It faded on the crowing of the cock.
Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow’d and so gracious is the time.
– William Shakespeare
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 1. Marcellus to Horatio about the Ghost leaving when the cock crows. He talks about the significance of the crowing of the cock in Christian tradition. At the celebration of the birth of Jesus the rooster is said to crow all night long, no ghost dares go wandering and the night is safe from fairies’ spells and witches.
