Note 129 — Chapter XI · MYTHOLOGIES AND FOLK-TALES.
Reading edition
These twelve nights occupy in the middle-age legends the place of a sort of battle-ground between the powers of light and darkness. One obvious reason of this is that they lie in midwinter, when the infernal powers are the strongest. Another reason, perhaps, is that they lie between the great Christian feast and the great heathen one, the feast of Yule. Each party might be expected to put forth its full power.