the first and the best weapon against (thunder, hail) storms. But they believed that iron in general was in some way connected with thunder (god) and could influence his behaviour.
This can be seen from the fact that other sharp iron objects were also used as a defence against (thunder, hail) storms. Like a knife, scythe, sickle, rake, which were also sometimes placed outside crossed, turned, like the axe, upwards with sharp ends facing the clouds...
This directly equates smiths (makers of sharp iron objects) with thunder gods. I talk about this link in detail in my post Goibniu...
In some parts of Serbia, fire tongs, fire pokers were also place in the yard pointing upward as a protection against (thunder, hail) storms.
A blacksmith has to strike his anvil with his hammer on every Christmas morning before sunrise. If he doesn't do it, his hammer and anvil should be broken and he and his family should be expelled from the tribe (medieval Vasojevići tribe law cannon, Montenegro)...
Striking anvil with hammer produces sparks and sparks create fire. And Christmas Day is the day when the fire of the sun gets rekindled (the old winter solstice, the rebirth of the sun and solar year)...
This is what Yule log rituals are all about...
A toast to yule log, Dalmatia, 1893. South Slavs believed that yule log was the earthly seat of god, addressed it with utmost respect and made sacrifices to it, during cutting, bringing in, burning...
I talked about this in my posts "Badnjak", about Yule log customs in the Balkans, "La buche de Noel", about Yule log customs in France and "Yule log in English tradition", about Yule log customs in England.
BTW, you need an axe to cut a Yule log...
Everything indicates that the Yule log ceremonies are solar ceremonies. But why was Oak, the holy tree of Perun, The Thunder God, used as Badnyak (Yule Log)?
To understand the link between the heart fire, yule log, thunder god and the sun, you need to check this out:
"It is a great secret how Svarog (heavenly and earthly fire) is at the same time Perun (thunder) and Svetovid (Sun)"...
Mathis (Matthias) Gerung, The Mighty Angel with the Little Book (Revelation 10), illuminated miniature on parchment in the Ottheinrich Bible, vol. 8, fol. 293r, c. 1530–1532 AD. Collection: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich...
Apparently, no one knows what this image really represents. I think it represents this:
Modern science has confirmed that it is indeed (heavenly) fire of the Sun which through Lightning descends to earth and becomes (earthly) Fire. I talked about this in my post "Sun Thunder Fire"...
So this is why the Yule Log is an Oak Log.
An Oak Yule Log (The Holy Tree of the Thunder Gods) is placed in the house hearth, the seat of the Earthly Fire on Christmas (Winter Solstice) eve to (symbolically) link it to the Sun's Fire...As long the Yule Log is burning, these two fires are (symbolically) connected and on Christmas (Winter Solstice) morning, the earth fire will (symbolically) ascend from the hearth to the sun and will restart the sun's fire...
BTW, this is how Ancient Greeks symbolically depicted the same thing:
"Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo...come now into this house...having one mind with Zeus the all-wise..." (Homeric Hymn To Hestia)...
What does this mean? Sun (Apollo, Helios) creates Fire (Hestia) through lightning (Zeus)...
I talked about this in my post "Having one mind with Zeus"...
Back to sparks:
In Serbia, one of the most important part of the Yule log ceremony was the sparks divination performed by the first footer, the luck bringer...I talked about this in my post "First Footer"...
This "creation of sparks by striking burning Oak (the sacred tree of the thunder gods) Yule log" seems to me to be symbolic enactment of the creation of lightning by the thunder god...
This is why smith "creating sparks by striking hot iron with a hammer" has the same symbolic meaning and directly links smiths with thunder gods...
And this is why fire tongs, fire pokers are used for protection against thunder and lightning.
In some parts of Serbia a broom was thrown into the middle of the yard as a protection against (thunder, hail) storms.
I talked a lot about brooms and storms and witches (who rode on brooms and whose main sin, according to medieval witchcraft literature, was storm, bad weather, magic).
The broom pointing up looks very much like another rune, this time Elder Futhark rune, Algiz...Which means "Protection"...From thunder and lightning?
Check theses two posts first, then follow links for more info: Walpurgis night, Donderbezem...
Finally, in some areas of Serbia, during the (thunder, hail) storms, a tripod was upturned in the yard with the legs pointing towards the sky...
This is very interesting...
Is this symbolic invocation of Triglav?
