Some people imagine that they will have as many chickens
as there are sparks that fly out of the brands of the log when they
shake them; and others place the extinct brands under the bed to
drive away vermin. In various parts of France the charred log is
thought to guard the house against sorcery as well as against
lightning.
In England the customs and beliefs concerning the Yule log used to
be similar. On the night of Christmas Eve, says the antiquary John
Brand, "our ancestors were wont to light up candles of an uncommon
size, called Christmas Candles, and lay a log of wood upon the fire,
called a Yule-clog or Christmas-block, to illuminate the house, and,
as it were, to turn night into day." The old custom was to light the
Yule log with a fragment of its predecessor, which had been kept
throughout the year for the purpose; where it was so kept, the fiend
could do no mischief. The remains of the log were also supposed to
guard the house against fire and lightning.
To this day the ritual of bringing in the Yule log is observed with
much solemnity among the Southern Slavs, especially the Serbians.
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