Speaker 1: Myths and legends of Christmas dight by Bertha f Herrick
lo now is comer joyful feast. Let every man be jolly,
Each room with ivy leaves is dressed, and every post
with holly. Now all their neighbour's Jimmy smoke and Christmas
blocks are burning their rovens. They with baked milk choke,
and all their spits are turning. The celebration of Christmas,
which was considered by the Puritans to be adolatrous, has
for many centuries been so universal that it may 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 on in tradition, but it is
surprising to find what singular superstitions still exists 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 cross Berth, 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, cocks crew lustily all night on
December 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 hemp
to grow thick and tall. In many lands there is
still expressed the beautiful sentiment that the gates of Heaven
stead wide open on Christmas Eve, and that he whose
soltakes flight 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 Widesburs holiday year, and in Holland, the young men
of the towns sometimes bear a large silver star through
the snowy streets, collecting alms from pedestrians for the helpless
or the aged sick. Russia has no Santa Claus or
Christmas Tree, although the festival is celebrated by church services
and by ceremonies similar to those of Allohin 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 baked on 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 choosed to tip the power of Christianity over the
darkness of Paganism, being sometimes arranged in a triangular form
to represent the Trinity. Pines and firs being unattainable in
the tropical islands of the Pacific, the White residents sometimes
cut down a fruit tree, such as an orange or graava,
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 Crust 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 cetdar of Lebanon,
and the walls were studded with precious jewels, while numerous
lamps of silver and gold were suspended from the rafters.
The Greeks, Latins and Armenians now claim joined possession of
the structure and jealously guard its sacred precincts. Immediately beneath
the navel, the cathedral is a commodious marble chamber constructed
over the spot where the far famed 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 slab,
a couple of feet in height, decorated with tinsel and
blue satin, and marked at the head with a chiseled
star bearing above its the inscription in Latin here was
Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary. The foot are
several altars on which incense 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 star
in the east which guided the wandering shepherds, but it
is now thought to have been Venus. At the height
of the splendor, the only Christians decorated their churches with
evergreens out of respect to the passage of scripture in Isaiah.
The glory of Lebanon should 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 men. The oak, mistletoe
or missile 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, were shipped in
their temples and used it as a panacea 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 then 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 ocksen were sacrificed to
the gods. The custom of kissing under the mistletoe dates
back to the days of Scandinavian mythsthology, when the god
of Darkness shot his rival, the immortal Apoll 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 its 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
benumbed and half clad child, but little more than an
infantine ears or sighs wrapping him. Snugling his cloak, he
hurried onward toward the Hummel cottage, from which rays of
light streamed cheerfully through the uncurtained windows. The good house.
Muta sat before the fire with her little ones, anxiously
awaiting her husband's return, and when the poor frozen wave
was placed upon her 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
hat 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 ad the lane
a lovely blossom of dazzling white, which he bore reverently
homeward and named the Chrysanthemum, or flower of Christ. In
each succeeding festival season, some starved and neglectic orphan was
bidden to his frugal board in memory of the time
when he entertained an angel 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
litterally groaned with plenty, but the poor, with other gates,
were not forgotten for all Christmas account for to keep
up in house it scorn to be guilty of starving
and 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 rosemary, which was said to strengthen the memory,
to clear the brain, and to stimulate affection. Boys were
originally sacrificed to the Scandinavian gods of peas and plenty,
and many oaths were composed in their honor. That remarkable
compound known as west Sail was compounded of 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 the created with ribbons,
was passed from hand to hand around the table, each
guest taking a portion of its content is a sign
of joviality and good fellowship. But the triumph of the
pastry cook sart was the rare minced pie, the use
of which is of great antiquity. The shape was formerly
a narrow oblong representing the celebrated mange or a bath lamb,
and the fruits and spices of which it was composed
were a symbolic of those that the wise men of
the Orient brought as offerings to their new born king,
while the partake of such a pie was considered a
proof that the Ita was a Christian and not a Jew.
All sorts of games were immensely popular with the English,
whether king or serf, aristocrat or poper, merchant or apprentice,
a Christmas gamboled off a could cheer the poor man's
hearth through hot year. Everyone has heard of the matchless
Lord of Misrule, also known as the abbotow Unreason and
master of married dispots, who attended by his more court
king's gesture and grotesquely masked revelers, visited the castles of
laws and princes to entertained them with strange antics and
a prairie's merriment. His reign lasted until twelfth Night, during
which period he was treated as became a genuine monarch,
being feted 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 log, 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
barefootage or crossied individual, or of a woman with flat
feet was thought to foretell misfortune for the comingue. 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 raisin from the 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 carols are commemorative of the Angel's song
to the shepherds on the plains of Bethlem and are
seldom heard in America save by the surplused choirs of
the episcopal churches. The English waits or serenaders, who sang
under the squire's windows in hopes of receiving a Christmas
box unconsciously add the touch of romance and pictureque ness
to the association of the season. For upon the frost
evening air arose such strain as a awake glad heart,
arise and sing, it is the birthday of thy King
or God dressed. You marry, gentlemen, that nothing you dismay
for Jesus Christ, our Savior, was born upon this day.
Most of 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 slight bells, and the music of the Christmas chimes. Hark,
the herald angels sing while shepherds watch their flocks by night.
Gloria in Excelsis, and many others embody 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 bend
over us. The dark night is ending and dawn has begun.
And of myths and legends of Christmas Tide by Bertha F.
Herrick