The Ottawa Free Trader

CHRISTMAS LORE

Some Notes From History About Christmas Day and Its Observances.

BETTER OFF THAN M'GINTY.

Poor briny-soaked McGinty!
No Christmas joys for him;
For in his boyhood's frolicking days
He'd never learned to swim.
Though in water, mud and mire are we,
How much worse off is poor McGinty,
Who lies buried in the sea!

—Slug One.

Sadly the merchant
Balances his cash
And of the humid element
He speaks a little rash.
He intimates that Heaven
Was trying to hoodoo
The Christmas present purchaser
With such a heavy dew.

—Rockford Gazette

When the drifting snows lie heavy,
All the world around:
When 'neath mistletoe and holly,
Yuletide joys abound:
Then beside his glowing hearthstone.
Scorning tempest's wrack,
Plays the farmer, happy farmer,
High-low-jack.

—New York Tribune.

The initial observance of the 25th
of December, as the birthday of the
Saviour of mankind, is generally
ascribed to Julius, Bishop of Rome,
A. D. 337 to A. D. 352, though the in-
stitution of this day as a festival is
attributed to Telesphorus, in the reign
of Antonius Pius, A. D. 138-161. There
are traces of the recognition of the
natal day of our Lord in the reign of
Emperor Commodus, A. D. 180-192.
Diocletian, a barbarous ruler of Rome
in A. D. 284-305, learning that a mul-
titude of Christians were assembled in
the city to celebrate the birthday of
the Saviour, closed the church doors
and fired the buildings, all the wor-
shipers perishing in the flames. At
first, and for over three hundred years
after the death of the Messiah, there
was no uniformity in the period of ob-
serving the nativity; some held this
festival in January; others in April
and still others in May. Previous to
this time, A. D. 337, when Julius,
Bishop of Rome, had fixed the 25th
of December as the natal day, the
eastern wing of the Catholic Church,
afterward and now the Greek Church
had kept the 6th of January as the
proper day for this festival, in commem-
oration not only of the birth but the
baptism, of Christ. But, singularly
enough, before the end of the 4th cen-
tury the east and west divisions of the
Church had changed dates, the west-
western taking January 6th as the date of
his baptism, and the eastern adopting
the 25th of December as the true natal
day. Of course, says an eminent his-
torian, the 25th of December is probab-
ly not the true day of the Saviour's
birth, which can not be ascertained
from the new testament nor any other
source. The cause which fixed this
period of the year for the festival was
the fact that in the semi-equatorial
regions the most of the heathen and
many of the Christian nations regard-
ed the winter solstice as the time when
nature takes on new life; the flowers
put forth their buds, the leaves begin
to sprout and the grass begins to
cover the earth with a mantle of de-
lightful green. It was not until the
6th century that the whole of christen-
dom united on the same day—Decem-
ber 25th. The heathen winter holi-
days, the Saturnalia, the Juvenalia
and the Brumalia were transmuted in-
to and sanctified by the Christian cycle
of Christmas observance, and along
with them were brought over a num-
ber of harmless customs, such as ex-
changing presents, the lighting of the
tapers, the Yule log, the boar's head,
garnished with branches of yew, holly
and sweet marjoram, the mistletoe and
music and other social enjoyments.
There are twelve days, which among
the old English, the Germans and the
Russians, were observed as holidays,
or holy days, beginning with Christmas
Eve and ending with January 6th.
This period includes St. Stephen's day
(Dec. 26), St. John's day (Dec. 27), Mas-
sacre of the Innocents (Dec. 28), New
Year, the Circumcision of Christ, and
January 6, the present English Twelfth
Night, or Little Christmas. Says a
prominent authority: "The boar's
head was esteemed 'a dainty dish fit
for a king' and it was served up at
the Christmas feast, brought into the
dining hall smoking hot, ornamented
with flowers and ribbons and an apple
or an orange stuck in its mouth."
The Christmas tree is of German
origin and dates back to the earliest
conversion of some of that people to
Christianity by the first missionaries.
In order to make converts, they invest-
ed Christmas-tide with all manner of
merry-making, songs, carols, etc., and
placed a green bush on every door, no
matter whether the persons within
were Christians or faithless. While
the Constitution of the United States
nor any of them singly recognize God
in words, still Christmas is a legal hol-
iday in all the Union.
The Christmas box was carried
around by the small boy to receive
contributions of pennies from generous
people. Here is a mention of this cus-
tom in an old Christmas poem:
Gladly the boy, with Christmas box in hand.
Throughout the town his devious route pur-
sues,
And of his master's customers implores
The yearly mite: Often his cash he shakes,
The which, perchance, of coppers few con-
sist,
Whose dulcet jingle fills his little soul with
joy.
All Christian people aim to recog-
nize the festival of Christmas with
unusual decoration of their places of
worship with evergreens and flowers
where obtainable, and their devotions
are especially directed to this occasion.
As the birth of a child in a family is
an occasion of joy and happiness, so
the birth of the great Redeemer of the
world is commemorated with a sublim-
ity of joy, such as the devout worship-
er can appreciate. In the Catholic
churches on this occasion, three
masses are solemnized, one at mid-
night, one at daybreak and one in the
morning.
The Episcopal churches
likewise have their peculiar and beau-
tiful observance of the day, and, in fact,
as previously mentioned, all Christian
churches recognize the natal day with
songs of gladness and hearts filled
with praise, love and devotion.

J. G. A.