"[635] In some parts of the Eifel Mountains, to the west of
Coblentz, a log of wood called the _Christbrand_ used to be placed on
the hearth on Christmas Eve; and the charred remains of it on Twelfth
Night were put in the corn-bin to keep the mice from devouring the
corn.[636] At Weidenhausen and Girkshausen, in Westphalia, the practice
was to withdraw the Yule log (_Christbrand_) from the fire so soon as it
was slightly charred; it was then kept carefully to be replaced on the
fire whenever a thunder-storm broke, because the people believed that
lightning would not strike a house in which the Yule log was
smouldering.[637] In some villages near Berleburg in Westphalia the old
custom was to tie up the Yule log in the last sheaf cut at harvest.[638]
On Christmas Eve the peasantry of the Oberland, in Meiningen, a province
of Central Germany, used to put a great block of wood called the
_Christklots_ on the fire before they went to bed; it should burn all
night, and the charred remains were believed to guard the house for the
whole year against the risk of fire, burglary, and other
misfortunes.[639] The Yule log seems to be known only in the
French-speaking parts of Switzerland, where it goes by the usual French
name of _Buche de Noel_. In the Jura mountains of the canton of Bern,
while the log is burning on the hearth the people sing a blessing over
it as follows:--
"_May the log burn!
May all good come in!
May the women have children
And the sheep lambs!
White bread for every one
And the vat full of wine_!"
The embers of the Yule log were kept carefully, for they were believed
to be a protection against lightning.
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