CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN FAR-OFF LANDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2181, 19 December 1895, Page 28

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN FAR-OFF LANDS.

By Constance F. Gordon-Cumming. Author of "Two Happy Years in Ceylon," "At Home in Fiji," &c.

Of all experiences of travel 1 know none which seem so strange to a true Britain as his first Christmas either in the tropics or in the Southern Hemisphere. My first taste of this novelty was on landing in Calcutta, two days before Christmas. We had left Southampton veiled by bitterly cold November nights, — a penetrating cold which crowds of shivering, ill-clad poor folk vainly tried to resist — and here we found scorching heat, and crowds of brown meu, women, and children whose principal raiment consisted of a few yards of gay calico or mußlin, chiefly piled on their heads in the form of picturesque turbans, to protect them from the blazling sun. And instead of going out to try and get warm by a bracing midday walk, !the foreign residents were careful to keep I • indoors all through the long hours of daylight, shutting out the blaming sun and sitting in the cool shade, with doors and windows ] Dpen, while silent, bare-footed attendants j worked the ropes which swung the large ; punkahs, like gigantic fans suspended from J the roof. These produced an aritificial i breeze, truly grateful in that still, sultry j atmosphere. j 1 Certainly it was not at all like our stereotyped visions of Christmas, wiLh a white world outside, and busy fingers twining evergreens in church aud at home. Not that there ■was any lack of decoration, for although the 'great mass of the people kuow little or nothing of the real message of Christmas, they Tecognise it as the chief festival of the ruling race ; and with full sympathy for a holiday, and all tokens of feasting, they place tall plantain leaves and bunches of fruits iv the gateways as symbols of plenty, and hang up ■wreaths of laurel and Indian jasmine, or strings of smaij lamps and of the large African marigolds, with which they adorn the Bhrincs of their many idols and the necks of their sacred bulls. 1 On Christmas Eve my friends took me out in the cool early morning to visit the markets, which in Eastern lands are invariably full of interesting details ; but the most attractive ©f all was THE EVER-MOVING THRONG OF nUMAN BEINGS, — lightly draped brown men, closely-veiled bejewelled women, and quaintlittle children ; brilliantly attired, with dazzling white, blue, Drange, or scarlet draperies, and sparkling jewels — nose-rings and ear-rings, rings on jiDgers and toes, gold and silver bangles — fcome loaded with fruit, some with sugarcane, others bearing on their heads highlypolislied brazen vessels, piled one above the other, glittering in the sun. And then the delightful variety of picturesque native carriages — some with quaint double hoods of Bcarlet and gold, drawrfby richly-caparisoned White bullocks, trotting merrily along ; others, with only two wheels and a highpeaked scarlet hood, drawn by the swiftest . of ponies,and containing perhaps, threeor four fat men curled up where there seems scarcely space for one ; and hackeries (heavy carts) fwithout number, whose wooden wheels, £>eing never greased, are for ever creaking .and groaning, night and day, blending With THE SHKILIi CRIES OF THE KITES, ' multitudes of which throng the city and ' Lolp the crows in consuming all manner of j carrion and other foul matter. These kites are brown in their first year, and in the second develop into magnificent white 3rabminy kites, as different one from the other as a cygnet from a swan. They are Nature's appointed scavengers, whose duty and privilege it is to preserve the city from pestilence. When thoroughly wearied with sight-see-£og, we returned home to spend a few hours in the shade of a verandah, and, after luncheon, drove to the great Calcutta races, where I was chiefly interested in watching the intense excitement of the crowds of jnalives. These whiled away the intervals between the races by flying paper kites, *phich at first sight seemed a childish amuseXnent for grown-up men, but we soon learnt teat the strings of the .kites had been rubbed tvith diamond dust, aud that every man's object was to fly higher than his neighbour, and then. drawing down his kite sharply, cut his String. Thus kite flying becomes as feimple a vehicle for gambling as the raceß themselves Leaving the racecourse, we went a round of the principal shops, all gaily decorated in honour of tfie season, the favourite lounge feeing a great shop combining all trades, but specially marked by its gay Christmas tree and stands of cakes of all s ; zes. These are supposed to be especially attractive to the tvhite race, and the number presented by tradesmen to th<jir customers on Christmas morning is surprising. I saw about a dozen cakes on one lady's table. Besides these, trays of all manner of sweetmeats, fruits, and flowers are presented, sometimes by the servants themselves, who come up to make their salaams, and geneially expect to receive a Christmas backsheesh — in other words, Christmas-boxes— a term which was doubt-, j less derived from the East in olden days. If there are ladies or children in tbe house, a selection is made from these delicacies ; Jjut, as a general rule, the recipient of the cakes and sweetmeats, having looked at them, at once bestows them upon his servants, eat them with infinite delight, provided master has not touched them ; but should they once have been laid on the plates in common use, none but the lowest caste will take them (or any other food that comes from the table of the alien. Hearing that there was to be A GRAND MIDNIGHT MASS at the Boman Catholic cathedral, we thought we could not better employ our Christmas ■Eve thau by attending it. However, it proved a woeful disappointment. Arriving •very early— i.e., at 11 p.m. — we had to watch the assembling of the congregation, •who almost without exception were Portuguese and half-castes, dressed in those'gaudy and most unbecoming colours in which they deliglit, and, as a general rule, the older and uglier the women the more brilliant and fashionable their European attire. All the seats were locked, so the congregation stood crowding the aisles. tilL at the

last moment, a verger came, and, unlocking ! each pew, drove the people in like sheep, all chattering and laughing. At midnight the j organ struck up rapid opera music, and the mass which followed was few shades more solemn. We did not wait to hear whether, as in the cathedral at Malaga,, the organist would indulge iv ludicrous imitations of the donkey's bray, the low of the oxen, cockcrowing, the wailing cries of the infant, and other voices from the stable at Bethlehem, for we were thankful to slip quietly away and escape into the clear starlight, that it might whisper to us some message from the Syrian plains and the manger-cradle, and help us to forget the jarring incongruity of the scene we had just left. We found a more congenial service iv the early morning at the English cathedi'al, though in the absence of glossy holly and crisp frost and snow it was more suggestive of a sweet Easter morning. Birds were singing and rooks cawing in the tall trees oulside, while through the open windows the sweet cool breeze stole in, laden with the scent of flowers. The interior was all decorated with palm fronds, flowers, and scarlet ! poinsettia leaves. And instead of heaping on fuel to warm the great ohurch stove, a regiment of coolies were empk>3 r ed in j SWINGING THE GREAT PUNKAHS, each of which consists of a framework of wood, covered with cloth and edged with a deep frill. Kows of these hang from end to end of tbe churcb, suspended from tbe ceiling, and are swung by ropes which pass through boles in tbe wall, and are pulled by natives, who are content to cam about 6d a day by sitting still and pulling. The effect of these rows of great, white-frilled fans, chasing j one another irregularly up and down the church, is most bewildering. Sometimes they seem to overtake those in f rout of them, then they are just left behind. After a while, as you watch them, the effect becomes soporific. To the parson it must be exceedingly iiksome to preach to an invisible congregation, now revealed for a second, now again hidden in white moving clouds of cotton. Towards sunset the world of Calcutta turned out for the usual drive on the ! esplanade, which runs alongside of the river Hoogly, where ships of every tonnage find anchorage" close to tbe shore. The sun set in a flood of golden light behind the forest of tall, dark masts, suggestive of far travel in many seas, while around us crowded people of all sorts and colours, riding, driving, and walking. In tbe evening the foreign resideuls entertained oue another at large dinner parties. And so ended my first Christinas Day in the tropics. The next was spent CROSSING THE DESERT BETWEEN SUEZ AND CAIRO. Steaming slowly up the Gulf of Suez, we ■landed at about noon on Christinas Eve, and idled about the dull bazanrs and dirty town till the golden sunset slied its glory over till. Then dinner in a great hotel amid passengers from many vessels, and then awhile besi'le tbe gulf in the quiet starlight, trying, amid such incongruous surroundings, to realise that it was the Holy Night. | Early on Christmas rnoming we started j by rail and reached Cairo in the afternoon, ■ and straightway started lor a saunter through j the bazaars till sunset, when we ascended to the roof of our hotel, " The New Oriental," whence we had a magnificent view all round, and far off, rising slowly from the desert sands, the Pyramids, standing out " dark against day's golden death." There were many incidents in that day's travel which helped, us to realise various scenes in connection with the first Christmas and the " Flight into Egypt" more vividly than we had ever done before, especially wben we I passed a stately Oriental, leading a bandsome donkey, on which sat his wife" and I her little one, muffled in soft, silky drapery. ! Two more years slipped away and Christmas found me near the Equator, one of | A CHEERY PARTY IN THE MOUNTAIN DISTRICTS OF CEYLON — a gathering of bard-working British planters, each glad to come from his solitary bungalow to that of one of the married men of the fraternity — a sweet neßt embowered ia fragrant flowers, where everything was made as pleasant and home-like as could be done by the good taste of a charming woman. Our only grief was for the absence of some of our friends, whose grinding overseers re- | fused to allow a holiday even ou Christmas Day. We passed one of these hard at work in the grilling sun, as we drove to service, which was held, in a large coffee store. Arriving too early, we took refuge from the shadeless glare (for every vestige of forest is cleared away as a preliminary to planting) in another store, where heaps of clean dry coffee beans lay piled like corn in an English granary, and we proved them to be a most comfortable substitute for a sofa. One by one, walking or riding, the planters arrived from many n remote estate, till about 40 had assembled, to exchange Christmas greetings and to join in tbe old familiar service and the well-known hymns. On our homeward way we met a large number of T.unil coolies, dressed in their brightest draperies and largest turbans, with their faces puinted white. They carried gay banners and crosses, and were going to take part in some Roman Catholic festivities. Truth to tell, in some of their processions which I saw, there was nothing (except the crosses) to suggest any difference between these and those of their heathen neighbours, the identical musicians and " devil dancers " being hired from tbe heathen temples to take part in each 1 Once again tbe sacred season came round, and found me in tbe hospitable home of A HIGH CHIEFTESS OP TAHITI. In the town of Papeiti there was midnight mass on Christmas Eve in tbe Roman Catholic Church. I am not sure whether there was service next day in the Protestant Churcb. But as it would have been in tbe Tahitian language, I should not havo understood much, so I snt nlono I>p-.' '.c :\ lovely stream and read tbe familiar borvico. Presently many friends and i datives of my hostess, clothed in graceful fljwing drapery and flower-crowned, came to spend a deligbtf ally idle day in tbe sweet garden or beneath the cool shade, made doubly attractive by tbe ■ murmur of the rippling river, in which certain quiet pools afforded most fascinating bathing to those perfect swimmers of both sexes. In the evening we all went to a very cheery dance at ike house of & foreign resi-

dent, where the presence of many French officers and a few English, and of a good French band, conduced to the bustle of the evening, the dancers 1 finding intervals for rest iv the fragrant garden on the brink of the calm blue sea, all glorified by the light of the soft, clear moon -very different from our own crisp, cold Christmas starlight. As regards Ohristmtises spent in America or in the British colonieß, there is little distinctive to record, as of course they are merely reproductions of our own <\ustoms. I may, however, mention Gibraltar as exceptional, because in regard to native customs it continues virtually a part of Southern Spain, and although, as, alas 1 iv other countries, national customs are falling into misuse, "LA NOCHE BUENA" is still observed, if not as a night of holy joy, certainly as one of much mirth. The fun begins about sunset, when bands of youths playing bandurias or mandolins, accompanied by guitars and frequently by flutes, set out marching in different directions about the town or village, playing gay Spanish airs, or else singing couplets chiefly relating to local affairs. Sometimes they sing a few verses in praise of our Lord and the Blessed Yirg'n. Originally all the couplets were sacred, but secular oues crept in, and now predominate. There are many jokes and much amusement. About 9.30 the 6lreets are somewhat deserted, as every oue goes home to supper, and from the bursts of laughter which are heard within the houses it may be assumed that these gatherings are truly festive. By 11.30 p.m. the streets are again crowded, as all are on their way to the Misa de Gallos, or " Cock's Mass," so called because in olden days the services commemorating the death of our Lord were so prolonged that the devout who stayed to their close heard the cock crow when on their homeward way. Turning to NORTHERN EUROPE, we still find all that suggests rejoicing, but the scene is changed to wintry snow Men and women, fur-clad, fly swiftly on skates or snow shoes, the jingling of merry sleigh-bells sounds cleai' on the frosty air, and the pure white snow lies every svhere. The Christmas tree in all its varieties holds the place of honour ; but it is now so thoroughly acclimatised in Great Britain as to seem wellnigh indigenous. A.nd yet how vividly I remember the enchantment of the very first Christmas tree that was ever decorated in Northumberland I In Norway, a distinctive and very pretty feature of Christmas feasting is the provision made for the birds. Great is the joy of the children when cartSj laden with grain in the sheaf, come into every town, ami each family invests in a sheaf, which on Christmas Day is brought forth by the father, fastened to a pole and erected at some convenient corner of the house, that the birds may share the good cheer. Not that the birds are forgotten at other times. Miniature wooden houses are fastened to the eaves, or to trees in the gardens, and therein is kept a store of grain for the solace of the birds all through the winter ; but this sheaf is quite an extra treat.