or Jol, a Gothic word signifying a "sumptuous treat;" and particularly applied to a religious festival first among the heathens and afterwards among Christians. By the latter it was given to CHRISTMAS; which is still known under the name of Jul, or Yule, in Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden; nay, even in the north of Britain, and whence the month of January by the Saxons was styled Giuli, i.e., "the Festival." As this feast had originally been dedicated by our heathen ancestors to the sun, their supreme deity; so the Christians, for the purpose of engaging the minds of their Ethnic (gentile) brethren, ordered it should be celebrated in memory of the birth of Christ; and thus it has been through ages a feast of joy and entertainment. We are indebted to Procopius for the first account of this feast.