or the success of domestic
undertakings, and for the harvest, to which the others present reply
"Amen," fire off guns in sign of joy, and say: "Welcome to the evening
of the log." Then they sit down to table in the kitchen, even if other
rooms are available, which suggests a survival of the practice of eating
by the ancient family altar, the hearth. In the centre of the table are
three candles twisted together in honour of the Trinity, lighted, and
stuck into a great loaf ornamented with ivy. This loaf is afterwards
broken up and given to the sheep and cows when bringing forth, or when
sick. A little of every kind of food is thrown on to the burning log. If
there are three logs (as in some places), the right-hand one must be the
biggest--the Father, the Son to the left, and the Spirit in the middle,
the aspersion being made in this order. Boccaccio, in the "Genealogy of
the Gods," refers to a similar custom in his day in Florence, evidently
the survival, or transmutation, of some heathen rite. After supper the
hymn "Es wurde geboren der Himmels Koenig von der unbefleckten Jungfrau
Maria" is sung, and then the young people usually play Christmas games.
Little houses are made of flour or bran, with a piece of money in one,
which belongs to the person who selects that house. On Christmas Day
they visit neighbours and relations, married daughters come with husband
and children to the midday meal, bringing two loaves--one of finer
quality for the mother, one of the usual kind as big as possible for the
father. During the octave groups of young people (and sometimes of men
also) go singing carols from house to house, and are rewarded with money
and wine in return for wishing the donors a rich wine, olive, and fruit
crop. On New Year's Day the three tapers of Christmas Eve are
re-lighted. Before drinking at the meal the head of the house uses the
following formula: "I wish you a good New Year; may you enjoy it in
health and happiness, neither offend God, nor lose your soul, but have
every tender joy and celestial glory." Then he drinks in undiluted wine
three times, and blesses those present in the name of the Father, Son,
and Spirit, and pours the remainder of the wine on the candles to
extinguish them. If by chance one remains alight it is considered an
augury of long life to the person in front of whom it stands. The holy
water of the Vigil of the Epiphany, called "water of the Three Kings,"
and used by the priests to bless e