Therefore it is no very far-fetched conjecture to suppose that the
Yule log, which figures so prominently in the popular celebration of
Christmas, was originally designed to help the labouring sun of
midwinter to rekindle his seemingly expiring light.
Not only the date of some of the festivals but the manner of their
celebration suggests a conscious imitation of the sun. The custom of
rolling a burning wheel down a hill, which is often observed at
these ceremonies, might well pass for an imitation of the sun's
course in the sky, and the imitation would be especially appropriate
on Midsummer Day when the sun's annual declension begins. Indeed the
custom has been thus interpreted by some of those who have recorded
it. Not less graphic, it may be said, is the mimicry of his apparent
revolution by swinging a burning tar-barrel round a pole. Again, the
common practice of throwing fiery discs, sometimes expressly said to
be shaped like suns, into the air at the festivals may well be a
piece of imitative magic. In these, as in so many cases, the magic
force may be supposed to take effect through mimicry or sympathy: by
imitating the desired result you actually produce it: by
counterfeiting the sun's progress through the heavens you really
help the luminary to pursue his celestial journey with punctuality
and despatch.
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