Folklore of Christmas Tide, collected by A f Chamberlain. Scottish folklore has it
that Christ was born at the hour of midnight on Christmas Eve, and that
the miracle of turning water into wine was performed by him at the same hour.
There is a belief current in some parts of Germany that between eleven and
twelve of the night before Christmas water turns to wine. In other districts,
as at Bielerfeldt, it is on Christmas Night that this change is thought to
take place. This hour is also auspicious for many actions, and in some
sections of Germany it was thought that if one would go to the crossroads between
eleven and twelve on Christmas Day and listen, he would hear what most concerns
him in the coming year. Another belief is that if one walks into the
winter corn on Holy Christmas Eve, he will hear all that will happen in
the village that year. Christmas Eve or Christmas is the time when the oracles
of the folk are in the best working order, especially the many processes by
which maidens are wont to discover the color of their lover's hair, the beauty
of his face, and form, his trade and occupation, whether they shall
marry or not, and the like. The same season is most auspicious for
certain ceremonies and practices transferred to it from the heathen antiquity of the peasantry of
Europe. In relation to agriculture and allied industries. Among those noted by Grimm
are the following. On Christmas Eve, crash the garden with a flail with
only your shirt on, and the grass will grow well next year. Tie
wet straw bands around the orchard trees on Christmas Eve and it will make them
fruitful. On Christmas Eve, put a stone on every tree, and they
will bear the more beat the trees on Christmas Night, and they will bear
more fruit. In Herefordshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall in England, the farmers
and peasantry salute the apple trees on Christmas Eve. And in Sussex they used
to whirzle, that is, wassail the apple trees and chant verses to them
in somewhat of the primitive fashion. Some other curious items of Christmas folklore are
the following current, chiefly in Germany. If after a Christmas dinner you shake
out the tablecloth over the bare ground under the open sky, crumbwork will grow
on the spot. If on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve you hung a wash
clout on a hedge and then groom the horses with it, they will grow
fat. As often as the cock crows on Christmas Eve, the quarter of
corn will be as deer. If a dog howls the night before Christmas,
it will go mad within the year. If the light is let go out
on Christmas Eve, someone in the house will die. When lights are brought
in on Christmas Eve. If any one's shadow has no head, he will
die within a year. If half a head in the second half year.
If a hoop comes off a cask on Christmas Eve, some one in the
house will die that year. If on Christmas Eve you make a little heap
of salt on the table and it melts over night, you will die the
next year. If in the morning it remain undiminished, you will live.
If you wear something sowed with thread spun on Christmas Eve, no vermin will
stick to you. If a shirt be spun, woven, and sowed by
a pure chaste maiden on Christmas Day, it will be proof against lead or
steal. If you are born at sermon time on Christmas morning, you can
see spirits. If you burn elder on Christmas Eve, you will have revealed
to you all the witches and sorcerers of the neighborhood. If you steal hay
the night before Christmas and give the cattle some, they thrive and you are
not caught in any future thefts. If you steal anything at Christmas without being
caught, you can steal safely for a year. If you eat no beans
on Christmas Eve, you will become an ass. If you eat a raw
egg fasting on Christmas morning, you can carry heavy weights. The crumbs saved
up on three Christmas Eves are good to give us physic to one who is
disappointed. It is unlucky to carry anything forth from the house on Christmas morning
until something has been brought in. It is unlucky to give a neighbor a
live coal to kindle a fire with on Christmas morning. If the fire burns
brightly on Christmas morning, it betokens prosperity during the year. If it smolders
adversity. These and many other practices ceremonies, beliefs, and superstitions, which
may be read in grimm Gregor Henderson, the gubernatis aught, Vine Tilta,
and others who have written of Christmas show the importance attached in the folk mind
to the time of the birth of Christ, and how around it as a
center have fixed themselves hundreds of the rites and solemnities of passing Heathendom, with
its recognition of the kinship of all nature, out of which grew astrology,
magic and other pseudo sciences. End of Folklore of Christmas Tide, collected by
A. F Chamberlain