rning the yule-log on
Christmas-eve, still survive among us.[365:4]

_Yule_ was the old name for Christmas. In French it is called _Noel_,
which is the Hebrew or Chaldee word _Nule_.[365:5]

The greatest festival of the year celebrated among the ancient
_Scandinavians_, was at the _Winter solstice_. They called the night
upon which it was observed, the "_Mother-night_." This feast was named
_Jul_--hence is derived the word _Yule_--and was celebrated in honor of
_Freyr_ (son of the Supreme God Odin, and the goddess Frigga), who was
born on that day. Feasting, nocturnal assemblies, and all the
demonstrations of a most dissolute joy, were then authorized by the
general usage. At this festival the principal guests _received
presents_--generally horses, swords, battle-axes, and gold rings--at
their departure.[365:6]

The festival of the 25th of December was celebrated by the ancient
_Druids_, in Great Britain and Ireland, with great fires lighted on the
tops of hills.[366:1]

Godfrey Higgins says:

"Stuckley observes that the worship of Mithra was spread all
over Gaul and Britain. The Druids kept this night as a great
festival, and called the day following it Nolagh or Noel, or
the day of regeneration, and celebrated it with great fires on
the tops of their mountains, which they repeated on the day of
the Epiphany or twelfth night. The Mithraic monuments, which
are common in Britain, have been attributed to the Romans, but
this festival proves that the Mithraic worship was there prior
to their arrival."[366:2]

This was also a time of rejoicing in Ancient Mexico. Acosta says:

"In the first month, which in Peru they call Rayme, and
answering to our _December_, they made a solemn feast called
_Capacrayme_ (the Winter Solstice), wherein they made many
sacrifices and ceremonies, which continued many days."[366:3]

The evergreens, and particularly the mistletoe, which are used all over
the Christian world at Christmas time, betray its heathen origin.
Tertullian, a Father of the Church, who flourished about A. D. 200,
writing to his brethren, affirms it to be "_rank idolatry_" to deck
their doors "_with garlands or flowers, on festival days, according to
the custom of the heathen_."[366:4]

This shows that the heathen in those days, did as the Christians do now.
What have evergreens, and garlands, and Christmas trees, to do with
Christianity? Simply _not