The Feast of Ullr was traditionally a hunting festival. Ullr, god of hunting, and the bow was honoured and a feast was shared by the tribe of the spoils of the hunt.
The tribe (or family) on this day would take a portion of the meat from the hunt and have a large and joyous feast before the winter sets in hard. Today, most of us do not hunt, we get our meals from the supermarket, and if we are lucky, we grow a small amount of herbs and vegetables for eating. But we always get our meat from the grocery store. So celebrating a feast of the hunt is not as powerful a gesture in our modern times.
Many U.S. use the national Thanksgiving holiday to honor our Gods and Goddesses of the hunt (it is deer hunting season in many parts of the country). We thank them for a successful hunting season with a blot and also bless/honor those who hunt to support the family. Weapons are dedicated on this day to Ullr. Some also take advantage of the family-oriented secular holiday to honor their personal ancestors.
One way to do this is to set an extra place at the table and leave it empty so that any ancestor who wishes may join us for the feast. This is a great time for telling tales handed down through the family. Still other Asatruar refer to this holiday as “Weyland Smith’s Day” and use it to honor that great Germanic craftsman as well as those artists and artisans around us.
Ullr and Skaði, the God of hunting and archery and the Goddess of skiing, are both traditionally honored on the Feast of Ullr. This is a time when one’s weapons are blessed, and the last big hunt, before the darkest, coldest part of winter comes, has customarily been celebrated with a hunting feast.
Ullr (pronounced “ULL-er,” often Anglicized as “Ull,” and also occasionally referred to as “Ullinn”) is an obscure and enigmatic Norse god. Ullr is the son of the grain goddess Sif, and therefore the stepson of the thunder god Thor. Ullr is an excellent archer, hunter, skater, and skier, handsome, warlike, and an especially apt deity to invoke before a duel.
The prevalence of place names derived from “Ullr” throughout Sweden and eastern Norway further attests to Ullr having once been an exceptionally prominent figure amongst the Scandinavian gods. Many of these names are combined with elements such as hof, “temple,” which indicates active worship of Ullr during the early Viking Age and possibly later as well
The meaning and etymology of his name are uncertain, but some have suggested that it could be derived from a Germanic root that can also be found in Gothic wulþus, “glory,” and Old English wuldor (“glory, splendor, honor”).
Think of some ways to honor Ullr. While the feast is traditionally celebrated on the 17th of November, in the United States it is often combined with the traditional Thanksgiving day celebrations. If you practice archery, consider leaving an offering in return for Ullr’s blessings on your bow. Go ice skating or skiing as a way to celebrate the god.
Learning Wicca and the Tradition of the Craft 