Burning Yule log is an ancient ritual which was originally a Nordic tradition and also a name of winter solstice festival celebrated in some parts of northern Europe. Later in the fourth century AD, when Christmas celebrations came into existence, the Yule log tradition continued relating fire with the light of great Savior.
This popular custom is followed around the world, but is done in different ways in different countries with the usage of different kind of materials as logs. While oak log is used in England, Scotland employs birch log and France uses cherry log. Large bunch of Ash twig is used in Devon and Somerset whereas in some part of Ireland big candles are used instead, which are only lit on New Year's Eve or the twelfth night.
On Christmas Eve, a big log is brought into the house with all the merriment and is then set on fire. However, it is never burnt completely and some part of the holy log is kept aside for the next year. Almost everywhere in the world, the new fire of Yule Log is started with that bit of the last year's log, to symbolize continuity and the eternal light of heaven. Apart from the tradition of burning Yule log, there is another tradition which involves eating of Yule log. To know in details the good and bad omens of Yule log, read through the following lines
Good & Bad Omens Of Yule Log Yule logs should never be bought.
Once lit, the Yule log must burn all through the Twelve days of Christmas otherwise bad luck would visit the household.
Any difficulty in lighting the Yule log was taken as a bad omen for the year ahead.
Yule logs were burnt on the Christmas fire and many people kept a piece on the log from the previous year as a lucky talisman.
It is extremely unlucky if the Yule log is touched by a barefooted woman or a squint eyed man. A flat-footed visitor to the house whilst the Yule log is burning is a bad omen too.
Ashes were also placed at the roots of fruit trees and vines to help them bear a good harvest.
The log brought good luck. Any pieces that were kept protected a house from fire, or lightning, or hail. Ashes of the log would be placed in wells to keep the water good.
In England the log was supposed to burn for the twelve days of Christmas, from Christmas Eve on December 24th to Epiphany on January 6th.
The log also predicted bad luck. If the fire went out before the night was through, tragedy would strike the home in the coming year.
If its flame cast someone's shadow without a head, supposedly that person would die within the year.
Source: www.worldofchristmas.net
I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance. The cloud clears as you enter it. I have learned this, but like everyone, I learned it late. ~Beryl Markham
If one day we swapped places - I was you and you were me I wonder what it is that both of us Would actually see
I wonder if you’d notice How your smile lights up your face How when you walk into a room You brighten up the place
I wonder if you’d see the way You always make the time For those who seek you out because You’re patient and you’re kind
And maybe I would notice How I always stand my ground And how I lift up those I love When they are lost or down
Perhaps I’d notice how I’m quite content all by myself And how I’m always there for others When they ask for help
And if you felt your patience And if you could see your smile If I could help myself And feel my kindness for a while
Then maybe we would understand We cannot be defined By all that we fixate on In our mirrors and our minds
Yes, if we both swapped places And had someone else to be Perhaps we’d come to realise There’s so much we cannot see
And maybe in the moments You were me and I was you We would see why people love us And we’d learn to love us too
Scottish folklore Nicnevin Queen of the faeries
Nicneven, Nicnevin or Nicnevan (from Scottish Gaelic surname Neachneohain meaning "daughter(s) of the divine," and/or "daughter(s) of Scathach" NicNaoimhein meaning "daughter of the little saint"), is a Queen of the Fairies in Scottish folklore. was sometimes thought of as the mother witch, Hecate, or a Habundia figure of Scottish fairy mythology.This guise is frankly diabolical. Sir Walter Scott calls her:
"A gigantic and malignant female, the Hecate of this mythology, who rode on the storm and marshalled the rambling host of wanderers under her grim banner. This hag (in all respects the reverse of the Mab or Titania of the Celtic creed) was called Nicneven in that later system which blended the faith of the Celts and of the Goths on this subject.
The great Scottish poet Dunbar has made a spirited description of this Hecate riding at the head of witches and good neighbours (fairies, namely), sorceresses and elves, indifferently, upon the ghostly eve of All-Hallow Mass. In Italy we hear of the hags arraying themselves under the orders of Diana (in her triple character of Hecate, doubtless) and Herodias, who were the joint leaders of their choir. But we return to the more simple fairy belief, as entertained by the Celts before they were conquered by the Saxons."[9] Alexander Montgomerie, in his Flyting, described her as:
Nicnevin with her nymphes, in number anew With charms from Caitness and Chanrie of Ross Whose cunning consists in casting a clew.[
The elder Nicnevin retained the habit of night-riding with an "elrich" entourage mounted on unlikely and supernatural steeds. Another satirical popular depiction made her leave Scotland after a love-quarrel with her neighbour, to become wife of "Mahomyte" and queen of the "Jowis."
She was an enemy of Christian people, and "levit vpoun Christiane menis flesche;" still, her absence caused dogs to stop barking and hens to stop laying.] But in Fife, the Gyre-Carling was associated with spinning and knitting, like Habetrot; there it was believed to be unlucky to leave a piece of knitting unfinished at the New Year, lest the Gyre-Carling steal it.