Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I. by Sir James George Frazer

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[The Yule log in the Ardennes.]

"In almost all the families of the Ardennes," we are told, "at the
present day they never fail to put the Yule log on the fireplace, but
formerly it was the object of a superstitious worship which is now
obsolete. The charred remains of it, placed under the pillow or under
the house, preserved the house from storms, and before it was burned the
Virgin used to come and sit on it, invisible, swaddling the infant
Jesus. At Nouzon, twenty years ago, the traditional log was brought into
the kitchen on Christmas Eve, and the grandmother, with a sprig of box
in her hand, sprinkled the log with holy water as soon as the clock
struck the first stroke of midnight. As she did so she chanted,

'_When Christmas comes,
Every one should rejoice,
For it is a New Covenant_.'

"Following the grandmother and joining in the song, the children and the
rest of the family marched thrice round the log, which was as fine a log
as could be got."[650] We can now, perhaps, understand why in Perigord
people who sat on the Yule log suffered from boils,[651] and why in
Lorraine young folks used to be warned that if they sat on it they would
have the scab.[652] The reason probably was that the Virgin and child
were supposed to be seated, invisible, upon the log and to resent the
indignity of contact with mortal children.

[The Yule log in the Vosges; the Yule log in Franche-Comte and
Burgundy.]

On Christmas Eve the mountaineers of Rupt, in the Vosges, also never
fail to put on the hearth the largest log which the hearth can hold;
they call it _la galeuche de Noe_, that is, the Yule log. Next morning
they rake the ashes for any charred fragments and keep them as valuable
talismans to guard them against the stroke of lightning. At Vagney and
other places near it in the Vosges it used to be customary on the same
evening to grease the hinges and the latches of the doors, that no harsh
grating sound should break the slumbers of the infant Christ. In the
Vosges Mountains, too, as indeed in many other places, cattle acquired
the gift of speech on Christmas Eve and conversed with each other in the
language of Christians. Their conversation was, indeed, most
instructive; for the future, it seems, had no secret worth mentioning
for them. Yet few people cared to be caught eavesdropping at the byre;
wise folk contented themselves with setting a good store of fodder in
the manger, then shut the door, and left the animals to their
ruminations. A farmer of Vecoux once hid in a corner of the byre to
overhear the edifying talk of the beasts. But it did him little good;
for one ox said to another ox, "What shall we do to-morrow?" and the
other replied, "We shall carry our master to the churchyard." Sure
enough the farmer died that very night and was buried next morning.[653]
In Franche-Comte, the province of France to the west of the Jura
mountains, if the Yule log is really to protect a house against thunder
and lightning, it is essential that it should burn during the midnight
mass, and that the flame should not go out before the divine service is
concluded. Otherwise the log is quite useless for the purpose.[654] In
Burgundy the log which is placed on the fire on Christmas Eve is called
the _suche_. While it is burning, the father of the family, assisted by
his wife and children, sings Christmas carols; and when he has finished,
he tells the smallest children to go into a corner of the room and pray
God that the log may give them sweeties. The prayer is invariably
answered.[655]

[The Yule log and the Yule candle in England.]

In England the customs and beliefs concerning the Yule log, clog, or
block, as it was variously called, used to be similar. On the night of
Christmas Eve, says the antiquary John Brand, "our ancestors were wont
to light up candles of an uncommon size, called Christmas Candles, and
lay a log of wood upon the fire, called a Yule-clog or Christmas-block,
to illuminate the house, and, as it were, to turn night into day. This
custom is, in some measure, still kept up in the North of England. In
the buttery of St. John's College, Oxford, an ancient candle-socket of
stone still remains ornamented with the figure of the Holy Lamb. It was
formerly used to burn the Christmas Candle in, on the high table at
supper, during the twelve nights of that festival."[656] "A tall mould
candle, called a Yule candle, is lighted and set on the table; these
candles are presented by the chandlers and grocers to their customers.
The Yule-log is bought of the carpenters' lads. It would be unlucky to
light either of them before the time, or to stir the fire or candle
during the supper; the candle must not be snuffed, neither must any one
stir from the table till supper is ended. In these suppers it is
considered unlucky to have an odd number at table. A fragment of the log
is occasionally saved, and put under a bed, to remain till next
Christmas: it secures the house from fire; a small piece of it thrown
into a fire occurring at the house of a neighbour, will quell the raging
flame. A piece of the candle should likewise be kept to ensure good
luck."[657] In the seventeenth century, as we learn from some verses of
Herrick, the English custom was to light the Yule log with a fragment of
its predecessor, which had been kept throughout the year for the
purpose; where it was so kept, the fiend could do no mischief.[658]
Indeed the practice of preserving a piece of the Yule-log of one year to
light that of the next was observed by at least one family at Cheadle in
Staffordshire down to the latter part of the nineteenth century.[659]

[The Yule-log in Yorkshire; the Yule log in Lincolnshire; the Yule log
in Warwickshire, Shropshire, and Herefordshire; the Yule log in Wales.]

In the North of England farm-servants used to lay by a large knotty
block of wood for the Christmas fire, and so long as the block lasted
they were entitled by custom to ale at their meals. The log was as large
as the hearth could hold.[660] At Belford, in Northumberland, "the lord
of the manor sends round to every house, on the afternoon of Christmas
Eve, the Yule Logs--four or five large logs--to be burnt on Christmas
Eve and Day. This old custom has always, I am told, been kept up
here."[661] The custom of burning the Yule log at Christmas used to be
observed in Wensleydale and other parts of Yorkshire, and prudent
housewives carefully preserved pieces of the log throughout the year. At
Whitby the portions so kept were stowed away under the bed till next
Christmas, when they were burnt with the new log; in the interval they
were believed to protect the house from conflagration, and if one of
them were thrown into the fire, it would quell a raging storm.[662] The
practice and the belief were similar at Filey on the coast of Yorkshire,
where besides the Yule log a tall Yule candle was lit on the same
evening.[663] In the West Riding, while the log blazed cheerfully, the
people quaffed their ale and sang, "Yule! Yule! a pack of new cards and
a Christmas stool!"[664] At Clee, in Lincolnshire, "when Christmas Eve
has come the Yule cake is duly cut and the Yule log lit, and I know of
some even middle-class houses where the new log must always rest upon
and be lighted by the old one, a small portion of which has been
carefully stored away to preserve a continuity of light and heat."[665]
At the village of Wootton Wawen in Warwickshire, down to 1759 at least,
the Yule-block, as it was called, was drawn into the house by a horse on
Christmas Eve "as a foundation for the fire on Christmas Day, and
according to the superstition of those times for the twelve days
following, as the said block was not to be entirely reduced to ashes
till that time had passed by."[666] As late as 1830, or thereabout, the
scene of lighting the hearth-fire on Christmas Eve, to continue burning
throughout the Christmas season, might have been witnessed in the
secluded and beautiful hill-country of West Shropshire, from Chirbury
and Worthen to Pulverbatch and Pontesbury. The Christmas brand or brund,
as they called it, was a great trunk of seasoned oak, holly, yew, or
crab-tree, drawn by horses to the farm-house door and thence rolled by
means of rollers and levers to the back of the wide open hearth, where
the fire was made up in front of it. The embers were raked up to it
every night, and it was carefully tended, that it might not go out
during the whole Christmas season. All those days no light might be
struck, given, or borrowed. Such was the custom at Worthen in the early
part of the nineteenth century.[667] In Herefordshire the Christmas
feast "lasted for twelve days, and no work was done. All houses were,
and are now, decorated with sprigs of holly and ivy, which must not be
brought in until Christmas Eve. A Yule log, as large as the open hearth
could accommodate, was brought into the kitchen of each farmhouse, and
smaller ones were used in the cottages. W---- P---- said he had seen a
tree drawn into the kitchen at Kingstone Grange years ago by two cart
horses; when it had been consumed a small portion was carefully kept to
be used for lighting next year's log. 'Mother always kept it very
carefully; she said it was lucky, and kept the house from fire and from
lightning.' It seems to have been the general practice to light it on
Christmas Eve."[668] "In many parts of Wales it is still customary to
keep part of the Yule-log until the following Christmas Eve 'for luck.'
It is then put into the fireplace and burnt, but before it is consumed
the new log is put on, and thus 'the old fire and the new' burn
together. In some families this is done from force of habit, and they
cannot now tell why they do it; but in the past the observance of this
custom was to keep witches away, and doubtless was a survival of
fire-worship."[669]

[The Yule log in Servia; the cutting of the oak tree to form the Yule
log.]

But nowhere, apparently, in Europe is the old heathen ritual of the Yule
log preserved to the present day more perfectly than in Servia. At early
dawn on Christmas Eve (_Badnyi Dan_) every peasant house sends two of
its strongest young men to the nearest forest to cut down a young oak
tree and bring it home. There, after offering up a short prayer or
crossing themselves thrice, they throw a handful of wheat on the chosen
oak and greet it with the words, "Happy _Badnyi_ day to you!" Then they
cut it down, taking care that it shall fall towards the east at the
moment when the sun's orb appears over the rim of the eastern horizon.
Should the tree fall towards the west, it would be the worst possible
omen for the house and its inmates in the ensuing year; and it is also
an evil omen if the tree should be caught and stopped in its fall by
another tree. It is important to keep and carry home the first chip from
the fallen oak. The trunk is sawn into two or three logs, one of them
rather longer than the others. A flat, unleavened cake of the purest
wheaten flour is brought out of the house and broken on the larger of
the logs by a woman. The logs are left for the present to stand outside,
leaning on one of the walls of the house. Each of them is called a Yule
log (_badnyak_).

[Prayers to Colleda.]

Meanwhile the children and young people go from house to house singing
special songs called _Colleda_ because of an old pagan divinity Colleda,
who is invoked in every line. In one of them she is spoken of as "a
beautiful little maid"; in another she is implored to make the cows
yield milk abundantly. The day is spent in busy preparations. The women
bake little cakes of a special sort in the shape of lambs, pigs, and
chickens; the men make ready a pig for roasting, for in every Servian
house roast pig is the principal dish at Christmas. A bundle of straw,
tied with a rope, is brought into the courtyard and left to stand there
near the Yule logs.

[The bringing in of the Yule log.]

At the moment when the sun is setting all the members of the family
assemble in the central hall (the great family kitchen) of the principal
house. The mother of the family (or the wife of the chief of the
Zadrooga)[670] gives a pair of woollen gloves to one of the young men,
who goes out and presently returns carrying in his gloved hands the
largest of the logs. The mother receives him at the threshold, throwing
at him a handful of wheat, in which the first chip of the oak tree cut
in the early morning for the Yule log has been kept all day. Entering
the central hall with the Yule log the young man greets all present with
the words: "Good evening, and may you have a happy Christmas!" and they
all answer in chorus, "May God and the happy and holy Christmas help
thee!" In some parts of Servia the chief of the family, holding a glass
of red wine in his hand, greets the Yule log as if it were a living
person, and drinks to its health. After that, another glass of red wine
is poured on the log. Then the oldest male member of the family,
assisted by the young man who brought in the log, places it on the
burning fire so that the thicker end of the log protrudes for about a
foot from the hearth. In some places this end is smeared with honey.

[The ceremony with the straw; the Yule candle.]

Next the mother of the family brings in the bundle of straw which was
left standing outside. All the young children arrange themselves behind
her in a row. She then walks slowly round the hall and the adjoining
rooms, throwing handfuls of straw on the floor and imitating the
cackling of a hen, while all the children follow her peeping with their
lips as if they were chickens cheeping and waddling after the mother
bird. When the floor is well strewn with straw, the father or the eldest
member of the family throws a few walnuts in every corner of the hall,
pronouncing the words: "In the name of God the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Ghost, Amen!" A large pot, or a small wooden box, filled with
wheat is placed high in the east corner of the hall, and a tall candle
of yellow wax is stuck in the middle of the wheat. Then the father of
the family reverently lights the candle and prays God to bless the
family with health and happiness, the fields with a good harvest, the
beehives with plenty of honey, the cattle and sheep with young, and the
cows with abundant milk and rich cream. After that they all sit down to
supper, squatting on the floor, for the use of chairs and tables is
forbidden on this occasion.

[The roast Pig; the drawing of the water.]

By four o'clock next morning (Christmas Day) the whole village is astir;
indeed most people do not sleep at all that night. It is deemed most
important to keep the Yule log burning brightly all night long. Very
early, too, the pig is laid on the fire to roast, and at the same moment
one of the family goes out into the yard and fires a pistol or gun; and
when the roast pig is removed from the fire the shot is repeated. Hence
for several hours in the early morning of Christmas Day such a popping
and banging of firearms goes on that a stranger might think a stubborn
skirmish was in progress. Just before the sun rises a girl goes and
draws water at the village spring or at the brook. Before she fills her
vessels, she wishes the water a happy Christmas and throws a handful of
wheat into it. The first cupfuls of water she brings home are used to
bake a special Christmas cake (_chesnitsa_), of which all the members
partake at dinner, and portions are kept for absent relatives. A small
silver coin is baked in the cake, and he or she who gets it will be
lucky during the year.

[The Christmas visiter (_polaznik_).]

All the family gathered round the blazing Yule log now anxiously expect
the arrival of the special Christmas visiter, who bears the title of
_polaznik_. He is usually a young boy of a friendly family. No other
person, not even the priest or the mayor of the village, would be
allowed to set foot in the house before the arrival of this important
personage. Therefore he ought to come, and generally does come, very
early in the morning. He carries a woollen glove full of wheat, and when
the door is opened at his knock he throws handfuls of wheat on the
family gathered round the hearth, greeting them with the words, "Christ
is born!" They all answer, "He is born indeed," and the hostess flings a
handful of wheat over the Christmas visiter, who moreover casts some of
his wheat into the corners of the hall as well as upon the people. Then
he walks straight to the hearth, takes a shovel and strikes the burning
log so that a cloud of sparks flies up the chimney, while he says, "May
you have this year so many oxen, so many horses, so many sheep, so many
pigs, so many beehives full of honey, so much good luck, prosperity,
progress, and happiness!" Having uttered these good wishes, he embraces
and kisses his host. Then he turns again to the hearth, and after
crossing himself falls on his knees and kisses the projecting part of
the Yule log. On rising to his feet he places a coin on the log as his
gift. Meanwhile a low wooden chair has been brought in by a woman, and
the visiter is led to it to take his seat. But just as he is about to do
so, the chair is jerked away from under him by a male member of the
family and he measures his length on the floor. By this fall he is
supposed to fix into the ground all the good wishes which he has uttered
that morning. The hostess thereupon wraps him in a thick blanket, and he
sits quietly muffled in it for a few minutes; the thick blanket in which
he is swathed is believed, on the principles of homoeopathic magic, to
ensure that the cows will give thick cream next year. While he sits thus
enriching the milk of the dairy, the lads who are to herd the sheep in
the coming year go to the hearth and kneeling down before it kiss each
other across the projecting end of the Yule log. By this demonstration
of affection they are thought to seal the love of the ewes for their
lambs.[671]

[The Yule log among the Servians of Slavonia; the Christmas visiter
(_polazenik_).]

The ritual of the Yule log is observed in a similar form by the Servians
who inhabit the southern provinces of Austria. Thus in Syrmia, a
district of Slavonia which borders on Servia, the head of the house
sends out one or two young men on Christmas Eve to cut the Yule log in
the nearest forest. On being brought in, the log is not mixed with the
ordinary fuel but placed by itself, generally leaning against a
fruit-tree till the evening shadows begin to fall. When a man carries it
into the kitchen and lays it on the fire, the master of the house throws
corn over him, and the two greet each other solemnly the one saying,
"Christ is born," and the other answering "He is born indeed." Later in
the evening the master of the house pours a glass of wine on the charred
end of the log, whereupon one of the younger men takes the burnt piece
of wood, carries it to the orchard, and sets it up against one of the
fruit-trees. For this service he is rewarded by the master of the house
with a piece of money. On Christmas Day, when the family is assembled at
table, they expect the arrival of the special Christmas visiter (called
_polazenik_), the only person who is allowed to enter the house that
day. When he comes, he goes to the hearth, stirs the fire with the poker
and says, "Christ is born. May the family enjoy all good luck and
happiness in this year! May the cattle increase in number like the
sparks I have struck!" As he says these words, the mistress of the house
pours corn over him and leads him to the parlour, where he takes the
place of honour beside the master of the house. He is treated with
marked attention and respect. The family are at pains to entertain him;
they sing their best songs for his amusement, and after midnight a
numerous band of men and maidens escorts him by torchlight, with songs
and jubilation, to his own house.[672]

[The Yule log among the Servians of Dalmatia, Herzegovina, and
Montenegro; the Yule log in Albania.]

Among the Servians of Dalmatia, Herzegovina, and Montenegro it is
customary on Christmas Eve (_Badnyi Dan_) to fetch a great Yule log
(_badnyak_), which serves as a symbol of family luck. It is generally
cut from an evergreen oak, but sometimes from an olive-tree or a beech.
At nightfall the master of the house himself brings in the log and lays
it on the fire. Then he and all present bare their heads, sprinkle the
log with wine, and make a cross on it. After that the master of the
house says, "Welcome, O log! May God keep you from mishap!" So saying he
strews peas, maize, raisins, and wheat on the log, praying for God's
blessing on all members of the family living and dead, for heaven's
blessing on their undertakings, and for domestic prosperity. In
Montenegro they meet the log with a loaf of bread and a jug of wine,
drink to it, and pour wine on it, whereupon the whole family drinks out
of the same beaker. In Dalmatia and other places, for example in Rizano,
the Yule logs are decked by young women with red silk, flowers, laurel
leaves, ribbons, and even gold wire; and the lights near the doorposts
are kindled when the log is brought into the house. Among the Morlaks,
as soon as the master of the house crosses the threshold with the Yule
log, one of the family must sprinkle corn on him and say, "God bless
you," to which he answers, "The same to you." A piece of the log is kept
till New Year's Day to kindle a light with or it is carried out to the
fields to protect them from hail. It is customary to invite before hand
a Christmas visitor (_polazaynik_) and to admit no one else into the
house on that day. He comes early, carrying in his sleeves a quantity of
corn which he throws into the house, saying, "Christ is born." One of
the household replies, "He is born indeed," and throws corn on the
visiter. Then the newcomer goes up to the hearth, pokes the fire and
strikes the burning log with the poker so hard that sparks fly off in
all directions. At each blow he says, "I wish the family as many cows,
calves, sucking pigs, goats, and sheep, and as many strokes of good
luck, as the sparks that now fly from the log." With these words he
throws some small coins into the ashes.[673] In Albania down to recent
years it was a common custom to burn a Yule log at Christmas, and with
it corn, maize, and beans; moreover, wine and _rakia_ were poured on the
flames, and the ashes of the fire were scattered on the fields to make
them fertile.[674] The Huzuls, a Slavonic people of the Carpathians,
kindle fire by the friction of wood on Christmas Eve (Old Style, the
fifth of January) and keep it burning till Twelfth Night.[675]

[Belief that the Yule log protects against fire and lightning.]

It is remarkable how common the belief appears to have been that the
remains of the Yule-log, if kept throughout the year, had power to
protect the house against fire and especially against lightning.[676] As
the Yule log was frequently of oak,[677] it seems possible that this
belief may be a relic of the old Aryan creed which associated the
oak-tree with the god of thunder.[678] Whether the curative and
fertilizing virtues ascribed to the ashes of the Yule log, which are
supposed to heal cattle as well as men, to enable cows to calve, and to
promote the fruitfulness of the earth,[679] may not be derived from the
same ancient source, is a question which deserves to be considered.

[Public celebrations of the fire-festival at Midwinter; the bonfire on
Christmas Eve at Schweina in Thuringia.]

Thus far we have regarded only the private or domestic celebration of
the fire-festival at midwinter. The public celebration of such rites at
that season of the year appears to have been rare and exceptional in
Central and Northern Europe. However, some instances are on record. Thus
at Schweina, in Thuringia, down to the second half of the nineteenth
century, the young people used to kindle a great bonfire on the Antonius
Mountain every year on Christmas Eve. Neither the civil nor the
ecclesiastical authorities were able to suppress the celebration; nor
could the cold, rain, and snow of the season damp or chill the
enthusiasm of the celebrants. For some time before Christmas the young
men and boys were busy building a foundation for the bonfire on the top
of the mountain, where the oldest church of the village used to stand.
The foundation consisted of a pyramidal structure composed of stones,
turf, and moss. When Christmas Eve came round, a strong pole, with
bundles of brushwood tied to it, was erected on the pyramid. The young
folk also provided themselves with poles to which old brooms or faggots
of shavings were attached. These were to serve as torches. When the
evening grew dark and the church bells rang to service, the troop of
lads ascended the mountain; and soon from the top the glare of the
bonfire lit up the darkness, and the sound of a hymn broke the stillness
of night. In a circle round the great fire lesser fires were kindled;
and last of all the lads ran about swinging their lighted torches, till
these twinkling points of fire, moving down the mountain-side, went out
one by one in the darkness. At midnight the bells rang out from the
church tower, mingled with the blast of horns and the sound of singing.
Feasting and revelry were kept up throughout the night, and in the
morning young and old went to early mass to be edified by hearing of the
light eternal.[680]

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