The Christmas Festival B.D. Drigins of Today's Telebrations

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 302, 21 December 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

The Christmas Festival B.D. Drigins of Today's Telebrations

THERE are all sorts of festivals held throughout the world that ■we know little of, with age-old backgrounds and deep meanings for those who participate in them, but of all these festivals, religious as well as secular, Christmas is at once the mo§t important and the most universal, and strangely enough the more common of the Christmas observances have their origin in pagan sources. For Christmas in the Old World falls, in a season when Nature is asleep beneath the snow, and villages and towns are isolated one from the other. It is a season of long nights which are filled with mirth and jollity, and the same old customs which were observed during the long years in the beginning of the world are still followed, although now with a new and larger meaning. For example, the practice of giving presents at Christmas time originated not with the visit of the Wise Men to the Christ Child, as is usually supposed, but was a custom instituted in. the winter season about tlxe year 497 B.C. This was the Roman feast of the Saturnalia, to commemorate the reign of Saturn/ whom at that time they worshipped. It was a festival when the playing of practical jokes and other pranks could be indulged in, as the bright eye of the sun was hidden, and therefore could not see the mischief-making of its subjects. This giving of presents was continued into the early days of Christendom, when on Christmas morning the children received gifts of toys, fruit and clothing which it was said that the Christ Child had dropped through the roof as He passed over the houses during the night. The "Kriss Kringle" is still the giver of presents in Germany, but it is Santa Klaus who visits the little children of other parts of Western Europe and fills their shoes and stockings with good things. In Scandinavia, our Father Christmas has yet another name, for in the northern countries he is known as Kristopher. As the nights here are very dark, and the distance

between one house and the next is ! often fraught with dangers of snowdrifts or wild animals, it is customary to leave lighted candles in the windows to guide the gift-giver. There are some lovely customs connected with candles, and the lighting of the tiny coloured ones on the Christmas tree is a remembrance of the Light that came into the world. In the days when candles were the only lights, it was the presentation of these by the tallow chandlers to their regular customers at Christmas time that , made other tradesmen follow suit with a Christmas box. These gifts have taken their strange title of "Christmas boxes" from the alms boxes formerly placed in the churches to receive the donations of J ,he congregation for the benefit of the poor at Christmas time.

As the alms were not given out until the next day, December 2G came to be known as Boxing Day. Yet another custom connected with candles Is that which is still observed in some remote country parts of Europe. During the days of the Christmas festivities the candles are kept burning from the early dawn until the close of day, lest some evil should befall the house during the ensuing year. This_ practice is connected with the burning of the Yule log, which has a Scandinavian origin. The date of our Christmas marked for them the time of the winter solstice, and they gave the. name Yuul to their winter festival, at which immense bonfires were kindled in honour of their god Thor. The same custom of burning the log is observed all across Europe, where it is one of the chief delights of the year for all the family to go out into the woods and help drag the Yule log home. In Italy the log is of olive wood and garlanded with laurel. It is lit at midnight, when all the members of the family have

gathered in the old home, and -when at last the fire has burned through, the ashes are collected and distributed to the guests to bring them luck through the year. Closely connected with the Yule log is the Christinas tree. This custom is peculiar to Germany, but its origin takes us a long way back before the Christian era,, to that land of ancient civilisation, Egypt. It was known that the palm tree grew a branch every month. Hence the Egyptians used a branch of the palm, having twelve 1 ' shoots on it, at the time of the winter solstice as a symbol of the completed year. A popular custom that is observed in Christain countries to-day is that of the singing of carols. "Waits" was the name originally given to musicians attached to the Courts, and these people gave special musical entertainments at Christmas time. Later the watchmen employed to call out the successive hours of the night, roused the inhabitants with songs at the approach of Christmas. Then, when the watchmen were replaced by the police in 1829, private musicians took the opportunity of earning a little money in the character of waits. These carols had their origin in the song sung by the angels in the hearing of the shepherds at the birth of the Saviour. It it a custom observed with greatest solemnity in Holland, where early on Christinas morning the young men assemble in the market place singing their carols. One of them carries a large artificial star, within which is a lighted candle, high on a pole. This is supposed to represent the star that guided the steps cf the three to the stable at Bethlehem, and the one light in the darkness shines onlhantly. 'fine other well-kncwn custoin with a pagan origin is that of decorating our churches and houses with greenery. The ivy, laurel and holly, which are so much used at this season in England, were iOso by the ancient Britons during their winter festival. The houses were decorated with evergreens 80 that spirits of the woods would shelter there and protect the householders from frost and' wintry blasts until the milder season of spring had returned. The Druids, too, sent sprigs of holly and mistletoe to the people a few days before the festival as a peace offering of friendship and good feeling. And although out in the colonics • Christmas falls as a summer festival, jet here too, as right across the world, it is the custom to make this season one of happiness and holidaymaking, and our bells ring in the sunshine as they ring across the snow the same message of love and kindly thought.