DECEMBER 16, 1960
France, Ireland, Italy's Yule Customs Observed
Christmas celebration begins on December 4 in France. On this day, the planting of St. Barbara's grain takes place. Two or three plates are filled with wheat floating in water and placed by the fireplace or in a! sunny window. If the grain sprouts and grows well, there will be a plentiful harvest. In France, the Yule Log is treated with reverence because it is supposed to be a harbinger of blessing to the household. The entire family takes part in bringing it in, and it must be large enough to last from Christmas Eve until the evening of New Year's Day.
The boys of Ireland have a Christmas "racket" all their own. In order to get more gifts, they catch a wren and put it in a gaily decorated birdhouse atop a long pole. Then, carrying it from house to house, they sing this song:
"The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
St. Stephens Day was caught in a furge.
Although his is small, his family is great;
So arise, landlady, and give us a trate!"
Christmas activities center around the Yule Log and Midnight Mass in Italy. The shepherds come down from the mountains to sing and pray at the many shrines of the Virgin and Child. As a very special surprise for their mothers and fathers, the little children write Christmas letters and place them under their parents' plates at dinner time. In return, the children receive gifts from their parents. "Beffania," the twelfth day of Christmas, is the day when an old fairy rewards or punishes children by putting sweets or stones and dirt into their stockings which hang near the heads of their beds.