Which our Lord has not left
unpunished, for their oxen ran wud, and brak their necks and lamed some
ploughmen, which is notoriously known in some parts of Scotland." By
going back to the time of the Reformation, and finding what then were
the practices of the people in the celebration of the Yule festival, and
then by comparing these with the practices in vogue at the commencement
of this century during the New Year festivities, we shall be led to
conclude that the principal change effected by the Church was only
respecting the time of the feasts, and we can thus perceive that the
veto was not directed against the practices _per se_, but only against
the conjunction of these practices, Pagan in their origin, with a feast
commemorative of the birth of Christ. As they could not hold Christmas
without retaining the Yule practices along with it, they resolved to
abolish both.
Let us then pursue this retrospect and comparison. About the time of the
Reformation the day preceding Yule was a day of general preparation.
Houses were cleaned out and borrowed articles were returned to their
owners.
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