CHRISTMAS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 14, 14 December 1932, Page 12

CHRISTMAS

THE DAY OF DAYS. In a few days Christmas will be upon us with its joyous greetings and memories of the years which have lied. In this warm land we do not get the scarlet berried plant which so delighted our pioneer forefathers, but in its place comes tho crimson poliutulcawa in the north, and the silvery toitoi in tho south. But around them has not gathered the legends that come to mind in older lands, where it is thought to bo unlucky to bring holly into tho house before Christmas Eve. In his “Survey of London” (1598) Stow tells us that not only houses and churches, but “th© conduits and standards in the streets were likewise garnished; among which I read that, in the year 1444, by tempest of thunder and lightning, towards the morning of Candlemas Day, at the Leadenhall, in Cornhill, a standard of tree, being set up in the midst of the pavement, fast in the ground, nailed full of holm and ivie, for disport of Christmas to the people, was torne up and cast, down by tho malignant spirit (as was thought), and the stones of the pavement all about were cast in tho streets, and into divers houses, so that tho people were sore aghast.” The Spectator of January 23, 1712, has tho following:-—“Our clerk, who was onco a gardener, lias this Christmas so overdeckt the church with greens that he lias quite spoilt my prospect. . . . The middle aisle is a very pretty shady walk, and the pews look like so many jarbours on each side of it. The pulpit itself has such clusters of Ivy, Holly, and Rosemary about it that a light fellow in our pew took occasion to say that tho congregation heard tho Word out of a bush, like Moses.”

THE CAROLS. Carols of great beauty are to be found in most European countries. Originally they were dance-songs, but gradually they changed. In Germany the best-loved carol is that written by Luther for his hoy Hans in 1540: “From Heaven above I come to you to bring you tidings good and true.” It is said that in Luther’s household the first five verses were sung as a solo, the singer impersonating the Angel, and th© rest in chorus. The earliest known carol is a fragment published by Ititson and written in the early fifteenth century:— I saw a. sweet, a seemly sight, A blissful bird, a blossom bright, That mourning made and mirth among; A maiden mother, meek and mild, In cradle keep a knave child, That softly slept; she sat and sung, Lullay, Lulla balow, » My bairn, sleep softly now. WASSAILING.

“Wassail!” which is equivalent to “Your Health!” was the old AngloSaxon drinking pledge, to which the response was “Drinkhaile.” To tho old English Christmas feast tho wassail bowl was indispensable. It was used also on New Year’s Eve and Twelfth Night. In the ordinances for the household of King Henry VII. occurs the fallowing dealing with Twelfth Night:—“ltem, the chappoll to stand on one side of tho hall, and when the steward cometh in at the hall door with the wassell, he must crie three times, ‘Wassell, wassell, wassell,’ and then the chappeli to answer with a good song.” THE CHRISTMAS FEAST. Other tunes, other manners! In the old days the favourite dish was peacock, swan, beef and, of course, the boar’s head. When King Hepry 111. was keeping his Christmas at Winchester in 1248 ho ordered his treasurer to fill Westminster Hall with poor people and feast them for a week. An old writer tells of a feast that began at 3 p.m. and ended at midnight. Here is a bill of fare about the middle of the sixteenth century:—A shield of brawn with mustard; a boiled capon; a boiled piece of beef; a chine of beef, roasted; a neat’s tongue, roasted; a pig, roasted; chewets (mince pie) baked; a goose, roasted; a swan, roasted; a turkey, roasted ; a haunch of venison, roasted; a pasty of venison; a kid with a pudding in the belly; an olive pye; a couple of capons; a custard or dowset. There wero also the usual accessories. They were great trencher men in the bygone days, evidently indigestion was then unknown, or if suffered from, must have been ascribed to sonio wicked spirit, for spirits were held to be very restless and hard-working in tho Dark Ages. One of their dishes was very gay, for when the peacock came in he arrived with all Ins plumes attached. He was carried in shoulderhigh by serving men, and must have presented a gay sight. The method of preparing was to have th© plumed crest of the bird appear at one end of the dish and the plumed tail spread

aloft at tho other. To obtain this effect tho dressing of the bird was very careful and remarkably for the skin was first carefully stripped off with all the feathers attached, and into this was placed the cooked bird and all carefully

rr, z s-w.” 2i?J. w S, gaiety when he was borne to table They were great feasting days, w England wal called Merne England and life was simple for the English Vfolk.