The Clifton clarion., 1885-01-21
Christmas Expectations.


 on Christmas Eve is said never to grow moldy. Zule dough kept unbroken through the, year is a preservative against perils by fire, water or sword, and the Normans thought from mad dogs also. The crumbs kept till spring and mixed with corn, the Danes and Poles give as medicine for horses and cattle. To this day, Tn many parts of Wales, eleven Christmas pud- dings are boiled, one for each of the apostles except Iscariat. The last is only to be eaten as the year is up, to insure good luck. In Devonshire a hot cake dipped in cider is taken to the orchard and deposited in the forked branch of an apple tree, while guns are fired and cider thrown into the air, the company singing the while:
 Bear good apples and pears,
 Barns full, bags full, sacks full, Hoping thereby to secure plenti ful fruit year, and should the sun shine on Christmas day they look upon 1t as an augury of an abun- dant crop.
 According to folk lore it is considered lucky for the festival to fall on Sunday, bringing strong winds, but a fair, dry summer, and greatness to children born on that day; unlucly on Saturday, in which case old people will die, as we'll as children born on the ami versary. Fruit and corn will fail and the winter be severe and tempestuous. Then there are the old lines:
 Winter thunder,
 Rich mans food and
 Poor mans hunger.
 The people of Kronz, on the Moselle, wrap wheel in straw and rolling it down hill on fire, augur whether they are to have a good vintage. It is supposed to be favorable if it reaches the water alight. Straw strewn as it used to be in churches at Christ mas time, was deemed the best preventive against sleeplessness and the best protection to fruit trees.
 Christmas charms and love oracles have peculiar efficacy. While the German maiden meIts wax into water through the end of a key, hoping thereby to discover the form of her future husband or, with her companions, taps at the door of the hen-house, fully persuaded that she to whom the cock crows in response will be first married; or, not content with this, names four onions after her several suitors, and determines which will be the favored wooer by the one that sprouts before the twelfth night; the Russian girls place each her separate heap of grain on the floor and know that the owner of whichever the cock selects to eat from will be first a wife In all countries, venturesome maidens have peered alone into the glass, or, being more courageous still, looked into a we'll at Christmas midnight, hoping to see tho face of him who is to rule their lives. The Yule log has been beset with Christmas and observances ever since those Scandinavian feasts in honor of the god, Thor. Round it old feuds were for gotton, as the liquor bubbled in the wassail bowl amid singing, shouting and merriment. It was secured, charred, and brought home long before, and finally lighted with a brand from that of last year, which was carefully pre- served as a charm against fire. Indeed, in Yorkshire, portion of it thrown upon the fire, was supposed to have the power of allaying storms. In France, cherry, plum or oak are the woods chosen, and, sprinkled with salt and water, many healing proper ties are ascribed to them. In Devonshire it is formed of ash faggots bound together, and for every crack in burnig, the master is supposed to furnish an addi- tional draught of beer or cider. Travellers raised their hats to the Yule log as it was brought in, and it was considered bad omen if a squinting person, flat footed woman, or any one with bare feet entered while it was burning.