PAGAN RIGHTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 32, 14 December 1945, Page 16 (Supplement)

PAGAN RIGHTS

It has been found that many ol our old customs Avhich we associate with Christian ideas are really the evolution of pagan rites. For instance the custom of having cakes at Christmas goes back, to the. early days when Yule-tide was celebrated at the time we now call Christmas, and Yule cakes were given as oiferings between friends. Yule means a wheel. It is the festival of Avbeelturn, when the Sun-god turns his chariot for a new circle of the heavens. The Yule cakes were, coloured with .saffron to correspond with the sun's hue. In Tudor days the size of the Yule wafer had increased to that of a small bun still very yellow. Plenteous egg-yolk used in mixing achieved the purpose with colouring from crocus flowers aclded } this being the .source of salYron. The Jews had an old custom of offering little unleavened cakes, which were tokens of goodwill and peace on any festival so when Christian's began to commemorate Christmas the two old customs —that of the ancient Yule wafers and the Jewish cakes—were combined. It was considered very wrong to refuse a cake as it implied that the goodwill of the giver was being rejected. As time went on the wafers grew larger as more substances were added. The Saxons called the Christmas cake the Yule dough. It was. not a rich compound, but was believed to be luc'ky. In France to this day the "Gateau Noel" is a. lucky symbol. A piece kept for a year was .supposed to ward oil evil spirits, the fact that it never gets rnouldly is cited- This is really on account of the richness of the cake. The Yule buns of the Tudors and tlie Stuarts were very popular, They always meant that good fortune arid success were wished by those avlio gave. In wealthy houses they were compounded in heaps in the stillrooms and huge baskets of them stood in the halls on Yule mornings to be given away.