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26 Symbolism of the East and West
John's Eve. Each person, or one member of each family,
seizes a burning brand and runs with it to his house. If
he arrives at his dvvellino- with his torch aHtrht, it is an
omen that the ensuing year will be a happy and prosperous
one to him and his ; but should it be extinguished, some
dire calamity will, he thinks, fall upon his family. The
new brand is then put in the place of honour above the
hearth (the sacred spot in all ages and with all peoples),
and that of the previous year removed and burnt.
Le Retour du Soleil.
The following account of a festival called Le Retour du
Soleil, said to have been performed at Les Andrieu.x, in
Dauphine, is a translation of a rather curious, and now, we
believe, rare book, entitled Histoire des Hautes Alpcs, by
Baron Ladoucette, a former prefect of this department under
the first French Empire, who states that he himself witnessed
this fete. Mons. Ladoucette's work was published in the
latter part of the first quarter of the present century.
Desirous of ascertaining whether " le Retour du Soleil
was still kept up at Les Andrieux, a friend in Grenoble was
applied to : the
reply seemed to throw doubts upon the
authenticity of this festival as a relic of antiquity. My
informant's reply was as follows :
" An individual named Ferrand, who was a Councillor of
the Prefecture under Baron Ladoucette, left memoirs behind
him, which have caused some persons to doubt the genuine-
ness of Baron Ladoucette's account," but, he adds, " M. Fer-
rand probably did this in order to gain for himself the
reputation of a bel esprit^
—
"