In Somerset in days gone by, they didn’t burn a yule log, they burned a bundle of ash logs bound together with withies, willow branches.Sometimes these weren’t just small bundles of things little bigger than sticks, sometimes these were so massive they were held together by chains. They might be five foot long and weigh as much as a hundredweight. There were usually nine withies, nine being a magic number; each member of the family chose a withy and as the faggot burned they would be watched because the one which burned through first would indicate a marriage for the person who had chosen it!
The reason for having this hefty faggot was that it should burn through the twelve days of Christmas – just as a yule log would. It would be kept going with bits and pieces of dried wood, branches and furze. Sometimes a few of the ashes would be kept until the following year for luck!
Lois Elsden 