THE WORLD-FESTIVAL OF CHRISTMAS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3275, 20 December 1916, Page 63

THE WORLD-FESTIVAL OF CHRISTMAS.

By S. Jackson Coleman.

UNIQUE OBSERVANCES IN LANDS FAR AND NEAR.

There is no cloubt that our hearts and thoughts are centred move largely, at Christmastide than at any other time upon our neighbours. If the story of the Good Samaritan finds any parallel in our modern life, there is at least some application at Christmastide, though it may be sadly lacking throughout the remainder of the year's cycle. We think almost unconsciously of the poor- and outcast, the sick and bereaved, and, so far as our means allow, are not unmindful of their wants. The folk-lorist finds pleasure in scanning his native rites and customs during the long weary months of the year; but at Christmas he is truly cosmopolitan, and discovers fresh fields of interest in the curious observances with which the good old festival is invested in other climes. For, strangely enough. Yuletide has its peculiar traditional customs in almost every corner of the globe whether in the icy Arctic Circle or the Torrid Zone. For the great holiday of Christmas the Russians prepare themselves by weeks ol fasting. Tliey abstain not only from meat, but also from milk, eggs, butter, and all animal food. For weeks, however, sledges leaded with the carcases of sheep, pigs, and oxen pass into the big towns from the sations to the market-places. Feasants from the neighbouring villages come, too with their little sledges, and bring their country produce for sale. Fir trees, large and small, are exhibited for sale in the markets, and busy people pass and repass between the rows; choosing and bargaining for their Christmas trees, while sledgedrivers and tattered men of the tramp class offer their services to take the trees to the houses of the various purchasers. On Christmas Eve the streets and markets are lively and crowded beyond description. Many pious folk do not touch food on that day "until the stars appear, and then par take only of a frugal meal. With the stroke of midnight the beautiful feast is ushered in from one end of Russia to the other. In rich houses the festival is observed by grand parties, where gigantic Christmas trees are to be seen with their ornamentations of toys and sweets and all sorts of pretty little trifles for the children. In the poorer homes there ai*e modest entertainments for those who cannot afford more, while even in the poorest villages the peasants have games and pastimes. A custom still observed among all classes is for the young men and girls to dress up and go masked to each other's houses, where they stay for a little while. and they try to get away unrecognised. In this manner they visit several houses in one night. Perhaps the most characteristic and widely-spread custom practised at this season is fortune-'telling. All sorts of methods are employed at Christmas time, chiefly by unmarried girls, to find out the future. Some of these methods are rather weird. A girl will sometimes go alone into an empty building, and sit in front of a looking-glass with a candle on each side of it, so that the two glasses —which have been conveniently arranged—reflect again and again. Peering across the glass she holds, the girl sees an endless corridor in front of her. There she sits till weariness and her strained nerves begin to tell, and all sorts of uncanny things appear in the endless corridor before her; or she sets supper for two, and waits for a ghostly visitor in the likeness of her future husband to take the other seat at the table. Tin's, of course, requires excited nerves, unless some person in the flesh comes in to play a trick on the girl.

Away from the cities, and especially in the mountains, a harvest of Italian customs may still be gleaned. In the Abruzzi. for instance, the Christmas Eve supper begins with seven different soups. The first is of lentils for good luck. Whoever partakes will handle much money. The second is composed of white beans, the third of white peas, because these are not every-day food. Next comes favetta soup, a puree of beans sweetened with grape syrup (mostocotto), or honey. Black cabbage, cooked with oil and garlic, is the fifth mess. No drop of oil must fall to the ground, for that is considered a bad omen. If, however, it should fall on the clothes it is a sign of prosperity. The sixth soup is of rice boiled with almond flour; the last of maccheroni season with sardines first fried in oil, or the juice of crushed olives, and then boiled in water After supper all go to the midnight Mass, the men keeping up a continual whistling during the service, the loudest of all at the elevation of the Host. This curious practice is in memory of the shepherd's pipes at Bethlehem In some villages the effect is increased by whistling through roods clipped in a vessel of water placed in the church for that purpose. The service ended, the young folk go from house to house rattling castanets and fireirons, and singing the Inglocca, a rustic rhyme In which the preformers call on their friends by name and wish them prosperity. The lusciously sweet cakes, called mostaccioli, are another indispensable item of Christmas fare, and everyone sends boxes and baskets of mostaccioli to everyone else, with or without " torrone," the exceedingly hard, teeth-breaking nougat also special to the season. In some parts of Italy, however, the custom of Christmas gifts is extinct, or limited to the regular tribute of capons, cream and so on, expected by landlords from their tenants. You may, perhaps, receive a cake of panforte from Siena, a panettone from Milan, or a jar of preserved fruit from Cremona; but these friendly remembrances are no longer the rule. In France the big church bells toll, and vie with each other in calling all to hear Gounod's beautiful hymn, "Noel au Redempteur!" which has become during these last SsO years an accepted part of the liturgy at Christmas services. The walls

of the Roman Catholic churches are tapestried with ivy, whilst garlands of flowers hang across the nave. The high altar is brilliant with its hundreds of wax tapers of all sizes, some being 12ft high. The bells toll incessantly from 8 p.m. to midnight. Their rhythm is slow for the first two hours; then "it changes in rapidity towards the midnight hour. The huge beb of the Cathedral of Paris commences tolling at a quarter to 12 at midnight, and its loud, sonorous tones wake up the soundest sleepers within a radius of five miles or more, and everybody starts for church. Cafes and pleasure resorts are Boon emptied, and silence and darkness reign where a short time before gaiety and laughter were supreme. The streets are a long stream of human beings, and all vested in their best clothes, singing or humming the tune of " Noel, au Redempteur!" Caste, prestige, and- wealth are absolutely forgotten in Mexico with the absorbing desire to purchase necessities for the Christmas festival. Not merely eatables nor gifts alone are regarded as requisites, but also "posada" presents and " pinatas." No matter how poor a peon, how indigent a beggar, he must purchase at least one of these " pinatas " for his family. It is almost a crime for any family to be found without a " pinata at Christmastide. And what are "posadas ' and "pinatas." Translated into English. it means an inn or abiding-place; but really its significance consists of a semijolly, semi-serious celebration wholly peculiar to Mexico. Posadas are held in every Mexican home for nine successive nights in commemoration of that night when Mary and Joseph futilely searched for a lodging in an inn or an abiding-' place at Bethlehem. So as to properly celebrate the posadas there must be erected in every home a "Christmas altar" — an altar dedicated to "Los Peregrinos " (Holy Travellers); next must be purchased the *" pinata," which is a necessary adjunct to the " posada." In miniature figures of donkey-drivers, tortilla-women, bull-fighters or " matadors," charcoal and water-carriers, they faithfully represent types of Mexico's lowest class. Every good child in Mexico receives nine pinatas, well filled with infinitesimal sweets, native nuts, and delicious fruits.