laznik_--Origin of the Yule Log--Probable Connection
with Vegetation-cults or Ancestor-worship--The _Souche de Noel_ in
France--Italian and German Christmas Logs--English Customs--The Yule
Candle in England and Scandinavia.

The peoples of Europe have various centres for their Christmas rejoicing.
In Spain and Italy the crib is often the focus of the festival in the
home as well as the church. In England--after the old tradition--, in
rural France, and among the southern Slavs, the centre is the great log
solemnly brought in and kindled on the hearth, while in Germany, one need
hardly say, the light-laden tree is the supreme symbol of Christmas. The
crib has already been treated in our First Part, the Yule log and the
Christmas-tree will be considered in this chapter and the next.

The log placed on the fire on the Vigil of the Nativity no longer forms
an important part of the English Christmas. Yet within the memory of many
it was a very essential element in the celebration of the festival, not
merely as giving out welcome warmth in the midwinter cold, but as
possessing occult, magical properties. In some remote corners of England
it probably lingers yet. We shall return to the traditional English Yule
log after a study of some Continental customs of the same kind.

First, we may travel to a part of eastern Europe where the log ceremonies
are found in their most elaborate form. Among the Serbs and Croats on
Christmas Eve two or three young oaks are felled for every house, and, as
twilight comes on, are brought in and laid on the fire. (Sometimes there
is one for each male |252| member of the family, but one large log is
the centre of the ritual.) The felling takes place in some districts
before sunrise, corn being thrown upon the trees with the words, "Good
morning, Christmas!" At Risano and other places in Lower Dalmatia the
women and girls wind red silk and gold wire round the oak trunks, and
adorn them with leaves and flowers. While they are being carried into the
house lighted tapers are held on either side of the door. As the
house-father crosses the threshold in the twilight with the first log,
corn--or in some places wine--is thrown over him by one of the family.
The log or _badnjak_ is then placed on the fire. At Ragusa the
house-father sprinkles corn and wine upon the _badnjak_, saying, as the
flame shoots up, "Goodly be thy birth!" In the mountains above Risano he
not only pours corn and wine but