It is said to have originated through an opinion of the danger attending it; and the exclamation used was: "Jupiter help me!" In Ireland, the pagan custom still remains, but it has been Christianized, and "God bless you!" is substituted for the pagan form.

Yet we have known persons who considered the use of this aspiration superstitious, and are pleased to assert that the Irish use the exclamation as a protection against evil spirits, meaning thereby fairies.

When a motive is persistently attributed which does not exist, argument is useless.
Devotion to certain places, pilgrimages, even fasting and other bodily macerations, were pagan customs.

These, also, have been Christianized.
Buildings once consecrated to the worship of pagan gods, are now used as Christian temples: what should we think of the person who should assert that because pagan gods were once adored in these churches, therefore the worship now offered in them was offered to pagan deities?
The temples, lite the customs, are Christianized.
The author of a very interesting article in the _Ulster Archaeological Journal_ (vol.ix.p.

256), brings forward a number of Irish customs for which he finds counterparts in India.