Page 15 Advertisements Column 3

Evening Post, Issue 149, 20 December 1935, Page 15

THE STRANGEST f;■ -MASS'" '- "■ . IN r THE WORLD LES BAUX is a vast historical mausoleum—a historical rubbish-box containing the debris of thousands of years. It is a town of ruins^ of caves, and bones and Hints. For its ninety inhabitants there are said to be nine thousand walls. One feels here ihe menace of the past; it almost becomes a ph.; »ical presence, heavy and brooding, says a W't^er in the' "Sydney Mail." ■ ■ ■ All day I warned the town; finding a rock-grotto of the Gauls here, a Saracen minaret there, the medieval castle high up over the town, and strange prehistoric markings in another place. From all angles T feasted on the panorama that stretched as far afield as Aries and right down beyond'the Camargue to the sea coast. And as the Angelus came over the; evening mountain air and the sky turned a rose-green, and then to pitch blackness, I prepared for the famous Midnight Mass of Christmas1 Eve.a most amazing survival rightly described as the strangest Mass in the world. • • ■ In the Church of St. Vincent the fitful candlelight threw shadows on the great heavy1 arches and showed up dimly the pre-Roman chapels cut into the solid rock', and gleamed on the tombs of Crusaders and the ageless shepherds' symbols. -It gave a feeling of catacombSi As midnight approached, the rustic choir, boys gathered-on the flaming Scarlett carpet of the offertory and' knelt waiting. Beyond them, by the old organ, were little gjrls, with wings and tinsel crowns and brightly painted cheeks, making a living creche, but drawing .further and further into the shadows as the'ceremony went on. • -..".;. In front of.lhe organ stood two.tambourine players, rigid as-statues and with eyes fixed on the gold and scarlet vestments of the priest before the altar/ After a short impassioned sermon-by the priest in tlje Provencal tongue, a little child had a dialogue!'with the leader of a curious procession that stopd on the narrow flagged path between the' choir and the congregation. It 'was the'strangest'.sight I have ever seen. . Two ushers stood; with long green-black cloaks and great tapers. Between them was a queer little cart, with a horned-ram between the shafts; and inside the cart,; trying to chew the curve of tinsel decorations above its head, was a capering little lamb./ ; ; ';.'..■ Suddenly the | two musicians started whistling their shrill galoubets and using their decorated drumsticks to good effect on the goat-skinned tambourines. Then they broke suddenly into the old folk-song "The Moon Has Risen," and the procession advanced. It filed past the priest, who sat holding a;w,ax figure of the Holy Child, and then1 the oldj greybeard, repeating the ritual of half a century.; seized the protesting lamb, advanced, with it tp the priest, and handed it with many, ceremonial bows to the shepherdess behind hiniiin the line.- From her it went.gravely from ■hand to, hand. Meanwhile the. Mass w«it on, and at the most, ihtense moment, when th« Host was being elevated, the old man bore the lamb to the Communion Table and the bonneted maidens of Provence.advanced to the Communion. All the time the drums [and the fifes we're accompanying the ceremonial. \ It was all a; blinding of old and new, symbols of fertility mixing with .Christian' rites. . There was one boy in the choir with face transfigured as.frpm/a light of illuminated crystal. His shrill, clear voice rose, fell, and rose again, lifting to a joyous paean ;of; rustic thanksgiving, just as, in ages past, his forbears had' sung to bountiful mother- earth-i-the Earth Goddess. For paganism dies hard in this battered old land. Perhaps my brightreyed' boy would escape after 'the third Mass and wend a way) to that grotto below the castle walls, and there invoke the 'spirits of His pagan ancestors in some patois-gibberish learned from his-gnarled-old grandfather when a child. Only a few weeks before, 1 had seen gaily-attired Provencal maidens performing the heathen'dance of "La' Souche" under the trees of St. Honorat de Lerins,'-witlMhe idea'of-bringing fertility to-the ■ vines! '"; . '■■' ■■■ ■'£ .-"''' ■ '■ ■ ' •.■'■■'• ■■■■' v ■-' •■/ • ■ '.. But by this time: tourists and natives werein the midst of'a frantic scramble to get out of the village, andthe lights of scores of cars were gleaming along the steep path down into the valley, turning', the darkness of the showery night-into a greenish glow. Back in Aries the festival of the Reveilldn was being celebrated all through th« night. The true; Provencals had had their, Christmas feast before the Mass; they had; eaten .Jtheir "gros souper"; they had;blessed the great-"cactio-fto" or Yule log and placed it on the fire,, to last till New.Year; ahd^by now: they were.in bed.' -But the townsmen follow -Paris and have the feast after the Mass. ... ■ ■ . - - CHIRIStMAS AT the Congress of the Italian Society of Sciences which,was held at Naples last year, Professor Donjienico Argentieri, who is well known for his astronomical studies, read a paper on the date of Christ's birth which has evoked considerable interest among students of Christian chronology. Professor Argentieri rejected the » years between 8 and** 8.C., because in those, years Quirinuswas not Governor of Syria, as the Gospel states that he was lit Christ's birth.. ', He then made researches in the "period between 11-9 8.C., and ■ found that of these three.years only;th'e .year' 11 satisfies aU ; the-requirements.; .;. ','. \ ' Dealing:-with the' appearance 'of the Startiii the East.to" the, Wise Men,.he says thaf in the' period from 28 to 4 B.C. .there wakoniy/one, comet recorded by: the Roman and Chinese historians; This w;as Halley's comet, which' appeared 'from August until the autumn of the year! 12 8.C.; and' according to Prof essor Argentieri the date,; coincides^ with Herod's massacre of the Innocents.' Moreover, me first! Christians remembered clearly, that Christ was born' on the .day after the Saturday, and that , for .this, reason th# ; day; .on which sjHe was born was called <iies, dorhinica. Professor Argentieri has found-that in the 12 yesars immediately; preceding the.Christian era December 25, the day imposed by ■ the .tradition of the .Roman Church, fell'on » Sunday only, in the, year 11 B.Cs ' ; .After-rejecting the years A.D..30 and;33,'.whk* . are the! dates generally accepted, ■ Professor Arger*« tieri; fixes the date of Christ's death at'A.D. 2%, From.the-Epistle to the-Galatians he deduces that the conversion /of St. Paul took place. 17 year* before the death of Herod Agirippa, which occurre* in: the year A.D. 44; this would imply that Jesu* Christ died not '-later than the year A.D.127. Q» the other hand, St. John says that at the first Easter of His life in public the Jews' said t» . Christ;;" Forty "and;six;years .was.this temple.in. building,', and wilt thou rear it upi in thr_ee days?" From this;' "forty, and six", it is;dear that ;public . life,of Christ was begun on'the. Easter of the year A.d;;: 24 and' as it lasted' at ; least, three years the crucifixion,-carmpt;;have; taken, place-before the year 27J.' Thus, "according to -Professor. Argentieri's historical arguments, Christ died in the year. 27. jPassing : to; the, Astronomical, proofs, Professor , Argentieri /calculated' the spring lunar; crescents for a longserie^ o| years-and'%iund. that during . the-14;years from AD. 20 to 33 the.only year in which .the; Jewish Easter:(ls Nisan) fell on a Friday," was the year 27. ; In this year the spring ' aFtronomical new moon was seen- bh March 28 r at Bi7,p.m.^nean civil time of Jerusalem. From '. the.moment of>the astronomical new.moon up to '9 p.nv of Oie ; following day (March27X 21 hours 33 minutes passed; 'On the, other hand, s the> interval sufficient; to render'the lunar crescent Visible is. 20 hours .42 minutes. Jt is therefore certain that on the evening of March 27-at6 p.m. the lunaircrescent was visible at' Jerusalem and at that same hou* the first Nisan began. < Thus the 15th Nisan ended at 6 p.m. on April 11,' which was a Friday. Professor .Argentieri concludes that on that Friday Christ died, and that He, therefore, lived 36 years and 107 days.' ; . ■ '.

Romances born pf'the war continue. On Christmas,1 1915, 'all A.I.F. members overseas received a "Christmas billy" packed with all manner of good things by people in far-away Australia. In many billies were names and addresses of donors, and letters-of thanks from diggers developed many a romance. In the billy received by a 12thBattalion digger was a photo of a girl about 15 years. It was inscribed: "Wishing you a safe return," but the girl did not give her name and address The digger carried the photo through three years of war, and on returning to Hobart, Tasmania, put it in a frame in his; room. Some months ago he moved to Melbourne, taking the girl's photo with him.. His landlady, when cleaining his room recognised the photo of her sister. The digger explained his. possession of it, and soon after was introduced to the original, now aged 32. years Fate, may have ,been responsible,• but she had not married. However, the digger married heir witlvn • week. . •. . .... ..'■■■ .-:'■-.