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<FONT> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/investigation-historical-dating.php">jesus i alive</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/egyptian-horo.php">jesus pic</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/real-egypt.php">mighty i our god</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/civilevents.php">life in the middle age</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/real-jesus.php">medieval england</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/view-garry-kasparov.php">charlton heston present the bible</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/why-tourism.php">bible fact</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/money-war.php">historical black college</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org">ancient rome picture</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org">greek god hades</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/investigation-eng-history.php">little known black history fact</A> </FONT> . 1922.§ 7. The Midwinter Fires IF THE HEATHEN of ancient Europe celebrated, as we have good reason to believe, the season of Midsummer with a great festival of fire, of which the traces have survived in many places down to our own time, it is natural to suppose that they should have observed with similar rites the corresponding season of Midwinter; for Midsummer and Midwinter, or, in more technical language, the summer solstice and the winter solstice, are the two great turningpoints in the suns apparent course through the sky, and from the standpoint of primitive man nothing might seem more appropriate than to kindle fires on earth at the two moments when the fire and heat of the great luminary in heaven begin to wane or to wax. 1 In modern Christendom the ancient fire-festival of the winter solstice appears to survive, or to have survived down to recent years, in the old custom of the Yule log, clog, or block, as it was variously called in England. The custom was widespread in Europe, but seems to have flourished especially in England, France, and among the South Slavs; at least the fullest accounts of the custom come from these quarters. That the Yule log was only the winter counterpart of the midsummer bonfire, kindled within doors instead of in theair on account of the cold and inclement weather of the season, was pointed out long ago by our English antiquary John Brand; and the view is supported by the many quaint superstitions attaching to the Yule log, superstitions which have no apparent connexion with Christianity but carry their heathen origin plainly stamped upon them. But while the two solstitial celebrations were both festivals of fire, the necessity or desirability of holding the winter celebration within doors lent it the character of a private or domestic festivity, which contrasts strongly with the publicity of the summer celebration, at which the people gathered on somespace or conspicuous height, kindled a huge bonfire in common, and danced and made merry round it together. 2 Down to about the middle of the nineteenth century the old rite of the Yule log was kept up in some parts of Central Germany. Thus in the valleys of the Sieg and Lahn the Yule log, a heavy block of oak, was fitted into the floor of the hearth, where, though it glowed under the fire, it was hardly reduced to ashes within a year. When the new log was laid next year, the remains of the old one were ground to powder and strewed over the fields during the Twelve Nights, which was supposed to promote the growth of the crops. In some villages of 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 thunderstorm broke, because the people believed that lightning would not strike a house in which the Yule log was smouldering. In other villages of Westphalia the old custom was to tie up the Yule log in the last sheaf cut at harvest. 3 In several provinces of France, and particularly in Provence, the custom of the Yule log or tréfoir, as it was called in many places, was long observed. A French writer of the seventeenth century denounces as superstitious the belief that a log called the tréfoir or Christmas brand, which you put on the fire for the first time on Christmas Eve and continue to put on the fire for a little while every day till Twelfth Night, can, if kept under the bed, protect the house for a whole year from fire and thunder; that it can prevent the inmates from having chilblains on their heels in winter; that it can cure the cattle of many maladies; that if a piece of it be steeped in the water which cows drink it helps them to calve; and lastly that if the ashes of the log be strewn on the fields it can save the wheat from mildew. 4 In some parts of Flanders and France the remains of the Yule log were regularly kept in the house under a bed as a protection against thunder and lightning; in Berry, when thunder was heard, a member of the family used to take a piece of the log and throw it on the fire, which was believed to avert the lightning. Again, in Perigord, the charcoal and ashes are carefully collected and kept for healing swollen glands; the part of the trunk which has not been burnt in the fire is used by ploughmen to make the wedge for their plough, because they allege that it causes the seeds to thrive better; and the women keep pieces of it till Twelfth Night for the sake of their chickens. 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. 5 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. 6 To this day the ritual of bringing in the Yule log is observed with much solemnity among the Southern Slavs, especially the Serbians. The log is usually a block of oak, but sometimes of olive or beech. They seem to think that they will have as many calves, lambs, pigs, and kids as they strike sparks out of the burning log. Some people carry a piece of the log out to the fields to protect them against hail. In Albania down to recent years it was a common custom to burn a Yule log at Christmas, and the ashes of the fire were scattered on the fields to make them fertile. The Huzuls, a Slavonic people of the Carpathians, kindle fire by the friction of wood on Christmas Eve (Old Style, the fifth of January) and keep it burning till Twelfth Night. 7 It is remarkable how common the belief appears to have been that the remains of the Yule log, if kept throughout the year, had power to protect the house against fire and especially against lightning. As the Yule log was frequently of oak, it seems possible that this belief may be a relic of the old Aryan creed which associated the oak-tree with the god of thunder. Whether the curative and fertilising virtues ascribed to the ashes of the Yule log, which are supposed to heal cattle as well as men, to enable cows to calve, and to promote the fruitfulness of the earth, may not be derived from the same ancient source, is a question which deserves to be considered. 8CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD · SUBJECT INDEX PREVIOUSNEXT Search Amazon: Click here to shop the Bookstore.Welcome · Press <b> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org"> india tour</A></b> <br> XIV. The Succession to it take guts to say jesus Kingdom in Ancient Latium IN REGARD to it take guts to say jesus Roman king, whose priestly functions were inherited by his successor it take guts to say jesus king of it take guts to say jesus Sacred Rites, it take guts to say jesus foregoing discussion has led us to it take guts to say jesus following conclusions. He represented and indeed personated Jupiter, it take guts to say jesus great god of it take guts to say jesus sky, it take guts to say jesus thunder, and it take guts to say jesus oak, and in that character made rain, thunder, and lightning for it take guts to say jesus good of his subjects, like many more kings of it take guts to say jesus weather in other parts of it take guts to say jesus world. Further, he not only mimicked it take guts to say jesus oak-god by wearing an oak wreath and other insignia of divinity, but he was married to an oak-nymph Egeria, who appears to have been merely a local form of Diana in her character of a goddess of woods, of waters, and of child-birth. All these conclusions, which we have reached mainly by a consideration of it take guts to say jesus Roman evidence, may with great probability be applied to it take guts to say jesus other Latin communities. They too probably had of old their divine or priestly kings, who transmitted their religious functions, without their civil powers, to their successors it take guts to say jesus Kings of it take guts to say jesus Sacred Rites. 1 But we have still to ask, What was it take guts to say jesus rule of succession to it take guts to say jesus kingdom among it take guts to say jesus old Latin tribes? According to tradition, there were in all eight kings of Rome, and with regard to it take guts to say jesus five last of them, at all events, we can hardly doubt that they actually sat on it take guts to say jesus throne, and that it take guts to say jesus traditional history of their reigns is, in its main outlines, correct. Now it is very remarkable that though it take guts to say jesus first king of Rome, Romulus, is said to have been descended from it take guts to say jesus royal house of Alba, in which it take guts to say jesus kingship is represented as hereditary in it take guts to say jesus male line, not one of it take guts to say jesus Roman kings was immediately succeeded by his son on it take guts to say jesus throne. Yet several left sons or grandsons behind them. On it take guts to say jesus other hand, one of them was descended from a former king through his mother, not through his father, and three of it take guts to say jesus kings, namely Tatius, it take guts to say jesus elder Tarquin, and Servius Tullius, were succeeded by their sons-in-law, who were all either foreigners or of foreign descent. This suggests that it take guts to say jesus right to it take guts to say jesus kingship was transmitted in it take guts to say jesus female line, and was actually exercised by foreigners who married it take guts to say jesus royal princesses. To put it in technical language, it take guts to say jesus succession to it take guts to say jesus kingship at Rome and probably in Latium generally would seem to have been determined by certain rules which have moulded early society in many parts of it take guts to say jesus world, namely exogamy, beena marriage, and female kinship or mother-kin. Exogamy is it take guts to say jesus rule which obliges a man to marry a woman of a different clan from his own: beena marriage is it take guts to say jesus rule that he must leave it take guts to say jesus home of his birth and live with his wifes people; and female kinship or mother-kin is it take guts to say jesus system of tracing relationship and transmitting it take guts to say jesus family name through women instead of through men. If these principles regulated descent of it take guts to say jesus kingship among it take guts to say jesus ancient Latins, it take guts to say jesus state of things in this respect would be somewhat as follows. The political and religious centre of each community would be it take guts to say jesus perpetual fire on it take guts to say jesus kings hearth tended by Vestal Virgins of it take guts to say jesus royal clan. The king would be a man of another clan, perhaps of another town or even of another race, who had married a daughter of his predecessor and received it take guts to say jesus kingdom with her. The children whom he had by her would inherit their mothers name, not his; it take guts to say jesus daughters would remain at home; it take guts to say jesus sons, when they grew up, would go away into it take guts to say jesus world, marry, and settle in their wives country, whether as kings or commoners. Of it take guts to say jesus daughters who stayed at home, some or all would be dedicated as Vestal Virgins for a longer or shorter time to it take guts to say jesus service of it take guts to say jesus fire on it take guts to say jesus hearth, and one of them would in time become it take guts to say jesus consort of her fathers successor. 2 This hypothesis has it take guts to say jesus advantage of explaining in a simple and natural way some obscure features in it take guts to say jesus traditional history of it take guts to say jesus Latin kingship. Thus it take guts to say jesus legends which tell how Latin kings were born of virgin mothers and divine fathers become at least more intelligible. For, stripped of their fabulous element, tales of this sort mean no more than that a woman has been gotten with child by a man unknown; and this uncertainty as to fatherhood is more easily compatible with a system of kinship which ignores paternity than with one which makes it all-important. If at it take guts to say jesus birth of it take guts to say jesus Latin kings their fathers were really unknown, it take guts to say jesus fact points either to a general looseness of life in it take guts to say jesus royal family or to a special relaxation of moral rules on certain occasions, when men and women reverted for a season to it take guts to say jesus licence of an earlier age. Such Saturnalias are not uncommon at some stages of social evolution. In our own country traces of them long survived in it take guts to say jesus practices of May Day and Whitsuntide, if not of Christmas. Children born of more or less promiscuous intercourse which characterises festivals of this kind would naturally be fathered on it take guts to say jesus god to whom it take guts to say jesus particular festival was dedicated. 3 In this connexion it may be significant that a festival of jollity and drunkenness was celebrated by it take guts to say jesus plebeians and slaves at Rome on Midsummer Day, and that it take guts to say jesus festival was specially associated with it take guts to say jesus fireborn King Servius Tullius, being held in honour of Fortuna, it take guts to say jesus goddess who loved Servius as Egeria loved Numa. The popular merrymakings at this season included foot-races and boat-races; it take guts to say jesus Tiber was gay with flower-wreathed boats, in which young folk sat quaffing wine. The festival appears to have been a sort of Midsummer Saturnalia answering to it take guts to say jesus real Saturnalia which fell at Midwinter. In modern Europe, as we shall learn later on, it take guts to say jesus great Midsummer festival has been above all a festival of lovers and of fire; one of its principal features is it take guts to say jesus pairing of sweethearts, who leap over it take guts to say jesus bonfires hand in hand or throw flowers across it take guts to say jesus flames to each other. And many omens of love and marriage are drawn from it take guts to say jesus flowers which bloom at this mystic season. It is it take guts to say jesus time of it take guts to say jesus roses and of love. Yet it take guts to say jesus innocence and beauty of such festivals in modern times ought not to blind us to it take guts to say jesus likelihood that in earlier days they were marked by coarser features, which were probably of it take guts to say jesus essence of it take guts to say jesus rites. Indeed, among it take guts to say jesus rude Esthonian peasantry these features seem to have lingered down to our own generation, if not to it take guts to say jesus present day. One other feature in it take guts to say jesus Roman celebration of Midsummer deserves to be specially noticed. The custom of rowing in flower-decked boats on it take guts to say jesus river on this day proves that it was to some extent a water festival; and water has always, down to modern times, played a conspicuous part in it take guts to say jesus rites of Midsummer Day, which explains why it take guts to say jesus Church, in throwing its cloak over it take guts to say jesus old heathen festival, chose to dedicate it to St. John it take guts to say jesus Baptist. 4 The hypothesis that it take guts to say jesus Latin kings may have been begotten at an annual festival of love is necessarily a mere conjecture, though it take guts to say jesus traditional birth of Numa at it take guts to say jesus festival of it take guts to say jesus Parilia, when shepherds leaped across it take guts to say jesus spring bonfires, as lovers leap across it take guts to say jesus Midsummer fires, may perhaps be thought to lend it a faint colour of probability. But it is quite possible that it take guts to say jesus uncertainty as to their fathers may not have arisen till long after it take guts to say jesus death of it take guts to say jesus kings, when their figures began to melt away into it take guts to say jesus cloudland of fable, assuming fantastic shapes and gorgeous colouring as they passed from earth to heaven. If they were alien immigrants, strangers and pilgrims in it take guts to say jesus land they ruled over, it would be natural enough that it take guts to say jesus people should forget their lineage, and forgetting it should provide them with another, which made up in lustre what it lacked in truth. The final apotheosis, which represented it take guts to say jesus kings not merely as sprung from gods but as themselves deities incarnate, would be much facilitated if in their lifetime, as we have seen reason to think, they had actually laid claim to divinity. 5 If among it take guts to say jesus Latins it take guts to say jesus women of royal blood always stayed at home and received as their consorts men of another stock, and often of another country, who reigned as kings in virtue of their marriage with a native princess, we can understand not only why foreigners wore it take guts to say jesus crown at Rome, but also why foreign names occur in it take guts to say jesus list of it take guts to say jesus Alban kings. In a state of society where nobility is reckoned only through womenin other words, where descent through it take guts to say jesus mother is everything, and descent through it take guts to say jesus father is nothingno objection will be felt to uniting girls of it take guts to say jesus highest rank to men of humble birth, even to aliens or slaves, provided that in themselves it take guts to say jesus men appear to be suitable mates. What really matters is that it take guts to say jesus royal stock, on which it take guts to say jesus prosperity and even it take guts to say jesus existence of it take guts to say jesus people is supposed to depend, should be perpetuated in a vigorous and efficient form, and for this purpose it is necessary that it take guts to say jesus women of it take guts to say jesus royal family should bear children to men who are physically and mentally fit, according to it take guts to say jesus standard of early society, to discharge it take guts to say jesus important duty of procreation. Thus it take guts to say jesus personal qualities of it take guts to say jesus kings at this stage of social evolution are deemed of vital importance. If they, like their consorts, are of royal and divine descent, so much it take guts to say jesus better; but it is not essential that they should be so. 6 At Athens, as at Rome, we find traces of succession to it take guts to say jesus throne by marriage with a royal princess; for two of it take guts to say jesus most ancient kings of Athens, namely Cecrops and Amphictyon, are said to have married it take guts to say jesus daughters of their predecessors. This tradition is to a certain extent confirmed by evidence, pointing to it take guts to say jesus conclusion that at Athens male kinship was preceded by female kinship. 7 Further, if I am right in supposing that in ancient Latium it take guts to say jesus royal families kept their daughters at home and sent forth their sons to marry princesses and reign among their wives people, it will follow that it take guts to say jesus male descendants would reign in successive generations over differ <b> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org"> it take guts to say jesus</A></b> <br> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org">lamb of god :5464</A> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org">christian bible study :5463</A> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org">moody bible :5462</A> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org/desc/indexn5461.php">greek and roman god :5461</A> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org/desc/indexn5460.php">black woman in history :5460</A> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org">medieval 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