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ANIMALS AT CHRISTMAS
The first animal to be connected with the Nativity story is the humble donkey that legendarily carried Mary to Bethlehem and that shared the manger with the infant Jesus. It was believed that, in accordance with messianic prophecies from Isaiah 1:13 and Habakkuk 3:2, the donkey and the ox knelt before the child.
Scandinavians have long heeded the saint’s message and constructed a birds’ Christmas tree. In Norway the julenek is a sheaf of grain set on a pole for the birds; some farmers tramp down the snow around the pole for that smaller birds can feed on the grain that falls to the ground. In Hungry the last sheaf of the harvest is kept to be given on New Year’s morning to the wild birds. Silesian farmers believed that grain kept in one’s pocket during the Christmas service could given to poultry to make them lay many eggs. In other parts of Europe livestock are given extra fodder at Christmastime; in England cattle were often wassailed and anointed with cider. In Lithuania, horses are excluded from the extra helping of food distributed to the livestock on Christmas Eve, either because the horse was not mentioned in scripture or because of the legend that the horse did not warm the baby Jesus with its breath as the ox and ass did that first night in Bethlehem. Polish farmers give their cattle an oplatek wafer on Christmas Eve and bless them with the sign of the cross. In other places it is the custom on St. Thomas Eve, December 20, to sprinkle cows with holy water and scatter consecrated salt on the animals’ heads with the words “St. Thomas preserve thee from all sickness.”
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