Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 36, Number 21, 30 November 1910 — Page 15

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TIUS HICIJMOND PALLADIUM AND 8UX-TELEGRA3I, WEDNESDAY XOVE3IBER 30, 1910.

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lE are apt, mcai of f.s, to ob

serre the customs and traditions or tho Yule-tide with the fecllnc that they

had their birth with the first of the greatest festi

vals of Christendom. The Christmas tree, the gift giving, the candles, the holly and the mistletoe have beoome so Identified with our celebration of Christmas that they seem as Inherent and peculiar to It as the radiant points to the Star of the Nativity, And yet

it Is to antiquity and heathendom that

we owe the customs we obserrs, the

stock phrases we utter and even the

mince pie, without which no Christ-

mas dinner-' fa complete. The Ger

mans, the Scandinavians, the Jews, the

Romans,' the Goths and the Saxons

harm all contributed to make our

Christian festival.

-Merry Christmas! " It Is on our

lips from the stroke of twelve that

ends the vigil of Christmas eve until the last candle has burned out on Christmas night If we think of it at

all wo accept "merry- as meaning lively, sprightly and gleesome and

wonder a bit perhaps at Its preference,

As a matter of fact when the English

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connection. DeiunK it mvmo,

moant simply pleasant and agreeable,

but we cling to it In spite of Its

.ennngad character. .

The day before Christmas we bring

Into the house a great fir tree that is

. made the center of the festivities. It

fi an old German legend that has pro-

Tided us with this pretty custom. Saint WIlfrM. the tale rims, was one

oaks of the Dnrfdsu v Presently a great wind seised It and It fell, split In four

pieces. Behind It Caint Wilfrid saw a young fir tree standing staunch and unharmed, pointing Ka green spire to the heavens. He thereupon proclaimed It a holy tree and the tree of the Christ child because Its Jeaves

were evergreen and its majestic spire

pointed heavenward. He itVcJ the people to gather about it In their own homeswhere it should shelter nothing

but loving gifts.

On Christmas ve we Illuminate the

tree with many flickering candles unless we prefer safety to sentiment.

when wev make use of ' the - electric lighted devices. One may choose among several picturesque accounts of the origin of this practice. In me

dieval times when, the forests seemed

peopled with none but sacred trees, there was a tradition of particular

holiness being invested In an illumi

nated tree. Then the ancient Jews

held a Feast of Light about Christmas time in which candles were an impor

tant' feature, so that their use may oddly enough have been thus adopted by the Christians. The huge Tule candle signified the coming of the light into the world. The most beautiful

idea is that our use of candles Is derived from the fact that probably when Christ was born twinkling lights

were burning in every house.

The holly and mistletoe indispensable for holiday decoration r.-ere Orig

inally identified with pagas featlvals.

There is a tradition that holly is the bush in which Jehovah appeared to

Moses The mistletoe was an object of

great veneration to the Druids, al

though only when It grew upon an

oak tree. The propriety of kissing

under the mistletoe is a relic of an old

Scandinavian - myth.x It seems that Balder, the Apollo of the North, was hated by one Lokl because "every

thing that springs from fire, air, earth and water had given promise not to hurt the former handsome gentleman. Whoever it. waa had thus coerced all

things of the earth and sea, had somebow neglected to mention the matter

to the Insignificant mistletoe. So Lokl straightway made an arrow of mistletoe, and being an unprincipled

chap Induced blind HOder to shoot Balder. Little good It did him. how-

ever, for the gods restored Balder to

life at once and presented the mistletoe to the Goddess of Love to keep.

Everyone who passed under it received

a kiss to show that It was the emblem of love, and not death. The popularity of mistletoe was' unabated for centu

ries, but one' old writer says: - "Mlstle-.

toe was abandoned In the Christmas

decking of churches together wSth kissing at the services, beeaott bUh were found to set the youasvKSes d young gentlemen a-readlngoPtoe ny$riage service." ' ' And dear old Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas, or Kris Kringle, as you prefer what delightful myths from antiquity have presented him with his reindeers and his whiskers and pack of toys! The Scandinavian legend relates the coming of Odin, the winter god, who visited earth at the time of the Winter Solstice or Feast Odin rode a white 'horse and preceded by wolves and ravens was supposed to lead ar. army of souls that had died during the year: As Christianity triumphed it was only over the nnbaptized that he was thought to have power, and his army came to be composed only of the souls of children to whom he became a friend. Eventually he was said to bring the toys and gifts to the children on earth. We are satisfied now to tell the children that he comes down the chimney with his pack of gifts and disappears without being beheld by mortal eye.v In a little Moravian village In Emaus, Pennsylvania, which is the only place In this country where the custom Is thus observed, SL Nicholas, or PelUnlckeL Is yearly Impersonated by some villager, and visits every household on Christmas ere to distribute gifts. The mince pie is a survival of the Immense pies .that the early Christians nsed to make In the form of a cradle or manger. After sereral centuries the pies were made smaller In ante, but were still made to carry out the idea of the manger, la a sort of coffla shape. '

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I simokersH Articles ' ' '.i -.

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