Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 307, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1920 — Origin of Quaint Traditions of the Yuletide [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Origin of Quaint Traditions of the Yuletide

■ I HE holiday season recalls I Quaint ideas and Christmas X fancies of old. even back FtT t 0 t * ie ancient days of the Lpyffll Druids—a time when the mistletoe sprig, as a potent mascot, was presented as an omen of good for- " tune, as a symbol of health, wealth and prosperity, and in those days long ago the house that sported a branch of mistletoe at Christmas would never be unlucky. It is from the Druids that the custom of decorating our churches and homes with evergreens comes, for they believed that all the sylvan sprites flocked together on these boughs, there to remain until the warm weather came. In midwinter the Druids sent around sprigs of ivy and mistletoe to remind the people to decorate their dwellings with evergreens, in order to propitiate the sylvan sprites and secure protection from frosts and wintry blasts. Holly berries long have been considered as giving wonderful power when worn in the shape of a wreath, which must be made and worn in imitation of a sacred' crown of thorns and of berries, and the wearer of this crown must go alone at midnight on Christmas and sit in the dark, and, in accordance with that ancient tradition, when worn on Christmas eve the holly wreath will »voke visions of spirit forms coming In the air to .sing their Noel songs, and ail the beasts will be seen to kneel down in worship.

The Yule cake and Yule log, too, have their important part in this ancient Saxon tradition for the Christmas festival season. The cake had the same powers as the bride cake has on Christmas night. The Yule log was used to light the Christmas fire the next year because it preserved the house from gre during the year and subdued the spirit of the flames. Its powers were bestowed in the days of the Druids, when the belting fires were lighted and the brands secured from the fire to light the fire the next year. The ancient Saxons burned the* Yule log as a symbol of the turning of the sun toward spring. Even the moon contributed its share to Christmas superstitions, for, as the legend runs, if Christmas comes during the waning of the moon we shall have a very good year, and the nearer to the full moon the better. Holland, perhaps, has the prettiest custom of all nations for the Christmas festival. On the night before Christmas in commemoration of the star of the east, the young men of their towns assemble and carry through the dark streets a large, bright star; all the people go out to greet and give to the bearers of this “star of Bethlehem,” as it is called, alms for the poor. Seven days before their New Year, the Chinese worship the Kitchen God bv preparing dishes of candy and various sweets with which they smear his mouth. Later they bum him amid the firing off of crackers, the deity being sent up in a chariot of smoke and fire to a conference with the king of the celestial regions. The i<ea of smearing his mouth with sweets is that he may not say anything but honeyed words, or that his lips may stick together and so prevent his talking too much. The Kitchen God, according to story, had been ill treated by his brother and sister-in-law,\ who were very rich and had many servants, but allowed their brother to work with the servants and have dinner with them. Their cruelty developed day after day, until at last they, treated him heavenly by seating him in a sedan chair made of paper. The creation of giving gifts at Christmas came, not from presents of gold and silver given to the Christ child, as many believe, but Jfrem an old custom of priests putting on board of all outgoing ships a box of alms This box was opened at Christmas time - and masses said for the givers of the alms, and was called “Christ mass” box. and from this has come our custom of Christmas boxes and gift giving. ... •• -t**