[99] It is to be borne in mind that the oak was a sacred tree among the heathen Slavs; it was connected with the thunder-god Perun, the counterpart of Jupiter, and a fire of oak burned night and day in his honour. The neighbours of the Slavs, the Lithuanians, had the same god, whom they called Perkunas; they too kept up a perpetual oak-fire in his honour, and in time of drought they used to pour beer on the flames, praying to Perkunas to send showers.{10} The libations of wine on the Yule log may conceivably have had a similar purpose. [100] Kindling. [101] The custom referred to in the last sentence may be compared with the Danish St. Thomas's Day practice (see Chapter VIII.). [102] At Wormesley in Herefordshire there is a Holy Thorn which is still believed to blossom exactly at twelve o'clock on Twelfth Night. "The blossoms are thought to open at midnight, and drop off about an hour afterwards. A piece of thorn gathered at this hour brings luck, if kept for the rest of the year." As recently as 1908 about forty people went to see the thorn blossom at this time (see E. M. Leather, "The Folk-Lore of Herefordshire" [London, 1912], 17). [103] Compare the struggle for the "Haxey hood," described in Chapter XVI., p. 347. [104] This may be compared with the ancient Greek _Eiresione_, "a portable May-pole, a branch hung about with wool, acorns, figs, cakes, fruits of all sorts and sometimes wine-jars."{35} [105] It by no means necessarily follows, of course, that they were exclusively Roman in origin. [106] In Welsh it has also the name of "the tree of pure gold," a rather surprising title for a plant with green leaves and white berries. Dr. Frazer has sought to explain this name by the theory that in a roundabout way the sun's golden fire was believed to be an emanation from the mistletoe, in which the life of the oak, whence fire was kindled, was held to reside.{47} [107] In the neighbourhood of Reichenberg children hang up their stockings at the windows on St. Andrew's Eve, and in the morning find them filled with apples and nuts{64}--a parallel to Martinmas and St. Nicholas customs, at a date intermediate between the two festivals. [108] "He has more to do than the ovens in England at Christmas." [109] The following quotation from an ancient account book is tersely suggestive of the English Christmas:-- s. d. "Item payd to the preacher vi ii Item payd to the minstrell xii o Item payd to the coke xv o" [110] In County Louth, Ireland, boys used to carry about a thorn-bush decked with streamers of coloured paper and with a wren tied to one of the branches.{47}