Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/188

 180 the 24th to the 25th of December. In this night, according to popular beHef, the New Year begins, by the sun turning on its course. At the moment when the sun stands still (as the stone when thrown rests for an instant in mid-air), at that moment there is rent a split in time, through which eternity is seen with all its wonders. Mountains open, treasures rise to the surface of the earth, all the water which runs over the stones in one minute turns to wine, the Wild Huntsman rushes through the air, the dead arise and hold a midnight service, the beasts of the forest kneel down and pray, the horses in the stable receive the faculty of human speech for an hour, and the plant-world is endowed with life and blossoming powers for the same period.

In Iceland there goes the tale that once upon a time at Mödhrufell, in the Eyjafiord, a mountain-ash stood, which had sprung from the blood of two innocent persons who had been executed there. Every Christmas-night this tree was found covered with lights, which even the strongest gale could not extinguish. These lights were its wonderful blossoms.

In German folk-lore we find the legend about the blossoming-trees of Christmas amongst the peasantry as far back as the fifteenth century up to the present day. The oldest mention of it dates back to the year 1426. It is a letter of the Bishop of Bamberg, which is at present in the Court Library of Vienna. About 1430, a chronicle-writer of Nuremberg tells us the story with all its particulars: "Not far from Nuremberg there stood a wonderful tree. Every year in the coldest season, in the night of Christ's birth, this tree put forth blossoms and apples, as thick as a man's thumb. At this time our native land is usually covered with deep snow for two months before and after, and cold winds sweep across it. Therefore it caused great wonderment that at this holy time the apples came forth; so that several reliable people come from Nuremberg and the neighbourhood, and watch throughout the night to see if it is true." A similar tree is found in a place