ge dans les Departemens du Midi de la
France_ (Paris, 1807-1811), iii. 336 _sq._ The fire so kindled was
called _caco fuech_.

[645] Alfred de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de
France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 151 _sq._ The three festivals
during which the Yule log is expected to burn are probably Christmas Day
(December 25th), St. Stephen's Day (December 26th), and St. John the
Evangelist's Day (December 27th). Compare J.L.M. Nogues, _Les Moeurs
d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis_ (Saintes, 1891), pp. 45-47.
According to the latter writer, in Saintonge it was the mistress of the
house who blessed the Yule log, sprinkling salt and holy water on it; in
Poitou it was the eldest male who officiated. The log was called the
_cosse de No_.

[646] Laisnel de Salle, _Croyances et Legendes du Centres de la France_
(Paris, 1875), i. 1-3.

[647] Jules Lecoeur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Conde-sur-Noireau,
1883-1887), ii. 291. The author speaks of the custom as still practised
in out-of-the-way villages at the time when he wrote. The usage of
preserving the remains of the Yule-log (called _trefouet_) in Normandy
is mentioned also by M'elle Amelie Bosquet, _La Normandie Romanesque et
Merveilleuse_ (Paris and Rouen, 1845), p. 294.

[648] A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes, et Traditions des Provinces de
France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 256.

[649] Paul Sebillot, _Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne_ (Paris,
1886), pp. 217 _sq._

[650] Albert Meyrac, _Traditions, Coutumes, Legendes et Contes des
Ardennes_ (Charleville, 1890), pp. 96 _sq._

[651] See above, p. 251.

[652] Lerouze, in _Memoires de l'Academie Celtique_, iii. (1809) p. 441,
quoted by J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,
1882-1883), i. 469 note.

[653] L.F. Sauve, _Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), pp.
370 _sq._

[654] Charles Beauquier, _Les Mois en Franche-Comte_ (Paris, 1900), p.
183.

[655] A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes, et Traditions des Provinces de
France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 302 _sq._

[656] John Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,
1882-1883), i. 467.

[657] J. Brand, _op. cit._ i. 455; _The Denham Tracts_, edited by Dr.
James Hardy (London, 1892-1895), ii. 25 _sq._

[658] Herrick, _Hesperides_, "Ceremonies for Christmasse":

"_Come, bring with a noise,
My merrie merrie boyes,
The Christmas log to the firing_;...
_With the last yeeres brand
Light