description of the
Midsummer fires in London, 196 sq.; John Aubrey on the Midsummer
fires, 197; Midsummer fires in Cumberland, Northumberland, and
Yorkshire, 197 sq.; in Herefordshire, Somersetshire, Devonshire, and
Cornwall, 199 sq.; in Wales and the Isle of Man, 200 sq.; in Ireland,
201-205; holy wells resorted to on Midsummer Eve in Ireland, 205 sq.;
Midsummer fires in Scotland, 206 sq.; Midsummer fires and divination
in Spain and the Azores, 208 sq.; Midsummer fires in Corsica and
Sardinia, 209; in the Abruzzi, 209 sq.; in Sicily, 210; in Malta, 210 sq.;
in Greece and the Greek islands, 211 sq.; in Macedonia and Albania,
212; in South America, 212 sq.; among the Mohammedans of Morocco
and Algeria, 213-216; the Midsummer festival in North Africa
comprises rites of water as well as fire, 216; similar festival of fire and
water at New Year in North Africa, 217 sq.; the duplication of the
festival probably due to a conflict between the solar calendar of the
Romans and the lunar calendar of the Arabs, 218 sg.; the Midsummer
festival in Morocco apparently of Berber origin, 219.
§ 5. The Autumn Fires, pp. 220-222.--Festivals of fire in August, 220;
"living fire" made by the friction of wood, 220; feast of the Nativity of
the Virgin on the eighth of September at Capri and Naples, 220-222.
§ 6. The Halloween Fires, pp. 222-246.--While the Midsummer festival
implies observation of the solstices, the Celts appear to have divided
their year, without regard to the solstices, by the times when they drove
their cattle to and from the summer pasture on the first of May and the
last of October (Hallowe'en), 222-224; the two great Celtic festivals of
Beltane (May Day) and Hallowe'en (the last of October), 224;
Hallowe'en seems to have marked the beginning of the Celtic year, 224
sq.; it was a season of divination and a festival of the dead, 225 sq.;
fairies and hobgoblins let loose at Hallowe'en, 226-228; divination in
Celtic countries at Hallowe'en, 228 sq.; Hallowe'en bonfires in the
Highlands of Scotland, 229-232; Hallowe'en fires in Buchan to burn the
witches, 232 sq.; processions with torches at Hallowe'en in the Braemar
Highlands, 233 sq.; divination at Hallowe'en in the Highlands and
Lowlands of Scotland, 234-239; Hallowe'en fires in Wales, omens
drawn from stones cast into the fires, 239 sq.; divination at Hallowe'en
in Wales, 240 sq.; divination at Hallowe'en in Ireland, 241-243;
Hallowe'en fires and divination in the Isle of Man, 243 sq.; Hallowe'en
fires and divination in Lancashire, 244 sq.; marching with lighted
candles to keep off the witches, 245; divination at Hallowe'en in
Northumberland, 245; Hallowe'en fires in France, 245 sq.
§ 7. The Midwinter Fires, pp. 246-269.--Christmas the continuation of
an old heathen festival of the sun, 246; the Yule log the Midwinter
counterpart of the Midsummer bonfire, 247; the Yule log in Germany,
247-249; in Switzerland, 249; in Belgium, 249; in France, 249-255;
French superstitions as to the Yule log, 250; the Yule log at Marseilles
and in Perigord, 250 sq.; in Berry, 251 sq.; in Normandy and Brittany,
252 sq.; in the Ardennes, 253 sq.; in the Vosges, 254; in
Franche-Comté, 254 sq.; the Yule log and Yule candle in England,
255-258; the Yule log in the north of England and Yorkshire, 256 sq.;
in Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, and Herefordshire, 257 sq.;
in Wales, 258; in Servia, 258-262; among the Servians of Slavonia, 262
sq.; among the Servians of Dalmatia, Herzegovina, and Montenegro,
263 sq.; in Albania, 264; belief that the Yule log protects against fire
and lightning, 264 sq.; public fire-festivals at Midwinter, 265-269;
Christmas bonfire at Schweina in Thuringia, 265 sq.; Christmas
bonfires in Normandy, 266; bonfires on St. Thomas's Day in the Isle of
Man, 266; the "Burning of the Clavie" at Burghead on the last day of
December, 266-268; Christmas procession with burning tar-barrels at
Lerwick, 268 sq.
§ 8. The Need-fire, pp. 269-300.--Need-fire kindled not at fixed periods
but on occasions of distress and calamity, 269; the need-fire in the
Middle Ages and down to the end of the sixteenth century, 270 sq.;
mode of kindling the need-fire by the friction of wood, 271 sq.; the
need-fire in Central Germany, particularly about Hildesheim, 272 sq.;
the need-fire in the Mark, 273; in Mecklenburg, 274 sq.; in Hanover,
275 sq.; in the Harz Mountains, 276 sq.; in Brunswick, 277 sq.; in
Silesia and Bohemia, 278 sq.; in Switzerland, 279 sq.; in Sweden and
Norway, 280; among the Slavonic peoples, 281-286; in Russia and
Poland, 281 sq.; in Slavonia, 282; in Servia, 282-284; in Bulgaria,
284-286; in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 286; in England, 286-289; in
Yorkshire, 286-288; in Northumberland, 288 sq.; in Scotland, 289-297;
Martin's account of it in the Highlands, 289; the need-fire in Mull, 289
sq.; in Caithness, 290-292; W. Grant Stewart's account
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