Footnote 638: [(return)]

A. Kuhn, op. cit. ii. § 523, p. 187.

Footnote 639: [(return)]

August Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen (Vienna, 1878), p. 172.

Footnote 640: [(return)]

K. Hoffmann-Krayer, Feste und Bräuche des Schweizervolkes (Zurich, 1913), pp. 108 sq.

Footnote 641: [(return)]

Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Calendrier Belge (Brussels, 1861-1862), ii. 326 sq. Compare J.W. Wolf, Beiträgezur deutschen Mythologie (Göttingen, 1852-1858), i. 117.

Footnote 642: [(return)]

J.B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions,5 (Paris, 1741), i. 302 sq.; Eugène Cortet, Essai sur les Fêtes Religieuses (Paris, 1867), pp. 266 sq.

Footnote 643: [(return)]

J.B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions (Paris, 1679), p. 323.

Footnote 644: [(return)]

Aubin-Louis Millin, Voyage dans les Départemens du Midi de la France (Paris, 1807-1811), iii. 336 sq. The fire so kindled was called caco fuech.

Footnote 645: [(return)]

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. Noguès, 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 Nô.

Footnote 646: [(return)]

Laisnel de Salle, Croyances et Légendes du Centres de la France (Paris, 1875), i. 1-3.

Footnote 647: [(return)]

Jules Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Condé-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 tréfouet) in Normandy is mentioned also by M'elle Amélie Bosquet, La Normandie Romanesque et Merveilleuse (Paris and Rouen, 1845), p. 294.