Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 307, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1920 — PLACE A CANDLE IN YOUR WINDOW THIS EVENING [ARTICLE]

PLACE A CANDLE IN YOUR WINDOW THIS EVENING

Once more we begin to hear the tinkle of Christmas bells as Old Father Time prepares to turn over another page of his book of Life. The air is heavily laden with whispered messages from Santa Claus. Festive decorations in red and green—Christmas bells, holy wreaths, mistletoe, all the usual symbols of the holiday season appear. \ . And in all the hurrying and scurrying of good cheer, • most of us forget the real message of Christmas. In fact, a great many of us do not even know the meaning of some of our old, old traditions. For instance, probably not half of our citizens know the significance of the candles that we see burning in so many windows on Christmas eve. The Literary Digest for December 4 gives the following explanation : “An old tradition has it that a lighted candle set in the window on Christmas eve will guide the Babe of Bethlehem to your home that he may bring you happiness. In some couhtries it has long been the custom so to mark the coming of Christmas, and John H. Stedman, of Rochester, New York, has originated a movement to spread it in this country. In a pamphlet urging all to light the ‘Christ candle’ on Christmas eve,Ji^\says: “ ‘The Irish will jtell you that the Christ-candle wasy always lighted in their home in the Emerel isle as it has been for years and years in Norway and Sweden. Boston has had it for a decade. In Rochester, 1916, was our third celebration—the first year a few houses shone—the second over a thousand—the third nearly every one, and it has spread to .town, village and country over a forty-mile radius. Many far-away homes, Wisconsin, Maine, California and - Florida, kindled their candles from ours and vjhen you have lighted yours, you will appreciate why.’ ” —The Invisible Guest—