Evening Star Newspaper, December 22, 1929, Page 91

BY MYRTA ETHEL CAWOOD. MERICA has no national Christmas customs. We have borrowed myths i and bits of lore from every nation : under the sun. Some day we may have a truly American way of cele- brating the Christmas holidays, but that day is not yet. We borrowed the Christmas tree from the Germans; holly and mistletoe from - the old Druids; feasting from the English, and Santa Claus and gift-giving from jolly St. Nicholas, who is the patron saint of Russia. In the early days of Christianity the pagan celebration of the Winter solstice coincided with Christ’s birthday. Gradually the .pagans embraced Christianity, but many of ‘their old methods of celebrating the season remained and were incorporated in the Christmas festivities. The celebration of the Winter solstice was a feast of thanksgiving for the sun’s ascent toward . the zenith. As 8ol rose higher in the heavens the sun worshipers knew that the dark days of Winter would vanish and Spring would come again with new light and heat and life. -~ AT this time the prince of the Druids took his golden sickle and cut the mistietoe from the oaks. logs were burned to the glory of Odin and Ther. Often cattle and men were sacrificed on these logs to appease the wrath of Winter. The Goths and Saxons called their midwinter feast “Yule” and to this day many pcople in “bonny Scotland” still say Yuletide instead of Christ- mas. The ancient Germans celebrated the sun’s ascent by decorating a large tree of the forest with bright berries or anything- bright and At'the same season of the year the Greeks heid their Winter festival, “the presence of the gods,” which was called Epiphany. These rites were held in the dead of night. The Druids used to arouse the men from sleep on cold Winter nights with loud music. This music “waketh” them so they would leave their warm beds and perform the spectral ceremonies of the season. This music, or “waketh,” has since become known as “waits” through the simple slurring of the word by past generations. From the “waits” evolved the Christmas carols. The “twelfth night” was the grand climax of a.12-day celebration held by the Danes in thanksgiving for the promise of another Spring. This. was a season of riotous games and merri- ment and it through six days of the old year and six days of the new. The Romans decorated their dwellings with evergreens. These. branches were plucked from the trees through kindness and brought into the warm house to protect them from the cold. The pagan custom of celebrating the Winter solstice was at its height when the church recog- nized Christmas as a feast day, about 400. A.D. It is easy, then, to see how Christmas festivities became interwoven with pagan customs. HIBTORY is rich with legends of the holy night. The sacred significance and the mystery of the birth of the Christ Child fired th2 hearts and imaginations of all . One of the oldest legends tells us that the ca'tl> knelt down with the shepherds and wor- shivpel the new-born king that long-ago mnight in Bethlehem. The little brown bees were so bered its mahners and went out to meet the thre> wis2 men, who had been shown their way by the “star of the east.” “n a foreign country called Bosnia the people cialrt tbe sun leaped into the heavens and the in England it is said that the Glastonbury thorn blecsoms only on Christmas day. In Swiizerland, to this day, the people believe that the cattle talk and kneel on Christmas eve. And death shall surely and quickly come to any one who listens to them. The little children of Provence still hope that they will some day see the weary camels of the magi, if they search for them on Christ- mas day with gifts of sweet hay and carrots. These small pilgrims never lose faith, for they (LAY e G TG AT .y ~ ANV AT N ay T4 e LAY D With No Ndiibnal Yuletide Legends of Oh( .. Own, Every Nation Under the Sun Has_ ~ Contributed Myths and Lore for Our S Celebration of the Season. In the northern countries great . say no one knows which road the King will. take, and perhaps next year they may see the King or at least feed the camels of the magi. Little is known about the true St. Nicholas. But he really lived in the early days of Chris- tianity. He was a Bishop of Myra, in Lycia. Mpyra is on the Mediterranean coast northeast of the Island of Crete. Nicholas was perse- cuted and brutally tortured by Diocletian, who hated all Christians. After suffering untold agonies for many years in a foul prison he was released by Constantine, who was a friend of the Christians. Nicholas was supposed to have been present at the council of Nicea. He is listed among the sainted martyrs of the ninth century, and two centuries later many churches were dedicated to him. Nearly 400 English churches bear his name. He is the patron saint of Russia, and because of him Nicholas has long been a favorite Russian name. " His body was removed to Bari, in Apulia, on the & ra«d » S 0 13T 22 FEpr =~ EHAS ninth day of May, 1087. This is the only definite date that can be traced in connection with his entire history, except his birthday, which was supposed to be December 7 of an unknown year. His cult became very popular at the time his body was removed to Bari and countless pil- grimages were made to his shrines. Besides being the patron saint of Russia, St. Nicholas is the special protector of all children, mer- chants, scholars and sailors. : MANY legends about him have been immor- talized by painters. Omne of these is the _story of the three dowerless maidens. Their father was too poor to furnish dowers for them, so they could not marry. Just as the father had decided to turn them out into a sinful world, St. Nicholas came to their rescue, bzar- ing gifts of celestial gold. Supplied with ti: gold the father soon secured husbands for "..s three daughters and they married, and we ! Jpe they lived happy ever afterward. From this gift of gold came the giving [ gifts on St. Nicholas eve, or December 6. Another interesting picture shows St. Nicholas with three small boys in a tub. The three boys were brothers and they had stoppsd, so the story goes, at a strange inn for the night. The innkeeper, greedy for gold, had foully murdered the children while they slept and robbed them of their money. He then cut them up into small pieces and hid their bodies in a salting tub. ‘The good old saint detected the grewsome desd. He found the pieces of the boys in the salting tub and put them together again, and by his miraculous powers brought them back to life. History does not record the fate of the innkeeper, but don’t you wish you knew? The giving of gifts on St. Nicholas eve was & popular custom in Western Europe for a long, long time. At last the Protestants i the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries began to object to it. They said all good gifts came from Christ alone, niot from any saint. So the cus- tom of giving gifts on St. Nicholas eve grad- ually ceased and gift-giving was made a Christ- mas custor: instead. ;"b — 'y B S nr s S ¢ %.’f\. In Germany and Belgium, however, the little eve. shower of candy falls shower St. Nicholas himself enters, by a servant carrying a bag and a switch is for precaution only, and is used). After the presents are distributed from the bag, the kindly old man departs and he seen no more until next St. Nicholas eve St. Nicholas makes two visits to the ] and Belgian children. First he comes in his bishop’s robes to see if they have been good. The little folks never forget to leave fodder for his white ass. When they have been good the fodder disappears, but when they have been bad the ass scorns the fodder and leaves a switch. When the jolly old saint comes the second time he drops the gifts down the chimney for the good children. Next morning the gifts are found on plates, in sabots, or hidden in the corner in baskets, and the children say, “Thank you, St. Nicholas,” very very politely when they find each gift. The patron saint of childhood has a place in the hearts of the children of all nations, and each nationality has its own special name for him. The Swiss tots call him “Sami-Klaus,” the American, “Santa Claus”; the Prench, “le Pere Noel,” and the wee Germans call him “Kinder.” In some of the countries of North- ern Europe he is known as Father Christmas and sometimes as the Christ Child himself. IT was “Merrie Old England” that made the Christmas celebration an orgy of feasting and drinking. The ancient Britons celebrated Christmas with great abandon. You remember how King Alfred in 878 was caught napping over his yule ale by the Danes, who almost com- pletely annihilated his army. In those days K SN 4-_/ 4 ~ the Christmas festivities began on December 16 and lasted until January 6. That is, they ended on the pagan “twelfth night.” On Christmas morning the festivities began at daybreak and the entire household must be present when the yule log was ceremoniously lighted from the glowing embers kept alive from the coals of the preceding log. This was to bless the family for the coming year. Long before breakfast the children were up peeping into their stocks ings, which “had been hung by the chimney with care” to get the presents St. Nicholas had left for them. Al the neighbors, servants and tenants were invited to breakfast in the great hall. This was no light repast. Evergreens and mistletoe gayly festooned the walls. Walls were sung. The singers treaded the snow from door to door, singing as they went. It seemd there was always snow at Christmas time i England. 3 The yule feast of the sixteenth century knew no bounds. But it is certain that meats of every variety graced the long, creaking tables on that day. There was beef and mutton, pork; roast young pig, veal, goose, bullock, capons, turkeys and ducks. Besides the meats there was an abundance of fruits, vegetables, nuts and pickles. And they (the Britons) were “all wet,” for, history tells us, ale, beer, barley and wines were rolled to the tables in huge kegs. . The boar’s head was brought in with great cefemony. This part of the feast was in mem- ory of an Oxford student who was attacked by a vicious wild boar one long past Christmas day. The student’s only weapon was a copy of Aristotle. He hurled the book at the beast and it lodged in his open mouth, choking it to death. The student then cut off the boar’s head and carried it home to feast upon. 2 Mince pie, which was made of rare spices from the East, was supposed to represent the gifts of the magi, and the mutton in it sym- bolized the sheep over which “the shepherds watched by night” at the time of Christ’s birth; Mince pie was called Christmas pie and must never be eaten before December 16. 3 The Puritans hated all these desecrations of the Lord’s birthday, and in 1643 the Roundhead Parliament abolished Christmas as a feast day, They even forbade the eating of the famous mince pie. For 12 years there was no feasting in England, but the old customs returfied with the Restoration. However, the Puritan sentiment was transplanted to the American colonies in the New England States. In 1659 we find that the General Court of Massachusetts passed a law saying, “Anybody who is found observing by abstinence from labor, feasting, or any other way, any such day as Christmas shall pay for such offense with 5 - shillings.” This law was repealed in 1681, but the old Puritan sentiment against a truly joyous celebration of Christmas remained in New England until the beginning of the twentieth century. : Y JT WAS a custom of the early American lec- tlers to fire their flintlocks promptly on the stroke of 12 on the night before Christmas, This Christmas eve ceremony was usually per- formed by the master of the house and it was & signal for all merrymaking and riotous parties to cease. The Southerners deemed this the holiest moment of the holy night and must be respected. This custom of firing the gun en the stroke of 12 is still practiced by the moun~ taineers of the Southern Appalachians.’ Another custom which grew from the gift~ “giving .on St. Nicholas day 'was the “Christmas -gift” game originated by the slaves of the -old~ South. The slaves, instead of saying “Merfy Christmas™ (which, by the way, is an old Eng- lish salutation of the day), would call, “Christ. mas gift, missus,” or “master” as the case ht, be. Then the “missus” must give the slave . present. By and by this term began to be L by the white folks and then the fun : When two or more people met they each other by saying, “Christmas gift.” The first ' person to say these words must be presented with a gift by the other. Many clever schemes were devised to get each other’s “Christmas gift” and many were the small gifts storéd H) P Hi .away to pay the forfeits should one be caughd unawares. This hilarious and interesting oM@ custom has almost vanished, just as many othee Colonial customs have gone. 5 But we still have St. Nicholas, ‘although we' call him Santa Claus. He drives his reindeer from the cold North. country, which according to the legend used to be Russia, but is now the North Pole. How Santa must love the Unite@ States, for his feats are more remarkable here than in any other country. He not only comes: down the chimney with his pack on his back and fills the stockings to overflowing, but he: trims and hangs presents on the Christmas tree besides. He is saint. We also have evergreens, mistletoe, red berries,: general gift-giving, feasting and merriment at’ Christmas time. While in our churches we sing" carols and on January 6 we still hold the fese' tival of the Epiphany, or twelfth night, but to-' day this feast commemorates the visit of the magi to Bethlehem. 8 s So we see the various American customs are either borrowed or adapted. We have taken' those of other countries, transplanted them into*' this new soil, and lavishly used them all. But® the United States has not, as yet, a single '’ national Christmas custom. L3