Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: CHRISTMAS IN NAPLES. An Italian _PRESIPIO._] YULE-TIDE IN MANY LANDS BY MARY P. PRINGLE Reference Librarian, Minnesota Public Library Commission and CLARA A. URANN Illustrated by L.J. Bridgman and from photographs BOSTON LOTHROP. LEE & SHEPARD CO. 1916 Copyright, 1916 BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. * * * * * "The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfills Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world." --_Alfred Tennyson._ * * * * * ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks are due to the following publishers for permission to reprint poems: Houghton Mifflin Company for "King Olaf's Christmas" by H. W. Longfellow, "Night of Marvels" by Violante Do Ceo; Paul Elder & Company for "The Christmas Tree" by H. S. Russell, "At Christmas Time"; Edgar S. Werner & Company for "The Christmas Sheaf" by Mrs. A. M. Tomlinson; John Lane Company for "A Palm Branch from Palestine" by M. Y. Lermontov; _American Ecclesiastical Review_ for "The Eve of Christmas" by Pope Leo XIII; E. P. Dutton & Company for "The Voice of the Christ-child" by Phillips Brooks. MARY P. PRINGLE CLARA A. URANN * * * * * CONTENTS CHAPTER I. YULE-TIDE OF THE ANCIENTS II. YULE-TIDE IN ENGLAND III. YULE-TIDE IN GERMANY IV. YULE-TIDE IN SCANDINAVIA V. YULE-TIDE IN RUSSIA VI. YULE-TIDE IN FRANCE VII. YULE-TIDE IN ITALY VIII. YULE-TIDE IN SPAIN IX. YULE-TIDE IN AMERICA INDEX ILLUSTRATIONS Christmas in Naples. An Italian _Presepio_ _Frontispiece_ King Olaf's Christmas Serenaded by the Waits Toy-Making in Germany Decorating the Christmas Tree On the Way to Christmas Eve Service in Norway A Christmas Bonfire in Russia A Christmas Tree in Paris A Game of Loto on Christmas Evening in Naples Christmas Festivity in Seville Lighting the Yule-Log in Colonial Days Children of Many Nationalities at Christmas Celebration in a New York School CHAPTER I. [Illustration] YULE-TIDE OF THE ANCIENTS "There in the Temple, carved in wood, The image of great Odin stood, And other gods, with Thor supreme among them."