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[737] _The Mirror_, 24th June, 1826, quoted by J. M. Kemble, _The Saxons
in England_ (London, 1849), i. 360 note 2.

[738] Leland L. Duncan, "Fairy Beliefs and other Folklore Notes from
County Leitrim," _Folk-lore_, vii. (1896) pp. 181 _sq._

[739] (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Researches into the Early History of
Mankind_, Third Edition (London, 1878), pp. 237 _sqq._; _The Magic Art
and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 207 _sqq._

[740] For some examples of such extinctions, see _The Magic Art and the
Evolution of Kings_, ii. 261 _sqq._, 267 _sq._; _Spirits of the Corn and
of the Wild_, i. 311, ii. 73 _sq._; and above, pp. 124 _sq._, 132-139.
The reasons for extinguishing fires ceremonially appear to vary with the
occasion. Sometimes the motive seems to be a fear of burning or at least
singeing a ghost, who is hovering invisible in the air; sometimes it is
apparently an idea that a fire is old and tired with burning so long,
and that it must be relieved of the fatiguing duty by a young and
vigorous flame.

[741] Above, pp. 147, 154. The same custom appears to have been observed
in Ireland. See above, p. 158.

[742] J.N.B. Hewitt, "New Fire among the Iroquois," _The American
Anthropologist_, ii. (1889) p. 319.

[743] J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,*[4] i. 507.

[744] See above, p. 290.

[745] William Hone, _Every-day Book_ (London, preface dated 1827), i.
coll. 853 _sq._ (June 24th), quoting Hitchin's _History of Cornwall_.

[746] Hunt, _Romances and Drolls of the West of England_, 1st series, p.
237, quoted by W. Henderson, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern
Counties of England and the Borders_ (London, 1879), p. 149. Compare
J.G. Dalyell, _The Darker Superstitions of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1834),
p. 184: "Here also maybe found a solution of that recent expedient so
ignorantly practised in the neighbouring kingdom, where one having lost
many of his herd by witchcraft, as he concluded, burnt a living calf to
break the spell and preserve the remainder."

[747] Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London,
1909), p. 23.

[748] W. Henderson, _op. cit._ pp. 148 _sq._

[749] Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of
Scotland_ (London, 1881), p. 186.

[750] R. N. Worth, _History of Devonshire_, Second Edition (London,
1886), p. 339. The diabolical nature of the toad probably explains why
people in Herefordshire think that if you wear a toad's heart concealed
about your person you can steal to your heart's content without being
found out. A suspected thief was overheard boasting, "They never catches
_me_: and they never ooll neither. I allus wears a toad's heart round my
neck, _I_ does." See Mrs. Ella M. Leather, in _Folk-lore_, xxiv. (1913)
p. 238.

[751] Above, p. 301.

[752] Robert Hunt, _Popular Romances of the West of England_, Third
Edition (London, 1881), p. 320. The writer does not say where this took
place; probably it was in Cornwall or Devonshire.

[753] Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of
Scotland_ (London, 1881), p. 184.

[754] _County Folk-lore, Printed Extracts, No. 2, Suffolk_, collected
and edited by the Lady Eveline Camilla Gurdon (London, 1893), pp. 190
_sq._, quoting _Some Materials for the History of Wherstead_ by F.
Barham Zincke (Ipswich, 1887), p. 168.

[755] _County Folk-lore, Printed Extracts, No. 2, Suffolk_, p. 191,
referring to Murray's _Handbook for Essex, Suffolk_, etc., p. 109.

[756] (Sir) John Rhys, "Manx Folklore and Superstitions," _Folk-lore_,
ii. (1891) pp. 300-302; repeated in his _Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and
Manx_ (Oxford, 1901), i. 306 _sq._ Sir John Rhys does not doubt that the
old woman saw, as she said, a live sheep being burnt on old May-day; but
he doubts whether it was done as a sacrifice. He adds: "I have failed to
find anybody else in Andreas or Bride, or indeed in the whole island,
who will now confess to having ever heard of the sheep sacrifice on old
May-day." However, the evidence I have adduced of a custom of burnt
sacrifice among English rustics tends to confirm the old woman's
statement, that the burning of the live sheep which she witnessed was
not an act of wanton cruelty but a sacrifice per formed for the public
good.

[757] (Sir) John Rhys, "Manx Folklore and Superstitions," _Folk-lore_,
ii. (1891) pp. 299 _sq.; id., Celtic Folklore, Welsh and Manx_ (Oxford,
1901), i. 304 _sq._ We have seen that by burning the blood of a
bewitched bullock a farmer expected to compel the witch to appear. See
above, p. 303.

[758] Olaus Magnus, _Historia de Gentium Septentrionalium
Conditionibus_, lib xviii. cap. 47, p. 713 (ed. Bale, 1567).

[759] Collin de Plancy, _Dictionnaire Infernal_ (Paris, 1825-1826), iii.
473 _sq._, referring to Boguet.

[760] Collin de Plancy, _op. cit._ iii. 473.

[761] Felix Chapiseau, _Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche_ (Paris,
1902), i. 239 _sq._ The same story is told in Upper Brittany. See Paul
Sebillot, _Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne_ (Paris,
1882), i. 292. It is a common belief that a man who has once been
transformed into a werewolf must remain a were-wolf for seven years
unless blood is drawn from him in his animal shape, upon which he at
once recovers his human form and is delivered from the bondage and
misery of being a were-wolf. See F. Chapiseau, _op. cit._ i. 218-220;
Amelie Bosquet, _La Normandie Romanesque et Merveilleuse_ (Paris and
Rouen, 1845), p. 233. On the belief in were-wolves in general; see W.
Hertz, _Der Werwolf_ (Stuttgart, 1862); J. Grimm, _Deutsche
Mythologie_*[4] i. 915 _sqq._; (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Primitive
Culture_[2] (London, 1873), i. 308 _sqq._; R. Andree, _Ethnographische
Parallelen und Vergleiche_ (Stuttgart, 1878), pp. 62-80. In North
Germany it is believed that a man can turn himself into a wolf by
girding himself with a strap made out of a wolf's hide. Some say that
the strap must have nine, others say twelve, holes and a buckle; and
that according to the number of the hole through which the man inserts
the tongue of the buckle will be the length of time of his
transformation. For example, if he puts the tongue of the buckle through
the first hole, he will be a wolf for one hour; if he puts it through
the second, he will be a wolf for two days; and so on, up to the last
hole, which entails a transformation for a full year. But by putting off
the girdle the man can resume his human form. The time when were-wolves
are most about is the period of the Twelve Nights between Christmas and
Epiphany; hence cautious German farmers will not remove the dung from
the cattle stalls at that season for fear of attracting the were-wolves
to the cattle. See Adalbert Kuhn, _Maerkische Sagen und Maerchen_ (Berlin,
1843), p. 375; Ulrich Jahn, _Volkssagen aus Pommern und Ruegen_ (Stettin,
1886), pp. 384, 386, Nos. 491, 495. Down to the time of Elizabeth it was
reported that in the county of Tipperary certain men were annually
turned into wolves. See W. Camden, _Britain_, translated into English by
Philemon Holland (London, 1610), "Ireland," p. 83.

[762] J.J.M. de Groot, _The Religious System of China_, v. (Leyden,
1907) p. 548.

[763] A. C. Kruijt, "De weerwolf bij de Toradja's van Midden-Celebes,"
_Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Landen Volkenkunde,_ xli. (1899) pp.
548-551, 557-560.

[764] A.C. Kruijt, _op. cit._ pp. 552 _sq._

[765] A.C. Kruijt, _op. cit._ pp. 553. For more evidence of the belief
in were-wolves, or rather in were-animals of various sorts, particularly
were-tigers, in the East Indies, see J.J. M. de Groot, "De Weertijger in
onze Kolonien en op het oostaziatische Vasteland," _Bijdragen tot de
Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie_, xlix. (1898) pp.
549-585; G.P. Rouffaer, "Matjan Gadoengan," _Bijdragen tot de Taal-
Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie_ 1. (1899) pp. 67-75; J.
Knebel, "De Weertijger op Midden-Java, den Javaan naverteld,"
_Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xli. (1899) pp.
568-587; L.M.F. Plate, "Bijdrage tot de kennis van de lykanthropie bij
de Sasaksche bevolking in Oost-Lombok," _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-
Land- en Volkenkunde_, liv. (1912) pp. 458-469; G.A. Wilken, "Het
animisme bij de volken van den Indischen Archipel," _Verspreide
Geschriften_ (The Hague, 1912), iii. 25-30.

[766] Ernst Marno, _Reisen im Gebiete des blauen und weissen Nil_
(Vienna, 1874), pp. 239 _sq._

[767] Petronius, _Sat._ 61 _sq._ (pp. 40 _sq._, ed. Fr. Buecheler,*[3]
Berlin, 1882). The Latin word for a were-wolf (_versipellis_) is
expressive: it means literally "skin-shifter," and is equally
appropriate whatever the particular animal may be into which the wizard
transforms himself. It is to be regretted that we have no such general
term in English. The bright moonlight which figures in some of these
were-wolf stories is perhaps not a mere embellishment of the tale but
has its own significance; for in some places it is believed that the
transformation of were-wolves into their bestial shape takes place
particularly at full moon. See A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et
Traditions des Provinces de France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 99,
157; J.L.M. Nogues, _Les Moeurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis_
(Saintes, 1891), p. 141.

[768] J.G. Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and
Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), p. 6: "In carrying out their
unhallowed cantrips, witches assumed various shapes. They became gulls,
cormorants, ravens, rats, mice, black sheep, swelling waves, whales, and
very frequently cats and hares." To this list of animals into which
witches can turn themselves may be added horses, dogs, wolves, foxes,
pigs, owls, magpies, wild geese, ducks, serpents, toads, lizards, flies,
wasps, and butterflies. See A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche
Volksaberglaube_*[2] (Berlin, 1869), p. 150 Sec. 217; L. Strackerjan,
_Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_ (Oldenburg, 1867),
i. 327 Sec. 220; Ulrich Jahn, _Hexenwesen und Zauberei in Pommern_
(Breslau, 1886), p. 7. In his _Topography of Ireland_ (chap. 19), a work
completed in 1187 A.D., Giraldus Cambrensis records that "it has also
been a frequent complaint, from old times as well as in the present,
that certain hags in Wales, as well as in Ireland and Scotland, changed
themselves into the shape of hares, that, sucking teats under this
counterfeit form, they might stealthily rob other people's milk." See
_The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis_, revised and edited by
Thomas Wright (London, 1887), p. 83.

[769] _The Folk-lore Journal_, iv. (1886) p. 266; Collin de Plancy,
_Dictionnaire Infernal_ (Paris, 1825-1826), iii. 475; J.L.M. Nogues,
_Les Moeurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis_ (Saintes, 1891), p.
141. In Scotland the cut was known as "scoring above the breath." It
consisted of two incisions made crosswise on the witch's forehead, and
was "confided in all throughout Scotland as the most powerful
counter-charm." See Sir Walter Scott, _Letters on Demonology and
Witchcraft_ (London, 1884), p. 272; J.G. Dalyell, _The Darker
Superstitions of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1834), pp. 531 _sq._; M.M. Banks,
"Scoring a Witch above the Breath," _Folk-lore_, xxiii. (1912) p. 490.

[770] J.L.M. Nogues, _l.c._; L.F. Sauve, _Le Folk-lore des
Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), P. 187.

[771] M. Abeghian, _Der armenische Volksglaube_ (Leipsic, 1899), p. 117.
The wolf-skin is supposed to fall down from heaven and to return to
heaven after seven years, if the were-wolf has not been delivered from
her unhappy state in the meantime by the burning of the skin.

[772] J.G. Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and
Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), p. 8; compare A. Wuttke, _Der
deutsche Volksaberglaube_*[2] (Berlin, 1869), p. 150 Sec. 217. Some think
that the sixpence should be crooked. See Rev. W. Gregor, _Notes on the
Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland_ (London, 1881), pp. 71 _sq._,
128; _County Folk-lore_, vol. v. _Lincolnshire_, collected by Mrs. Gutch
and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), p. 75.

[773] J.G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 30.

[774] J.G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 33.

[775] (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_*[2] (London, 1873), i.
314.

[776] Joseph Glanvil, _Saducismus Triumphatus or Full and Plain Evidence
concerning Witches and Apparitions_ (London, 1681), Part ii. p. 205.

[777] Rev. J.C. Atkinson, _Forty Years in a Moorland Parish_ (London,
1891), pp. 82-84.

[778] _County Folk-lore_, vol. v. _Lincolnshire_, collected by Mrs.
Gutch and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), pp. 79, 80.

[779] Leland L. Duncan, "Folk-lore Gleanings from County Leitrim,"
_Folklore_, iv. (1893) pp. 183 _sq._

[780] L.F. Sauve, _Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), p.
176.

[781] L.F. Sauve, _op. cit._ pp. 176 _sq._

[782] Ernst Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebraeuche aus Schwaben_
(Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 184 _sq._, No. 203.

[783] E. Meier, _op. cit._ pp. 191 _sq._, No. 215. A similar story of
the shoeing of a woman in the shape of a horse is reported from Silesia.
See R. Kuehnau, _Schlesische Sagen_ (Berlin, 1910-1913), iii. pp. 27
_sq._, No. 1380.

[784] R. Kuehnau, _Schlesische Sagen_ (Berlin, 1910-1913), iii. pp. 23
_sq._, No. 1375. Compare _id._, iii. pp. 28 _sq._, No. 1381.

[785] See for example L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem
Herzogthum Oldenburg_ (Oldenburg, 1867), i. pp. 328, 329, 334, 339; W.
von Schulenburg, _Wendische Volkssagen und Gebraeuche aus dem Spreewald_
(Leipsic, 1880), pp. 164, 165 _sq._; H. Proehle, _Harzsagen_ (Leipsic,
1859), i. 100 _sq._ The belief in such things is said to be universal
among the ignorant and superstitious in Germany. See A. Wuttke, _Der
deutsche Volksaberglaube_*[2] (Berlin, 1869), p. 150, Sec. 217. In Wales,
also, "the possibility of injuring or marking the witch in her assumed
shape so deeply that the bruise remained a mark on her in her natural
form was a common belief" (J. Ceredig Davies, _Folk-lore of West and
Mid-Wales_, Aberystwyth, 1911, p. 243). For Welsh stories of this sort,
see J. Ceredig Davies, _l.c._; Rev. Elias Owen, _Welsh Folk-lore_
(Oswestry and Wrexham, N.D., preface dated 1896), pp. 228 _sq._; M.
Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London, 1909), p. 214.

[786] L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum
Oldenburg_ (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 361, Sec. 239.

[787] Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London,
1909), p. 210.

[788] L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum
Oldenburg_ (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 358, Sec. 238.

[789] L. Strackerjan, _op. cit._ i. p. 360, Sec. 238e.

[790] "The 'Witch-burning' at Clonmell," _Folk-lore_, vi. (1895) pp.
373-384. The account there printed is based on the reports of the
judicial proceedings before the magistrates and the judge, which were
published in _The Irish Times_ for March 26th, 27th, and 28th, April
2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 8th, and July 6th, 1895.

[791] John Graham Dalyell, _The Darker Superstitions of Scotland_
(Edinburgh, 1834), p. 185. In this passage "quick" is used in the old
sense of "living," as in the phrase "the quick and the dead." _Nois_ is
"nose," _hoill_ is "hole," _quhilk (whilk)_ is "which," and _be_ is
"by."

[792] J.G. Dalyell, _op. cit._ p. 186. _Bestiall_=animals; _seik_=sick;
_calling_=driving; _guidis_=cattle.

[793] John Ramsay, of Ochtertyre, _Scotland and Scotsmen in the
Eighteenth Century_, edited by Alexander Allardyce (Edinburgh and
London, 1888), ii. 446 _sq._ As to the custom of cutting off the leg of
a diseased animal and hanging it up in the house, see above, p. 296,
note 1.

[794] (Sir) Arthur Mitchell, A.M., M.D., _On Various Superstitions in
the North-West Highlands and Islands of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1862), p.
12 (reprinted from the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland_, vol. iv.).

[795] _County Folk-lore_, vol. v. _Lincolnshire_, collected by Mrs.
Gutch and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), p. 75, quoting Rev. R.M.
Heanley, "The Vikings: traces of their Folklore in Marshland," a paper
read before the Viking Club, London, and printed in its _Saga-Book_,
vol. iii. Part i. Jan. 1902. The wicken-tree is the mountain-ash or
rowan free, which is a very efficient, or at all events a very popular
protective against witchcraft. See _County Folk-lore_, vol. v.
_Lincolnshire_, pp. 26 _sq._, 98 _sq._; Mabel Peacock, "The Folklore of
Lincolnshire," _Folk-lore_, xii. (1901) p. 175; J.G. Campbell,
_Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland_
(Glasgow, 1902), pp. 11 _sq._; Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes on the
Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland_ (London, 1881), p. 188. See
further _The Scapegoat_, pp. 266 _sq_.




CHAPTER V

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE FIRE-FESTIVALS


Sec. 1. _On the Fire-festivals in general_


[General resemblance of the European fire-festivals to each other.]

The foregoing survey of the popular fire-festivals of Europe suggests
some general observations. In the first place we can hardly help being
struck by the resemblance which the ceremonies bear to each other, at
whatever time of the year and in whatever part of Europe they are
celebrated. The custom of kindling great bonfires, leaping over them,
and driving cattle through or round them would seem to have been
practically universal throughout Europe, and the same may be said of the
processions or races with blazing torches round fields, orchards,
pastures, or cattle-stalls. Less widespread are the customs of hurling
lighted discs into the air[796] and trundling a burning wheel down
hill;[797] for to judge by the evidence which I have collected these
modes of distributing the beneficial influence of the fire have been
confined in the main to Central Europe. The ceremonial of the Yule log
is distinguished from that of the other fire-festivals by the privacy
and domesticity which characterize it; but, as we have already seen,
this distinction may well be due simply to the rough weather of
midwinter, which is apt not only to render a public assembly in the open
air disagreeable, but also at any moment to defeat the object of the
assembly by extinguishing the all-important fire under a downpour of
rain or a fall of snow. Apart from these local or seasonal differences,
the general resemblance between the fire-festivals at all times of the
year and in all places is tolerably close. And as the ceremonies
themselves resemble each other, so do the benefits which the people
expect to reap from them. Whether applied in the form of bonfires
blazing at fixed points, or of torches carried about from place to
place, or of embers and ashes taken from the smouldering heap of fuel,
the fire is believed to promote the growth of the crops and the welfare
of man and beast, either positively by stimulating them, or negatively
by averting the dangers and calamities which threaten them from such
causes as thunder and lightning, conflagration, blight, mildew, vermin,
sterility, disease, and not least of all witchcraft.

[Two explanations suggested of the fire-festivals. According to W.
Mannhardt, they are charms to secure a supply of sunshine; according to
Dr. E. Westermarck they are purificatory, being intended to burn and
destroy all harmful influences.]

But we naturally ask, How did it come about that benefits so great and
manifold were supposed to be attained by means so simple? In what way
did people imagine that they could procure so many goods or avoid so
many ills by the application of fire and smoke, of embers and ashes? In
short, what theory underlay and prompted the practice of these customs?
For that the institution of the festivals was the outcome of a definite
train of reasoning may be taken for granted; the view that primitive man
acted first and invented his reasons to suit his actions afterwards, is
not borne out by what we know of his nearest living representatives, the
savage and the peasant. Two different explanations of the fire-festivals
have been given by modern enquirers. On the one hand it has been held
that they are sun-charms or magical ceremonies intended, on the
principle of imitative magic, to ensure a needful supply of sunshine for
men, animals, and plants by kindling fires which mimic on earth the
great source of light and heat in the sky. This was the view of Wilhelm
Mannhardt.[798] It may be called the solar theory. On the other hand it
has been maintained that the ceremonial fires have no necessary
reference to the sun but are simply purificatory in intention, being
designed to burn up and destroy all harmful influences, whether these
are conceived in a personal form as witches, demons, and monsters, or in
an impersonal form as a sort of pervading taint or corruption of the
air. This is the view of Dr. Edward Westermarck[799] and apparently of
Professor Eugen Mogk.[800] It may be called the purificatory theory.
Obviously the two theories postulate two very different conceptions of
the fire which plays the principal part in the rites. On the one view,
the fire, like sunshine in our latitude, is a genial creative power
which fosters the growth of plants and the development of all that makes
for health and happiness; on the other view, the fire is a fierce
destructive power which blasts and consumes all the noxious elements,
whether spiritual or material, that menace the life of men, of animals,
and of plants. According to the one theory the fire is a stimulant,
according to the other it is a disinfectant; on the one view its virtue
is positive, on the other it is negative.

[The two explanations are perhaps not mutually exclusive.]

Yet the two explanations, different as they are in the character which
they attribute to the fire, are perhaps not wholly irreconcilable. If we
assume that the fires kindled at these festivals were primarily intended
to imitate the sun's light and heat, may we not regard the purificatory
and disinfecting qualities, which popular opinion certainly appears to
have ascribed to them, as attributes derived directly from the
purificatory and disinfecting qualities of sunshine? In this way we
might conclude that, while the imitation of sunshine in these ceremonies
was primary and original, the purification attributed to them was
secondary and derivative. Such a conclusion, occupying an intermediate
position between the two opposing theories and recognizing an element of
truth in both of them, was adopted by me in earlier editions of this
work;[801] but in the meantime Dr. Westermarck has argued powerfully in
favour of the purificatory theory alone, and I am bound to say that his
arguments carry great weight, and that on a fuller review of the facts
the balance of evidence seems to me to incline decidedly in his favour.
However, the case is not so clear as to justify us in dismissing the
solar theory without discussion, and accordingly I propose to adduce the
considerations which tell for it before proceeding to notice those which
tell against it. A theory which had the support of so learned and
sagacious an investigator as W. Mannhardt is entitled to a respectful
hearing.


Sec. 2. _The Solar Theory of the Fire-festivals_


[Theory that the fire-festivals are charms to ensure a supply of
sunshine.]

In an earlier part of this work we saw that savages resort to charms for
making sunshine,[802] and it would be no wonder if primitive man in
Europe did the same. Indeed, when we consider the cold and cloudy
climate of Europe during a great part of the year, we shall find it
natural that sun-charms should have played a much more prominent part
among the superstitious practices of European peoples than among those
of savages who live nearer the equator and who consequently are apt to
get in the course of nature more sunshine than they want. This view of
the festivals may be supported by various arguments drawn partly from
their dates, partly from the nature of the rites, and partly from the
influence which they are believed to exert upon the weather and on
vegetation.

[Coincidence of two of the festivals with the solstices.]

First, in regard to the dates of the festivals it can be no mere
accident that two of the most important and widely spread of the
festivals are timed to coincide more or less exactly with the summer and
winter solstices, that is, with the two turning-points in the sun's
apparent course in the sky when he reaches respectively his highest and
his lowest elevation at noon. Indeed with respect to the midwinter
celebration of Christmas we are not left to conjecture; we know from the
express testimony of the ancients that it was instituted by the church
to supersede an old heathen festival of the birth of the sun,[803] which
was apparently conceived to be born again on the shortest day of the
year, after which his light and heat were seen to grow till they
attained their full maturity at midsummer. Therefore it is no very far
fetched conjecture to suppose that the Yule log, which figures so
prominently in the popular celebration of Christmas, was originally
designed to help the labouring sun of midwinter to rekindle his
seemingly expiring light.