The kneeling oxen

24 December · Devon and Cornwall

Lore and belief

In west Devon and Cornwall it was believed that at midnight on Christmas Eve the oxen in their stalls knelt as if in prayer, and after the change of calendar they were said to do it only on Old Christmas Eve. In 1790 a countryman living near Launceston told Brand that he and others had watched, and seen the two oldest oxen fall on their knees and make a cruel moan like Christian creatures. Brand put the notion down to old pictures of the Nativity, in which the ox and the ass kneel by the manger.

the oxen in their stalls are always found on their knees, as in an attitude of devotion

From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 1, cols. 1610-1611; Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 2, pp. 736-737. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

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The kneeling oxen

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