Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1920 — EXCUSE FOR CEASING WORK [ARTICLE]

EXCUSE FOR CEASING WORK

The Russian working people have always seized upon Christmas as an excuse for ceasing all work for a somewhat lengthy period—sometimes for a month. Before the recent revolution “Kolenda” was the celebration on Christmas eve, when the peasants gathered about the houses of the nobles, sang carols and scrambled for the coins tossed to them from the windows. Then came a great masquerade, when peasants of all ages dressed {heraselves to represent animals, the idea being to perpetuate the memory of the lowliness of the Saviour’s birth In the stable.