[The Yule log in Normandy and Brittany.]

Similar customs and beliefs survived till recent years in some of the remote country villages of the picturesque district known as the Bocage of Normandy.  There it was the grandfather or other oldest man of the family who chose the Yule log in good time and had it ready for Christmas Eve.  Then he placed it on the hearth at the moment when the church bell began to ring for the evening service.  Kneeling reverently at the hearth with the members of his family in a like attitude of devotion, the old man recited three Pater Nosters and three Aves, and invoked the blessing of heaven on the log and on the cottage.  Then at the sound of the bell which proclaimed the sacrament of the mass, or, if the church was too far off to allow the tinkle of the bell to be heard, at the moment when they judged that the priest was elevating the host before the high altar, the patriarch sprinkled the burning log with holy water, blessed it in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and drew it out of the fire.  The charred log was then carefully kept till the following Christmas as a precious relic which would guard the house against the levin bolt, evil spirits, sorcerers, and every misfortune that might befall in the course of the year.[647] In the department of Orne “the Yule-log is called trefouet; holy water is poured on it; it should last the three days of the festival, 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.