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if the sun were leaving the earth to an icy death, there were 

 twelve days sacrifice to induce him to return ; and the solstice 

 being passed, they lit up their yule fires and rejoiced over his 

 welcome return. These fire rejoicings, like other old pagan 

 customs, were seized upon by the early teachers of Christianity and 

 turned into christian customs, that being an easier expedient than 

 their total annihilation. In this way the sun-worshippers' yule-fire 

 became a christian festivity with a new signification attached to it. 

 The Saxons, we also know, dedicated one day in the week to the 

 sun, and we know it still as .Sw^day. 



It is a curious reflection that when we speak of yule-tide, or put 

 on the Christmas yule-log, when we call the christians' day of 

 worship Stiaday, and when we take our places in church with our 

 faces towards the east, we unconsciously perpetuate reminiscences 

 of that old world sun-worship which moved to righteous indignation 

 the prophet Ezekiel when in his vision he saw apostate Hebrews 

 who had "turned their backs towards the temple of the Lord and 

 their faces towards the east, and worshipped the sun towards the 

 east." 



The policy of adopting pagan customs and christianizing them 

 was, the Venerable Bede tells us, ordered by Pope Gregory the 

 Great, when he sent his forty missionary priests to convert the 

 Anglo Saxons. "Idol temples," he ordered, "are not to be 

 destroyed, but only the idols which are in them ; let the fanes be 

 sprinkled with holy water and the altars consecrated by relics. If 

 these edifices be well built, it is desirable that they should be 

 converted from the worship of demons to the use of the true God ; 

 and since the people are accustomed to slay oxen in sacrifice to 

 their gods, let this be turned into a christian solemnity; so that on 

 the day of dedicating a church, or on the festivals of the holy 

 martyrs whose relics may be there preserved, booths of green 

 boughs may be erected round these same churches, and christian 

 rites be celebrated. By retaining these outward forms of rejoicing 

 you will more easily bring the people to participate in spiritual 

 joys." 



Here we evidently come upon the origin of "Chapel Sundays," 



