SUPERSTITIONS OF DECEMBER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 306, 23 December 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

SUPERSTITIONS OF DECEMBER.

. I -p-, nime of December again refers a '' i, , ~., ancient Latin calendar, being de- .' !-,..l from th- word "decern" ten. denot- tl '".-,. i wis th" tenth month in their s ,' v '.'.",r'' Llt iin, -alb-,1 by the Saxon? 1 ' "Winter Motiath." „r sometimes "lleligh- , :. ~ ~.,.,•" o, ll'oiv .Month. ' "' ' vi'ii,.,u.*i i-rhaps December is the .- '.' , ~',,;' weL-i,.!.',- ~; all the months <>t the 1 '^' r ~- ,-iv rit'- to lb-- young. it cm- i \\\ u i 'according t" : -'i"' "'-' pub-ndarr-. "" ' ' - • . • , ni -oi-ii of thor-c unlucky day- i '' . i.,..,' t i. unwise to undertake any i '. ■ • ''Vti'lfd'ate- are the sixth, —nth. ', " .',,-i, liftreetth. sixteenth, seventeenth. , " , ',-...ntv r-.s d: bui the most fatal . > i',\' ~'] all' I.- the la-'. Monday in the . ' ~"'.,,-h because ~n lid- day tradition hue . ■'■' '- -',',-' '.In la- l-cariot was born. '~..';,,,,„, are somewhat divided with . '•'• '~,., ... ilie Lirtht-tonc of December. ' 1 \. '.i.rding :■> one authority: — ..,.- ~.,,, | ember gave you birth — ' ,-.,. ~„„,„, ~, snow and ie- and niirth- ( ' - , ,„ r h-i'id ,-v a turouoise blue, a- > .;,', ~,; will l-le-s whatever you do. j ~ . .-., irbuncle is aL-o named by ~ •'-;, g.-m which should be worn ■ ~ '-, ri in December. ,1 '•',.".,;.„cr.,Lth0-r who wish to be for|„ii,.. r thi- month should wear -,'c ,•,,'." ;.,..;.v. Which ir said, brides, to he re ~ int'-.lot" again.-t poison. " 5.,,,„-rc-ti'. i>u hat- it that the luckiest . . {l \ j'.', ;he whole year on which to gel .;,' '.'rr',,.,l .- la- thirty-tirst of December. '•' '"id Mi'-oiii" part- of Great Britain tii ■ '.', '.'mniber of vvoddines on this day is cer- ,, t t . lin h noticeably large, even at the pn--ent tint", ji; I"-,,. -ixth of the month i- the least o! -, Nivhola-. th particular patron saint '~ ~.-' ~;] children. the original "Santa ii. it.in-" In old tunes the gifts which .'." ' n ,.w b.-tovve,| oil Christmas Day ; u i! '. d to Le pn-entcd on the festival of St. Nnhoiae. To- -'rang islom was also preserved I' s-aii-bury mil i the middle '■: the t-ix- "'\ ','.,,,,.- la- choristers of the cat !ral. who held oln . until ih'' following Holy \\ '";'••. f . fourteen day- between the '.'' r!,".''utii and ihc twenty-tilth of Decern-

!:.t were formerly called "Halcyon .lays." 1.1 denote tin- culm weath-r which often prevails in the northern ii<■ ni:-j»ln-r.• at St. Tin. miiis's ])ay fulls on the twenty lir-: of December', an.l \< was an ~'ld i-:'pi>!r.titiini that a frost which l>.-jran mi tin- f.-a-: would l:i,-[ f.if thr.-i----tllutltll-. Of curse, the great .lay. which dwarfs ;'!' '!"' other anniver-arhv of December, i- tii.- festival nf Christmas. Tin- celc '■ration of Chri-t's !.in Inlay dales, probably ,r..in tin- reign of Antonins I'ius. lull the- parly ( hri.-lians kept the feast upon -lanuary Ist. I lie i-iivtoin of decorating the house "ill! green boughs is prulial.lv derived ' r " m the fa.t that this w.is air-, i the -.l-oii of tile dewi,ti Feast of Xahcr"•'•■l--. The first Christian.-, who were also. ~;' oiit-e. .lew-, preserved the prac:i '*'- "' liie older festival whilst ,•,■;,■- braliuu the tn-w. ' 'iri-tma- Day has always 1 n ob ser\e.| in Kiijl.iml with great rejoicings. "»d with rile- and ceremonies mo-lly luirrowed froii! our heathen ancestor-. I iie >.i\nn name of ".liiiil." which is s: ill prc-.-r\ed iii the lilies of "Yule" and ".Noel." was .;;,,.„ ;,, the festival celebrated li\ them a; this time to welcome tin- turniii. hack of the sun and the con-pqucnt lengthening of the .lays. The burning of the Yule log is probably the relic of a heathen custom, as it was u-.-d as an emblem of renewed light. The l-'.arly Church, as was it- custom. i-hri-i iant-eil the pagan festival, and It was -..in.■time- called the --Kea-i of Lights." he.ailse ( iiri.-t. the Light ol Liiiils. eanie then into the world. Siukcley. tie- antiquarian, irives the following \ery curious example of this adaptation of heathen customs, although i in- eereiiioii.' whk'ii he describes is. n..i now practised. "On the Kve nf Christmas Day," he say-, "they carry mistletoe to the High Altar at the Cathedral at York, and proclaim a public and universal liberty. pardon and freedom to all sorts of m ferior and even wicked people at Ungates of the I'ity. towards the four i|Uarlers of Heaven. Thi- was the most respectable festival of our Druids, called Yulctide. when mistletoe, which they called Ail-Heal, was earned in then hand- and laid on their altars as an emblem of the salulifi'rous advent oi Messiah." The ceremonies which are observed at I hri-tmas time are too well known In need itiiii-li eommenl. Some, such as hobbing for apples, are similar to those pra.-ti-ed on All Hallow's Kw: others. like snapdragon, are | uliav to Christ uia-. and of very ancient origin. The t. hristmas tree was only introduced into England from Cermany in comparatively recent y.-ar.-. I'.aker- used formerly to present little imaL'es. or doilgh babies, to their customers, which were intended to represent the Christ Child. We -till eat the mine? pies at this season, which in the old days were made invariably in a loiijr. narrow shape, to commemorate the Manger of Bethlehem. Brand, in Ins "Popular Antiquities.'' "ives an account of the origin of Christmas boxes which is generally aeeepted as -,-orreet. although the old wriler's strong prejudices colour his words. •The Roiaish jiriests." he writes, "had masses said for almost everything; if a ship went out to the Indie... the priest had a box 'li her. under the protection of some saint: and for masses, as their cant wa-. to be said lor them to that saint, the poor people must put something into the priest* box. which is not opened till tile ship returns. ihc mass at that time was called "Chris, mas." the box. 'Christmas Box.' oi mo lie v gathered against that tame thai masses might be 'made by the priest- ,., the -aims to forgive the people till debaucheries ~f that time: and from thi: servants had the liberty to get 'box nioii.-v ' that they too might be en ililed' to pay the priest for his masse-. \ very curious Clin-tmas Kve super slit ion i'- mentioned in the -Oentletnan': Magazine" for I*ll. It refers to the al leralion of the calendar in 1752. -There is in this p«rt of Yorkshire ; custom which ha- been by the c-ountrv people, more or le«" revived, ever sin.-, the alteration in the style and ealplidai namely, the watching m the midnight o the new and the old (hristmas Eves b beehives, to determine upon the righ Christmas from the humming noise whiel they suppose the bees will make vvhe the birth of our Saviour took placi .Disliking innovations, the utility o which they understand not. the orach they atlinn. always prefers the mos auci.-ni custom." There are several very curious supei s-.ilions connected with St. Stephen" Day. the twenty sixth of December. In Ireland th.-v u .-ed to hunt the wrr nn this day. but the origin of litis t -u. torn is very obscure. Possibly tl arises from a legend vrhic -ays that a wren woke one of St. Sti phen's gaoler- by riving into his la. when the saint wa- on the point t making hi' escape from prison. 1; is probably for a somewhat simila reason that in some ni the remote d; irk-tf nf France, the country pcopl ,-Plu.— i" eat cabbage upon St. Stephen lhiv. They as-eri that ihe martyr li himself in a I'"TJ of cabimges when 1 was endeavouring to escape from h persecutors.

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