This plainly appears from the Irish custom of driving
barren cattle through the midsummer fires, from the French belief
that the Yule log steeped in water helps cows to calve, from the
French and Serbian notion that there will be as many chickens,
calves, lambs, and kids as there are sparks struck out of the Yule
log, from the French custom of putting the ashes of the bonfires in
the fowls' nests to make the hens lay eggs, and from the German
practice of mixing the ashes of the bonfires with the drink of
cattle in order to make the animals thrive. Further, there are clear
indications that even human fecundity is supposed to be promoted by
the genial heat of the fires. In Morocco the people think that
childless couples can obtain offspring by leaping over the midsummer
bonfire. It is an Irish belief that a girl who jumps thrice over the
midsummer bonfire will soon marry and become the mother of many
children; in Flanders women leap over the midsummer fires to ensure
an easy delivery; in various parts of France they think that if a
girl dances round nine fires she will be sure to marry within the
year, and in Bohemia they fancy that she will do so if she merely
sees nine of the bonfires.
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