SANTA CLAUS’S ORIGIN

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 70, 15 December 1933, Page 14 (Supplement)

SANTA CLAUS’S ORIGIN

Christmas Lore anti Custom

IIIRISTMAS without trees and holly, candles and bells, gifts and puddings, would not be Christmas. In Scotland the Christmas candle was lit at Christmas Eve amid great ceremony. ' — If it went out before the clock struck midnight great trouble vas foretold for the family con■erned. If it continued to burn, it was ceremoniously extinguished an hour after midnight and the remainng stump was preserved religiously io be used at the death wake of the head if the family. There was a similar •ustom on the Continent. On Christnas Eve two candles were lighted to represent the husband and wife. The candle which went out first represent’d the one who would predecease the other. ' The giving of gifts is associated with the benevolent figure of Santa Claus, who. in turn, is associated wth Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor, who achieved a wide reputation in the early fourth century for his gen?rosity to poor people. A man of great affluence and greater modesty, he would take no credit for his generosity, but would wander through the poorer quarters of the town late at night, when all were gbed, distributing alms and

s gifts anonymously. There is. ;:n old legend that St. Nicholas climbed on a roof of a poor man’s hovel and dropped s a purse down the chimney. It fell into g a stocking which had been hung up to dry. Thus was originated the custom of hanging a stocking near the chimney. ’ Santa Claus is the. German equiva- ' lent of St. Nicholas, and he was introduced into England as the secret <lisr penser of Christmas gifts about 1780. In the sixteenth century it was the cns- , tom at Christmas to give the child a I neat parcel containing three gifts; . “something pleasant,” say, an iced cake; “something useful,” a dress or , shoes; and “something for discipline,” , usually a small twig to suggest the rod for erring children. . Until about half a century ago the ancient custom of mumming was kept up in rural England, and in the more remote parts it is still met with occasionally. Wassailing also has lasted until the present time in some villages. This is an old Anglo-Saxon custom, "wassail” being the Saxon drinkingpledge, “Your health,” to w'hich was given the response, "Drinkhail!” The young men of the village would dance from house to house with the huge wassail bowl, inviting all the inmates to drink "wassail” to the Christmas sea-

son. Feasting occupies, and always has occupied, an important place in Christmas pageantry. Puddings and cakes ami the special Christmas dinner remain, but the feasting traditions of the Middle Ages have gone. It was not uncommon to serve 30 or 40 mighty courses, all the food being of the richest. There is a mass of legends concerning the origin of Christmas cakes, many superstitious, but mostly of religious origin. The old Scottish custom was thoroughly to clean rhe house on Christmas Eve, to return all borrowed arti eles, to stop all work, and to put any tools out of sight. Then the good wife would bake a small cake for every person in the house. If anyone’s cake was broken in the cooking it was con-

sidered an omen of bad luck to the person concerned. ■Carols originated in old Italy, indirectly from St. Francis of Assisi. In those days religion was for the educated few, and to the illiterate the Bible was useless. Thus bright, homely songs were written by the monks dealing with the stories of the Gospels. Their childish simplicity was copied

liy other countries, and the carol spread through Europe. One of the very earliest enrols comes from 1410. “I san: a street, a seemly sight! .4 blissful hard, a blossom bright. That mourning made and mirthc among, A maiden mother mecke and mildc, In cradle keep a. knave child That softly slept; she sat and sung, Lullay, lulla baloic, .Uy bairne. sleepe softly nowc.” The tolling of bells on Christmas Eve is a survival from monastic days, when, according to ecclesiastical tradition, the day began at sunset. Thus the bells of what we call Christmas Eve were actually ringing for the “first vespers” on Christmas Day, “Boxing Day” seems to be derived from an old ehurch custom of opening the alms boxes and dispensing alms on the day after Christmas. Very ancient is the custom of giving presents to our children at Christmastide; this may be said to date from the Roman Feast of the Dolls—when little dolls made of earthware were exchanged—ami from that moment, indeed, when the three adoring kings, Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar, laid their gifts of gold, and myrrh, and frankincense before the infant King of Kings. Be careful that you do not take down your holly and mistletoe too soon after Christmas. In other days few people dared to remove them until Candlemas Eve, forty days after Christmas, for fear of unpleasant consequences. Nor may you, if yon would avoid ill-fortune, ■ burn them. No, you must treat them li with some reverence, and bury them I decently. P.