At Yule Cernunnos is reborn to the Goddess to start the cycle of life over again. One of the oldest Gods that we can find evidence of it is still hard to piece his story together because his cult was an oral tradition. A pan-Celtic deity, Cernunnos was worshiped throughout the British Isles and much of Western Europe. Some historians claim to trace his lineage back to Rome and even farther. Also known as Herne the Hunter, The Master Hunter, The Horned God, The Wildhunter, and The Greenman, he is the God of the wild woods. He is depicted, often sitting below an oak tree, as having nut colored skin, curly or wild hair, and the antlers of a stag entwined with ivy. Cernunnos is associated with many stages of the life cycle as we move through the wheel of the year. In spring he is a force of fertility as the Goddess’s Consort, in fall he withers and dies as a sacrifice to ensure future fertility, and at Yule the he is born again. During spring, his fertility aspect, he is sometimes seen as sitting below the oak naked and phallus fully erect.
Autumn time shows him leading the Wildhunt, gathering the souls that are to be taken to the Otherworld. Though some may fear a deity that comes to gather their soul Cernunnos is seen as compassionate towards those crossing, offering them comfort by singing to them on their journey.
He functions, also, as a God of reincarnation because of his rebirth every year at Yule. Bringing back the spark of hope and light to the earth on the longest night of the year. There is more to Cernunnos though than just fertility, death, and reincarnation. He is the God of crossroads, wealth, commerce, warriors, sex, passion, prosperity, vegetation, animals, hunting, and the harvest.
The sacred symbols of The Horned God are the stag, pan pipes (from his comparisons to Pan), oak leaves, and antlers.
For those who carry on the tradition of the Yulelog, in one form or another, an oak log would be recommended to honor this Horned God on the longest night of the year.