View source for Yule log

==Diffusion and modern practices==
The Yule log is recorded in the folklore archives of much of England, but particularly in collections covering the [[West Country]] and the [[Northern England|North Country]].<ref name="SIMPSON-ROUD-402-403">Simpson and Roud (2003:402–403).</ref> For example, in his section regarding "Christmas Observances", J. B. Partridge recorded then-current (1914) Christmas customs in [[Yorkshire]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]] involving the Yule log as related by "Mrs. Day, Minchinhampton (Gloucestershire), a native of [[Swaledale]]". The custom is as follows:{{blockquote|The Yule log is generally given, and is at once put on the hearth. It is unlucky to have to light it again after it has once been started, and it ought not go out until it has burned away.
To sit around the Yule log and tell ghost stories is a great thing to do on this night, also card-playing.
Two large coloured candles are a Christmas present from the grocery. Just before supper on Christmas Eve (where [[frumenty]] is eaten), while the Yule log is burning, all other lights are put out, and the candles are lit from the Yule log by the youngest person present. While they are lit, all are silent and wish. It is common practice for the wish to be kept a secret. Once the candles are on the table, silence may be broken. They must be allowed to burn themselves out, and no other lights may be lit that night.<ref name="PARTRIDGE-375-376">Partridge (1914:375–376).</ref>}}

H. J. Rose records a similar folk belief from Killinghall, Yorkshire in 1923: "In the last generation the Yule log was still burned, and a piece of it saved to light the next year's log. On Christmas morning something green, a leaf or the like, was brought into the house before anything was taken out."<ref name="ROSE-157">Rose (1923:157).</ref>

The Yule log is also attested as a custom present elsewhere in the English-speaking world, such as the United States. Robert Meyer, Jr. records in 1947 that a "Yule-Log Ceremony" in [[Palmer Lake]], [[Colorado]] had occurred since 1934. He describes the custom: "It starts with the yule log [''sic''] hunt and is climaxed by drinking of [[wassail]] around the fire."<ref name="MEYER-370">Meyer (1947:370).</ref> In the [[Southern United States]] before the end of the [[American Civil War]], the Yule log was also maintained as a tradition. For example, according to scholar Allen Cabaniss:
<blockquote>
:For slaves, Christmas had special meaning. December was a slow work month on the typical plantation, and it became the social season for them. The slaves' holiday lasted until the Yule log burned, which sometimes took over a week.<ref name="CABANISS-211">Cabaniss (2014: 211)</ref>
</blockquote>