People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 27-25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1896 — XMAS DECORATIONS. [ARTICLE]

XMAS DECORATIONS.

W« Have Copied the Castoms of Non* Christian Countries. Among the votaries of the early Druids there was a superstition thai the houses should be decorated with evergreens in December, in order thai the Sylvan spirits might enter them and thus be kept free from the bias) of the cold North wind and the frosi; until a milder season renew the foliage of their usual haunts. The Christmas tree is really from Egypt, where the palm tree puts forth a branch every month, and where a spray of this tree with twelve shoots on it, was used in Egypt at the time of the Winter solstice, as a symbol of the year completed. Who does not know the poem beginning The mistletoe hung in the castle hall, The holly branch shone on the old oak wall. Years ago over every man’s door in England hung a sprig of mistletoe<*at this season. There still hovers a mystic charm about the mistletoe, and many a girl now, with a thrill of expectancy, places a branch of it under the chandelier or over the door. According to a former belief, when a girl is caught and kissed under a mistletoe a berry must be picked off with each kiss, and when the berries have all been plucked the privilege ceases. Among the ancient Britons the mistletoe that grows on the oak tree was the kind held in favor. Because of its heathen origin it is not used often in church decorations, a fact whiijh is referred to by Washington Irving in his “Bracebridge Hall,” where he has the learned parson rebuke the unlearned clerk for this very thing. In Germany and Scandinavia the holly or holy tree is called Christ’s thorn, because it puts forth its berries at Christmas time, and therefore is especially fitted for c&urch decorations.

With its glossy, dark leaves and bright, red berries, it is an attractive decoration for the house. The Jews used to decorate at their Feast of Tabernacles with evergreens and flowers. The laurel was used at the earliest times of the Romans as a decoration for all joyful occasions, and is significant of peace and victory. In some places it is customary to throw branches of laurel on the Christmas fire and watch for omens while the leaves curl and crackle in the heat and flame. The evergreen tree is a symbol used as the Revival of Nature, which astronomically signifies the return of the Sun. Hung with lights and offerings, the tree has for centuries been one of the principal characteristics of Christmastide.