Myths and legends of Christmas, tied by Bertha f. Herrick lo Now is
come our joyful feast. Let every man be jolly, Each room with iye
believes, is dressed, and every post with holly. Now all our neighbors
chimney smoke and Christmas blocks are burning their ovens, They with baked miad choke,
and all their spits are turning. The celebration of Christmas, which was
considered by the Puritans to be idolatrous, has for many centuries been so universal
that it might prove of interest to contrast the rites, ceremonies, and quaint
beliefs of foreign lands with those of matter of fact America. Many curious customs
live only in tradition, but it is surprising to find what singular superstitions still
exist among credulous classes, even in the light of the twentieth century. In
certain parts of the England, the peasantry formerly asserted that on the anniversary of
the Nativity, oxen knelt in their stalls at midnight, the supposed hour of
Croft's birth, while in other localities these were said to sing in their hives
and subterranean bells to ring a merry peal. According to legends of ancient Britain,
cock'screw lustily all night on December the twenty fourth to scare away witches and
evil spirits, and in Bavaria some of the countrymen made frequent and apparently aimless
trips in their sledges to cause the hamp to grow thick and tall. In
many lands there is still expressed the beautiful sentiment that the gates of Heaven stand
wide open on Christmas Eve, and that he whose soul takes flighted during its
hallied hours arrived straightway at the throne of Grace. A time honored custom in
Norway and Sweden is that of fastening a sheaf of wheat to a long pole
on the barn or top house for the widespirst holiday cha and in Holland,
the young men of the towns sometimes bare a large silver star through the snowy
streets, collecting holms from pedestrians for the helpless or the aged sick. Russia
has no Santa cloths or Christmas tree, although the festival is celebrated by church
services and by ceremonies similar to those of our Lorine. In some of the
villages in Wales, a Christmas pudding is boiled for each of the disciples,
the exception of Judas, and in rural districts of Scotland, bread backed one
Christmas Eve is said to indefinitely retain its freshness. The Fatherland is the home
of the Christmas Tree, which is thought to be symbolical of the Tree of
the Knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, and candles were
first used to chip defy the power of Christianity over the darkness of paganism,
been sometimes arranged in a triangular form to represent the Trinity. Pines and firs
been unattainable in the tropical islands of the Pacific, The White residents sometimes cut
down a fruit tree, such as an orange or grava, or actually manufacturer
a tree from wood, covering the bare, stiff boughs with clinging vines or
evergreen. In the Holy Land at this season, the place of greatest interest
is naturally the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, erected on the supposed location
where Chrst. Was born. It is said to be the oldest Christian church
in existence, having been built more than fifteen centuries ago by the Empress Elena,
mother of constantine. Repairs were made later by Edward the fourth of England,
but it is now again fast falling into decay. The roof was originally
composed of sadder of Lebanon, and the walls were studdied with precious jewels,
while numerous lamps of silver and gold were suspended from the rafters. The Greeks,
Latins and Arminians now claimed joint possession of the structure and jealously guarded its
sacred precincts. Immediately beneath the navel the cathedral is a commodious marble chamber constructed
over the spot where at the far famous table was said to have stood,
and reached by a flight of stone steps worn smoothed by the tread and kisses
of multitudes of worshippers. The manger is represented by a marble's lab, a
couple of feet in height, decorated with tinsel and blue satin, and marked
at the head with a chiseled star bearing above it the inscription in Latin here
was Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary. At the foot are several
altars on which instance is kept burning and from which mass is conducted, while
a score of hanging lamps shed a fitful light over the apartment. Many theories
have been advanced as to the explanation of the mysterious starr in the east,
which guided the wandering shepherds, but it is now thought to have been venessed.
At the height of the splendor, the only Christians decorated their churches with
ever greens out of respect to the passage of scripture in Isaiah, the glory
of Lebanon shall come unto thee. The fir tree, the pine tree,
and the box together to beautify the place of my sanctuary. And the Pagans
believe them to be omens of good, as the spirits of the woods remained
in their branches. Holly is known in Germany and Scandinavia as Christ's thorn,
and is emblematic everywhere of cheerfulness, forgiveness, peace on earth, and goodwill
to man. The oak mistletoe or missle was held in high veneration by the
ancient Druids, who, regarding its parasitic character as a miracle and its over
green nature as a symbol of immortality, was shipped it in their temples and
used it as a panaceer for the physical ailments of their followers. When the
moon was six days old. The bunches were ceremoniously cut with a golden sickle
by the chief priest of the order and received with care into the spotless robes
of one of the company, for if they fell to the unholy ground,
their virtues were considered lost. Then crowned with oak leaves, and singing songs
of thanksgiving, they bore the branches in solemn procession to the altars, where
to white huckson were sacrificed to the gods. The custom of kissing under the
mistletoe dates back to the days of Scandinavian mythology, when the god of Darkness
shot its rivaled, the moltal Apollo of the North, with an arrow made
from its boughs, but the supposed victim being miraculously restored to life. The
mistletoe was given into the keeping of the Goddess of Affection as a symbol of
love and not of death. To those who passed beneath it. A berry
was required to be picked with every kiss and presented to the maiden as a
sign of good fortune, the privilege seizing while all the berries were gathered.
One of the most beautiful legends of the black forest in Germany is that of
the origin of the chrysanthemum or christ flower. On a dark, stormy Christmas
Eve, a poor charcoal burner was wending his way homeward through the deep snow
drifts under the pine trees, with a loaf of coarse black bread and the
peas of goat's milk cheese as contributions to the holy they cheer. Suddenly,
during a brief lull in the tempest, he heard a low wailing cry,
and, searching patiently, at length discovered a benombed and half clad child,
but little more than an infantinears or size. Wrapping him snugly in his cloak,
he hurried onward toward the Hummel cottage, from which rays of light streamed
cheerfully through the uncurtained windows. The good house. Mutta sat before the fire
with her little ones, anxiously awaiting her husband's return, and when the poor
frozen wave was placed upon a er knee, her heart overflowed with compassion,
and before long he was comfortably warmed and fed. While the children vied with
each other in displaying the attractions of the pretty fir tree with its tiny colored
tapers. And papered ornaments. All at once, a mist appeared enveloping the
timid stranger. A halo formed around his brow, and two silvery wings sprang
magically from his shoulders, gradually rising higher and higher. He finally disappeared from
sight. His hands had spread in benediction, while the terror stricken family fell
upon their knees, crossing themselves and murmuring in awestruck's whispers the Holy Christ Child.
The next morning, the father found on the bleak, called spotward the
child at the lane, a lovely blossom of dazzling white, which he bore
reverently homeward and named the Chrysantimum, or a flower of Christ. In each
succeeding festival season, some starved and neglecty orphan was biaten to his frugal board
in memory of the time when he entertained an engine unawares. In merry England,
Christmas was the chief event of the entire year, and sometimes celebrate for
nearly a month. The tables of the wealthy literally groaned with plenty, but
the poor, with other gaits were not forgotten for oil Christmas account to keep
up in house. It's corn to be guilty of starving a mouse. During
the reign of Elizabeth, the boar's head was the favorite holiday dish and was
served with mustard, then a rare and costly condiment, and decorated with bay
leaves and with rospmary, which was said to strengthen the memory, to clear
the brain, and to stimulate affection. Boars were originally sacrificed to the Scandinavian
gods of peas and plenty, and many oats were composed in their honor.
That remarkable compound known as west Sail was compounded or warm ale or wine,
sweetened with sugar and flavored with spices, and bearing upon its surface floating bits
of toast and roasted crabs and apples. The huge bowl gaily Day, created
with ribbons, was passed from hand to hand around the table, each guest
to taking a portion of its content as a sign of joviality and good fellowship.
But the triumph of the pastry cook's art was the rare missed pie,
the use of which is of great antiquity. The shape was formerly a narrow
oblom, representing the celebrated manger a Bethlehem and the fruits and spices of which
it was composed were symbolic of those that the wise men of the Orient brought
us offerings to their newborn king, while the partake of such a pie was
considered a proof that the Eta was a Christian and not a Jew. All
sorts of games were immensely popular with the English. Whether king or serf,
aristocrat or paper merchant or apprentice, a Christmas gamboled off a cheer the poor
man's hearth. Through half the year. Everyone has heard of the matchless Lord
of Misrule, also known as the Abbot of Unreason and master of married despots,
who attended by his more court king's gesture and grotesquely master revelers, visited
the castles of laws and princes twenty thained them with strange antics and a prearious
merriment. His reign lasted until twelfth Night, during which period he was treated
as became a genuine monarch, being fated and feasted with all his train and
having absolute authority over individuals and state affairs. The great event of the evening
after the holiday feast was the bringing in of the famous Yule luge, which
was often the entire route of the tree. Much ceremony and rejoicing attending this
performance, as it was considered lucky to help pull the rope. It was
lighted by a person with freshly washed hands with a brand saved from the last
year's fire, and was never allowed to be extinguished, as the witches would
then come down the chimney. The presence of a bare footed or cross eide
individual, or of a woman with flat feet, was thought to foretell misfortune
for the commune. The games of nap Dragon and hot Cockles are supposed to
be relics either of the ordeal by fire or of the days of the ancient
fire worshippers. The former consists of snatching raisins from a bowl of burning brandy
or alcohol, and the latter of taking frantic bites at a red apple,
revolving rapidly upon a pivot in alternation with a lighted taper. Christmas cawrals are
commemorative of the Angel's song to the shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem, and
are seldom heard in America save by the surplused choires of the episcopal churches.
The English weights or serenaders, who sank under the squire's windows in hopes of
receiving a Christmas Box unconsciously add a touch of romance and picturequeness to the association
of the season. For upon the first evening air arose such strain as a
awake glad heart the horizon, sing it is the birthday of Thy King,
or God dressed you marry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay, for Jesus
Christ, our Savior, was born upon this day. Most all the old
time favorites are too well known for repetition. The mere mention of their names
recalls the scent of evergreens, the peeling of the organ, the tinkle of
light bells, and the music of the Christmas chimes. Hark, the herald
angels sing while shepherds watched their flocks by night. Gloria in Excelsis and many
others embodied the very spirit of the season, and will live till times she'll
cease to be sing the song of great Joy that the angels began, singing,
of glory to God and of good will to man, while joining in
chorus, the heavens bent over us, the dark knight is ending, and
dawn has begun. And of mids and legends of Christmas Tide by Bertha F. Herrick