ANIMAL SUPERSTITIONS.
There are many quaint animal superstitions connected with Christmas night. One. of them is the legend that the oxen kneel in their stalls to worship the infant Christ at. midnight on Ilis birthday. In Cornwall it was believed that, at the same mystic moment, sheep turn to the east and bow their heads in memory of those shepherds of old, who knelt before the Manger of Bethelhem. In many parts of Great Britain and on the Continent it was believed that all animals have the power of speech for a few moments at that midnight hour of Christmas. In Brittany they say that the grace is given to all beasts except the frog, who is invariably asleep at the holy hour. For frogs, according to the Bretons, are evil and uncanny creatures, who brought downa curse upon themselves by croaking a betrayal to the high priest’s messengers in the Garden of Bethsemane.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19281222.2.156.16
Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Issue 18644, 22 December 1928, Page 18 (Supplement)
Word Count
154ANIMAL SUPERSTITIONS. Star (Christchurch), Issue 18644, 22 December 1928, Page 18 (Supplement)
Using This Item
Star Media Company Ltd is the copyright owner for the Star (Christchurch). You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Star Media. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.