“Kindle the Christmas brand, and then
Till sunne-set let it burne;
Which quencht, then lay it up agen,
Till Christmas next returne.
Part must be kept, wherewith to teend
The Christmas log next yeare;
And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend
Can do no mischiefe there.”
See The Works of Robert Herrick (Edinburgh, 1823), vol. ii. pp. 91, 124. From these latter verses it seems that the Yule log was replaced on the fire on Candlemas (the second of February).
Petronius, Sat. 61 sq. (pp. 40 sq., ed. Fr. Buecheler,3 Berlin, 1882). The Latin word for a were-wolf (versipellis) is expressive: it means literally “skin-shifter,” and is equally appropriate whatever the particular animal may be into which the wizard transforms himself. It is to be regretted that we have no such general term in English.
The bright moonlight which figures in some of these were-wolf stories is perhaps not a mere embellishment of the tale but has its own significance; for in some places it is believed that the transformation of were-wolves into their bestial shape takes place particularly at full moon. See A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 99, 157; J. L. M. Noguès, Les Mœurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis (Saintes, 1891), p. 141.
Manilius, Astronom. v. 206 sqq.:
“Cum vero in vastos surget Nemeaeus hiatus,
Exoriturque Canis, latratque Canicula flammas
Et rabit igne suo geminatque incendia solis,
Qua subdente facem terris radiosque movente,” etc.
Pliny, Naturalis Historia, xviii. 269 sq.: “Exoritur dein post triduum fere ubique confessum inter omnes sidus ingens quod canis ortum vocamus, sole partem primam leonis ingresso. Hoc fit post solstitium XXIII. die. Sentiunt id maria et terrae, multae vero et ferae, ut suis locis diximus. Neque est minor ei veneratio quam descriptis in deos stellis, accenditque solem et magnam aestus obtinet causam.”