tival, and the
remains of it are kept to be put on the fire when it thunders. This
brand is a protection both against thunder and against sorcerers."[648]
In Upper Brittany, also, the Yule log is thought to be a safeguard
against thunder and lightning. It is sprinkled with holy water on
Christmas morning and allowed to burn till evening. If a piece of it is
thrown into the well, it will ensure a supply of good water.[649]

[The Yule log in the Ardennes.]

"In almost all the families of the Ardennes," we are told, "at the
present day they never fail to put the Yule log on the fireplace, but
formerly it was the object of a superstitious worship which is now
obsolete. The charred remains of it, placed under the pillow or under
the house, preserved the house from storms, and before it was burned the
Virgin used to come and sit on it, invisible, swaddling the infant
Jesus. At Nouzon, twenty years ago, the traditional log was brought into
the kitchen on Christmas Eve, and the grandmother, with a sprig of box
in her hand, sprinkled the log with holy water as soon as the clock
struck the first stroke of midnight. As she did so she chanted,

'_When Christmas comes,
Every one should rejoice,
For it is a New Covenant_.'

"Following the grandmother and joining in the song, the children and the
rest of the family marched thrice round the log, which was as fine a log
as could be got."[650] We can now, perhaps, understand why in Perigord
people who sat on the Yule log suffered from boils,[651] and why in
Lorraine young folks used to be warned that if they sat on it they would
have the scab.[652] The reason probably was that the Virgin and child
were supposed to be seated, invisible, upon the log and to resent the
indignity of contact with mortal children.

[The Yule log in the Vosges; the Yule log in Franche-Comte and
Burgundy.]

On Christmas Eve the mountaineers of Rupt, in the Vosges, also never
fail to put on the hearth the largest log which the hearth can hold;
they call it _la galeuche de Noe_, that is, the Yule log. Next morning
they rake the ashes for any charred fragments and keep them as valuable
talismans to guard them against the stroke of lightning. At Vagney and
other places near it in the Vosges it used to be customary on the same
evening to grease the hinges and the latches of the doors, that no harsh
grating sound should break the slumbers of the infant Christ. In the
Vosges Mountains, too, as indeed in many ot