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Speaker 1: Christmas games, snap Dragon. Some interesting particulars relative to the

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indoor diversions of our ancestors at Christmas occur in the

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following passage, quoted by Brand from a tract entitled round

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about our Coal Fire or Christmas Entertainments, which was published

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in the early part of the last century, the time

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of the year being cold and frosty. The diversions are

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within doors, either in exercise or by the fireside. Dancing

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is one of the chief exercises, or else there is

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a match at blind man's buff or puss in the corner.

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The next game is questions and commands, when the commander

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may oblige his subjects to answer any lawful question, and

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may make the same obey him instantly under the penalty

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of being smutted, having his face blackened, or paying such

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forfeit as may be laid on the aggressor. Most of

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the other diversions are cards and dice. From the above

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we gather that the sports on Christmas evenings one hundred

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and fifty years ago were not greatly dissimilar to those

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in vogue at the present day. The names of almost

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all the pastimes then mentioned must be familiar to every reader.

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Who has probably also participated in them himself at some

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period of his life. Let us only add charades, that

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favorite amusement of modern drawing rooms, and of these only

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the name, not the sport itself, was unknown to our ancestors.

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Together with the higher spirit of refinement and delicacy, and

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we shall discover little difference between the juvenile pastimes of

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a Christmas party in the reign of Queen Victoria and

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a similar assemblage in the reign of Queen Anne or

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the first Georges favor at Christmas sport, very generally played

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on Christmas Eve, has been handed down to us from

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time immemorial under the name of snap dragon. To our

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English readers, this amusement is perfectly familiar, but it is

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almost unknown in Scotland, and it seems therefore desirable here

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to give a description of the pastime. A quantity of

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raisins are deposited in a large dish or bowl. The

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broader and shallower this is the better, and brandy or

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some other spirit is poured over the fruit and ignited.

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The bystanders now endeavor by turns to grasp a raisin

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by plunging their hands through the flames and As this

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is somewhat of an arduous feat, requiring both courage and

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rapidity of action, a considerable amount of laughter and merriment

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is evoked at the expense of the unsuccessful competitors. As

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an appropriate accompaniment, we introduce here the song of snap Dragon.

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Here he comes with flaming bold Don't he mean to

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take his toll? Snip snap dragon. Take care you don't

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take too much. Be not greedy in your clutch. Snip

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snap dragon. With his blue and lapping tongue, many of

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you will be stung. Snip snap Dragon, for he snaps

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at all that comes snatching at his feast of plums.

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Snip snap Dragon. But old Christmas makes him come, though

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he looks so fee far fun Snip snap Dragon. Don't

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he fear? And but be bold? Out he goes. His

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flames are cold. Snip snap Dragon. Whilst the sport of

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snap Dragon is going on, it is usual to extinguish

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all the lights in the room, so that the lurid

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glare from the flaming spirits may exercise to its full

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its weird like effect. There seems little doubt that in

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this amusement we retain a trace of the fiery ordeal

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of the Middle Ages, and also of the druidical fire

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worship of a still remoter epoch. A curious reference to

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it occurs in the quaint old play of Lingua, quoted

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by mister Sands in his work on Christmas. Memory. Oh,

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I remember this dish well. It was first invented by

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Pluto to entertain Proserpine with all fantastes. I think not

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so memory, For when Hercules killed the flaming dragon of

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Hesperia with the apples of that orchard, he made this

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fiery meat in memory, whereof he named it snap Dragon.

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Snap Dragon to personify him has a poor relation or

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country cousin who bears the name of flap dragon. This

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is a favorite amusement among the common people in the

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western counties of England, and consists in placing a lighted

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candle in a can of ale or cider and drinking

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up the contents of the vessel. This act entails, of course,

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considerable risk of having the face singed, and herein lies

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the essence of the sport, which may be averred to

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be a somewhat more arduous proceeding in these days of

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mustoches and long whiskers than it was in the time

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of our close shaved grandfathers. End of Christmas Games, snap

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Dragon