y his preaching, many
thousands of the people were converted to Christianity. This Pope's
instructions to Augustine concerning his treatment of heathen festivals,
were that "the heathen temples were not to be destroyed, but turned
into Christian churches; that the oxen killed in sacrifice should still
be killed with rejoicing, but their bodies given to the poor, and that
the refreshment booths round the heathen temples should be allowed to
remain as places of jollity and amusement for the people on Christian
festivals, for it is impossible to cut abruptly from hard and rough
minds all their old habits and customs. He who wishes to reach the
highest place must rise by steps, and not by jumps."

From the enunciation of this policy, we can readily understand how the
festive observances connected with heathen worship remained in the
Christian observance. I have stated what is supposed to have been the
Druidical manner of keeping this festival of the winter solstice, but I
have not seen any account of how the festival was observed in this
country when Augustine arrived as missionary. I have no information
concerning the manner in which the oxen were sacrificed, nor the
character of the refreshment booths round the temples. We know that
there were booths in connection with heathen temples where women were
kept, but whether this practice was indigenous in Britain, or was
imported into this country by the Romans, or whether Pope Gregory may
have written without any special knowledge of the customs here, but
merely from his knowledge of heathen customs in general, we do not know.
Nothing is said in these instructions about changing the day of keeping
the festival from the solstice to the 25th of December. It is probable
that no change of date was made at this time, at all events we may, from
the following circumstance, infer that the change, if made, did not
reach the northern portion of the island. Haco, King of Norway, in the
the tenth century fixed the 25th December as the day for keeping the
feast of Yule. King Haco's fixing on this particular date would be a
resultant from the Romish edict, for the Norwegians were at this time
Christians, although their Christianity was a conglomerate of heathen
superstition and church dogma.

According to Jamieson, the eve of Yule was termed by the Northmen
_Hoggunott_, meaning Slaughter night, probably because then the cattle
for the coming feast were killed. During the feast, one of the