More on stuff I found when reading up on Winter Solstice and the Yule season. Check out this illustration showing a Yule ritual of sweeping the trolls. I’m still searching, but here’s some mention I found on Yule trolls.

Yule was also apparently a good time to chase out ill-meaning wights like mischievous elves, dwarves, and trolls. Though it’s said that wights are who they are, and some serve a purpose, some are just…“Troll[s] – ugly dwarf[s] or giant[s], fiend[s] – [and] unpredictable,”… and sending them back to where they came from is good for both them and us. Towards the end of the night of our Yule Feast, we grab our large family Thors Hammer (He likes to chase Trolls), and a fire source such as a candle, and some noise makers, like drums that can sound like the thunder Thor is known for. We then form a procession to go through the house waving the hammer and fire while drumming and rattling and shouting, “Out Trolls, out Trolls!” to scare these ill meaning wights out of the house.

I like the idea of thwacking trolls with a good sturdy broom. It’s really the perfect time of year to do it. Here’s a lot of stuff I read about Yule. Check out this awesome local broom maker in Selmer, TN where I’m thinking about getting a good troll thwacker.

Will Hockaday was born around 1877 and grew up working the family farm (about 200 acres); raising corn, cotton and live stock to eat. As Will Hockaday farmed the land he had to learn many things to make a living. At the time it was not uncommon for a person to learn blacksmithing, woodcarving, chair caning, along with any other skill that would help make a living for his family. No one is sure when Will Hockaday made the first broom, we believe it was in the early 1900’s. Will got the idea to grow broomcorn in the summer, and make brooms in the winter. Family lore says he saw the information in the paper, and the following year Will Hockaday is making and selling brooms, from that time on the broom making was just part of the normal winter’s work. Sometime between 1911 and 1914 Will Hockaday found a picture of Broom Making Machinery; which led him to build his own equipment. He took parts off of old farm equipment and built the “Broom Wrapping Table” (called a Kicker Table). This was used to attach the broomcorn to the wood handle and the Broom Press to flatten out the broom, and sew the broom flat. This is the same equipment that I, Jack Martin, still use today. Broom making was not the main stay for Will Hockaday; farming was still the way of life.

You can look at their catalog online. I like #11, the “Wood Spirit” Hearth Broom. It looks like you can get a good swat in with that one. I wish I had found that site a week ago or I would have gotten one for my mother for Christmas. Hmmm.