Some French Christmas folklore...
In Bretagne, the dead are said to return among the living during three main times of the year, and the second of these time is Christmas.
On Christmas Night the dead are said to form a procession down the roads, singing with soft voices Nativity (cantiques) - someone could mistake their voices for the wind passing through leaves. Usually they are led by the ghost of a priest carrying a (ciboire). Behind this ghost-priest is a small dead choir boy holding a bell. The other deceased follows in two ranks, each holding a lit (cierge) whose flame never moves even when the wind blows. Usually the procession goes to some abandoned chapel or religious ruin, where the dead souls celebrate their mass.
However, it is also very frequent to say that the dead return to their former houses on Christmas - and as a result the people of old Bretagne had all sorts of customs to gain the favor of the spirits, such as leaving a warm fire by which they could sit. This is part of the tradition found almost everywhere in Europe of the "Christmas log". In Bretagne the log was prepared a long time in advance, to be very dry, and it had to be a very big piece of oak tree - it was very good if it still had some roots or if there was a knot with it. The father or the grandfather was the one who had to put the log in the chimney, before spraying it with holy water and saying a few prayers. The log was then left to burn slowly in the chimney from Christmas to a set date: some kept it until New Years Day, others until the Epiphany, some yet until Candlemas. A fourth tradition claims the Christmas log only had to remain for three days in the chimney, before being taken out and put back only for the New Year's Day.
The "Christmas wood" was then kept for the rest of the year because it supposedly had magical properties. When there was a thunder-storm, it was put to burn to prevent any lightning damage or appease the storm. It was also plunged in the water you gave to cows who just gave birth to prevent complications or health problems. Sometimes you had to throw the wood into a well to prevent the toads from inhabiting it. Another tradition yet said that what remained of the log had to be carried onto the fields to ensure the ground would be fertile.
Similar traditions can be found in Wales, where the ashes of the Christmas Log, the "Cyff Nadolig" were spread on the fields for a good harvest. In Llansanffraid, the ashes of the Christmas log were taken after the Twelve Days and used to keep bad things away, or to be mixed with the seeds to be planted to ensure good corn.
In Bretagne just like in British regions, it was also traditional to use the remain of one year's Christmas wood to lit up the Christmas log of the next year, to keep the cycle of the sacred fire.
Some times it was said that, on a symbolical level, the fire of the Christmas log was meant to warm up the newborn Jesus in the crèche, and this is why it had such power. It was a common saying to say "Child Jesus can come with his white robe and bare feet", because his feet will be warmed up by the log's fire. An alternate saying claims that the angels come warm their feet on Christmas night. In Mellionec kids were told that, if you didn't place a huge piece of wood to burn in the chimney, then child Jesus would not come in the house to bring gifts. This specifically Christian interpretation of the fire's importance was wrapped with the more "pagan" belief that the dead came back seeking warmth on this night: it is a strong and very old European tradition to seek the "placate" and "accomodate" the dead because their wrath and grudge could be terrible to the living.
Thus there was also an habit to leave some pieces of food on the table for them. In Merlevenez you had to leave some buttered bread for the dead to eat. This is comparable to an Irish tradition from the County Armagh, where on Christmas eve you swept the floor, made a good fire in the fireplace, and left the door unbarred, a candle lit, plus a bread on the table - to welcome the deceased members of the family. And it was believed that the dead made it clear wether they enjoyed the offerings: in Gouarec, on the day following Christmas, you had to check if there were footprints in the ashes of the fireplace - whether they were turned inside or outside of the house, it was a good or bad sign.
But most interesting are the Bretagne beliefs concerning animals. It was said that on Christmas nights animals do not sleep but rather stay awake, just as the animals did in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. It is also said that on Christmas night animals regain their lost ability to speak - and at midnight they will speak with each other. This was tied, in the old Bretagne, to a taboo forbidding men from listening to what happened in the stables on Christmas night. Supposedly, those that spied on the animals would hear how they would die or when a next of kin will.
At Poullaouen it was said the animals talked during the midnight mass and thus people left some hay to the animals at 11 o' clock and then didn't go near them between midnight and two in the morning. Anybody who dared go listen to the animals would hear about the future, but usually this future announces the imminent death of the listener. (Folktales speak of men dying of fright the very moment they hear the animals speak). Another folktale speaks of a man who was curious and wanted to know if it was true that animals talked at night, but spying on his cows merely informed him he would die next Thursday.
This story is actually part of a larger folktale type not just present everywhere in France, but also in the British Isles and even found in Russia.
Source: Daniel Giraudon's Sur les chemins de l'Ankou, Croyances et légendes de la mort en Bretagne
