On The Origin And Observance Of Christmas.

The welcome sun , just verging up , at first By small degrees extends the swelling curve , Till seen at last for gay rejoicing months , Still round and round his spiral course he winds ; And as lie nearly dips his Warning orb , Wheels up again and reascends the sky . " The Avinter solstice was therefore the principal heathen

festival , the summer one the next in rank . Upon the papal jninci ples of Gregory , as noted above , the highest Christian mystery—the birth of Christ—Avhich the best ecclesiastical chronologers have calculated must haA r e happened towards the end of March , was appointed to supersede and supplant this principal heathen celebration whilst

; the secondary one , in summer , was ajjpropriated to the then next holy personage in Christian estimation—St . John the Baptist . The few days difference from the 21 st of each month to the 24 th or 25 th must be put down to the inaccuracy of the early astronomers . However long and strenuous have been the exertions of

the Catholic priesthood , and however imposing the ceremonies which they have introduced into all these substituted celebrations , they have never been able entirely to eradicate all traces of the more ancient heathen festivals . This Ave shall noAV proceed to show before exhibiting the many curious practices and ceremonies engrafted on the oriinal ceremonies

g of Christmas , particularl y among our continental brethren . Among all the northern nations we find the denomination of this heathen festival still retained in an almost exact uniformit y , but in differing forms of the Avord Jule . In Lapland ( Mone ' s "Heidenthum , " i ., p . 2 §) , Juel . InSweden , Jule ( Ihre de Had . p . 18 ) with Christmas Eve called Jolctpton . In

, which he says , " Nox Joliana candelis tota nocte ardentitus in thonorem Solis jam redeunitis celebratur , formaque candelarum erat instar tritici ex terra exumentis et in ramos tres se dividentis . "

Eor Denmark Ave epiote Pontanus , from " Olaf Worm ' s Fasti Danici , " ( p . 22 . ) " Illud certum habeo ad jubilitationem et Ijetitiam tomporis exprimendam id quicquid est A-oeis ( Jid ) formatum . " In Anglo Saxon the usual form Avas Geola with many variants , as Geol , Geoliel , Gehol , as the merry time ; and used also to denote the months of December and

January , as cent , and a ' ftera Geol ; before and after the Yule . Of our own indigenous term , eommonly written Yule , Brand , in his " Popular Superstitions , " remarks : — " I have met Avith no word of which there are so many and such different etymologies as this of Yule , of Avhich there seems nothing certain but that it means Christmas . Mrs . Elstob , in her

' Saxon Homilies on the Birthday of St . Gregory ' ( Appendix , p . 29 ) , has the following " observations on it : — "Geol , Zeol , Anglo Saxon : Jol vel tjitl , Dan . Sax ., and to this day in the north Yvle . G ' oule signifies the solem festival of Christmas , and Avere words used to denote a time of festivity A'ery anciently , and . before the introduction of Christianity among the northern nations . Learned men have disputed much about this word , some itfrom Julius

deriving _ Crcsar , others from r . ehceol , awheel , as Bede : — ' Griuli a cowversicme solis in auctum diei nomen acecpit . ' ( De Rat . Temp ., cap . xiii . ) He would therefore have it so called because of the return of the sun ' s annual course after the winter solstice . But he , ivriting De Eatione Tcmporuni , speaks rather as an astronomer than an antiquary . " Differing as Ave do entirely from this learned lady in her

last remark , Ave shall soon recur to the subject ; in the mean , time , to give as far as possible eA ery variation of tho name , AVC adduce from Blount ' s "Original Observations in Yorkshire and other Northern Parts : "— "After sermon or service on Christinas day , the people will even in the churches cry ' Ule ule ! , as a token of rejoicing , and the common sort run about

rejoicing , singing" T / lc , ule , ule , ule , Three puddings in a pule , Crack nuts , and cry Ule . " This puts one in mind of the proverb in Ray ' s collection" It is good to cry Ule at other men's cost . " There is a Scottish proverb which runs thus for this

subject : — " A yule feast may be quit at Pasche , i . e ., ' one good turn deserves another . ' " Captain Potter , born in the north of Yorkshire , says , " that in the country churches at Christinas , in the holy dayes after prayers , they Avill dance in the church , and as they doe dance , they cry or sing , 'Yolo , yole , yole , & c . ' In the West Riding

of Yorkshire , ' on Christmas day , at night , they bring in a large yule clog , or Christmas block , and set it on fire , and sup their Christmas ale , and sing 'Yule , yule , ' a pack of new cards , aud a Christmas stool . " ( MS . Aubrey , apud Thorns , pp . 80 , 81 . ) As bearing "the subjecta short digression on the yule

upon , clog , which has almost lost all observance in the south , but still has strong footing in the north , may be alloAved us . This was a massy piece of fire AVOOCI , usually oak , placed in the centre of the great hall , on which each of the family sat down , sang a yule song , and drank the old English toast of " A merry Christmas , and a happy new year . " The

log Avas then placed on the hearth , and lighted with a brand of last year ' s block , and by heaping on additional fuel , made to produce a brilliant flame . These circumstances are alluded to by Herrick , in his " Hesperides , " in a poem on the . subject;—¦ " With the last ' s brand

year Lig ht the new block , and For good success in his spending , On yonr psalteries play , That sweet luck may Come while the log is a-tending . " The superstition still existsthat if the piece of the old log

, be carefully preserved , so long the house is in . no danger of taking fire throughout the year ; a belief that attaches to many other things preserved till their next anniversary , as the crosses chalked on the rafters of a room ou . Hocktide

( see "Hone ' s Table Book , " s . 5 . ) Its "French usage is thus described at Commercy , iu ancient Lorraine : — " On the 24 th December , about six in the evening , it is the custom to put a very large piece of wood , the Christmas log , on the hearth , between four and five feet in length , and to set fire to one end of it , so that the little

children sit at the other end for tho purpose of Avarming themselves "—( but query , is not this part of a heathen sacrifice , like the English practice noted above , Avhere all the family place themselves on the log , Avhich the continuation of the notice seems further to point to ) . In many parts of France , on Christmas evethe father of thc familywith his wife and

, , children , and jj . a blazing fire before them , sing the Christmas carols ; the youngest child is ordered to go into a corner of tho room and say his prayers , and in the meantime thc father places behind the hearth or iu a hole of the pile ofAvood , several parcels of sugar plums and lollypojw ; the child conies to the fire with a stick in his hand and strikes the piece

of AVOOCI till the sugar plums fly out , and hastily gathers them up from the log . On Christmas Eve , before the midnig ht mass , it is the custom at Bonneval , in a great number of houses , particularly in convents , to place on the hearth of the apartment most in use the largest log they can find , and one that will burn for

three days , hence the common name of Irefeu , or three fires . These localities are ou the southern borders of ancient Germany , but it is curious that at its northern extremity in . Pomerania , customs are found which closely resemble our English aud the above French practices . In a recent notice of that province it is stated that a portion of the last year ' s

log is also kept there till the following yule , when pieces arc detached and holes drilled into them , into Avhich bonbons and confectionary are inserted , and thus preciousl y loaded , are thrown or furtively introduced into the houses of their friends or acquaintance , whose office it then is to try to guess the various donors . The remainder of the clog is , as in England , put by to light the new brand . It should be observed