Amongst the words in the popular language that still remind one of ancient Scandinavian customs, those of _yuletide_, _yuling_ (Christmas), _yule-candles_ (_Dan._, Julelys), and _yule-cakes_ (_Dan._, Julekager), deserve particular notice. Christmas was certainly kept as a solemn feast among the Anglo-Saxons, but it does not appear to have had that importance with them which it had with the Scandinavians; of which this is a proof, that the old name of Christmas (_Yule_) is preserved only in those districts in the north that were more especially colonized by the Northmen. Yule, or the mid-winter feast, was, in the olden times, as it still partly is, the greatest festival in the countries of Scandinavia. Yule bonfires were kindled round about as festival-fires to scare witches and wizards; offerings were made to the gods; the boar dedicated to Freÿr (_Dan._, Sonegalte) was placed on the table, and over it the warriors vowed to perform great deeds. Pork, mead, and ale abounded, and yuletide passed merrily away with games, gymnastics, and mirth of all kinds. It is singular enough that even to the present day it is not only the custom in several parts of England to bring a garnished boar’s-head to table at Christmas, but that the descendants of the Northmen, in Yorkshire and the ancient Northumberland, do not even now neglect to place a large piece of wood on the fire on Christmas Eve, which is by some called the _yule-block_, by others _yule-clog_, or _yule-log_ (perhaps from the old Scandinavian _lág_, _log_, a felled tree; Norwegian, _laag_). Superstitious persons do not, however, allow the whole log to be consumed, but take it out of the fire again in order to preserve it until the following year. Exactly similar observances of Christmas customs still exist in the Scandinavian North. At Smaaland, in Sweden, a boar’s-head, called _julhös_ (from _hös_, the skull), is set on the table at Christmas; and in East Gothland a large loaf, called _juhlegalt_, is seen on table throughout the festival, of which, however, nothing is eaten. _Juhlhös_ and _juhlegalt_, as well as the boar’s-head in the north of England before alluded to, owe their origin unmistakeably to the expiatory barrow-pig, or “Galt,” offered up by the old Northmen to Freÿr. The remembrance of the games of the Northmen is also preserved in England in the Scandinavian word _lake_ (to play), which is heard only in the ancient Danish districts.