CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6064, 30 December 1897, Page 2

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS.

ANCIENT CELEBRATIONS AND MERRY-MAKINGS. It seems probable that the folks of half a dozen generations ago ' crowded more merriment into the Christmas season than we of this age do, and they went about it with the same pre-arranged systematic care that a commercial prince now devotes to some great financial coup. But the fun was of a boisterous kind, quite inconsistent with the crowded way of living these days. If one of the old merry-makers could come to life on Christmas day and celebrate the festival in the way f aslvioii and custom demanded in his time, he would probably find himself in the lock-up charged with rudely disturbing the peace. Noise, bluster, feasting; drinking, and horse play were the chief features of the old-time English Christmas. Gift making existed as it had for many previous centuries, but that was merely an incidental feature and not nearly so important as the work of the pompous butler, upon whom devolved the responsibility of carrying into the dining hall the great boar's head. What a bleak Christmas it would be nowadays if gift making were secondary to bringing in a boar's head. The oldtime Christmas began a week before the arrival of the day, just as the shoppers of to-day rush out with fat purses to lure the holiday bargain. But purchasing gifts did not bother the heads or weary the bodies of the old-world folks. The gathering of the holly and mistletoe for the decoration of house and church was their initial task, and it was performed by the village en masse, headed by brave pipers and fiddlers, who filled the forests with the joyful melodies of Christmastide. It was the Pagans who first used holly and mistletoe for observances, and the practice was adopted by the early Christian churches. The Greeks and Romans also used them in their religious ceremonies, as did the Druids and the Celtic and Gothic nations. So the young maid of to-day who stands alluringly under a sprig of mistletoe may find satisfaction in knowing that she is following the precedent of centuries. In Druidical times the simple peasants flocked in crowds to join the processions, in which the Druidical priests were the foremost actors. The train was headed by the bards singing canticles and hymns. A herald preceded three Druids, furnished with implements for the purpose of cutting j the mystic plant — upright hatchets of brass, fixed to staves. Then followed the prince or chief of the Druids, accompanied by all his flock and followers. The chief i mounted the oak, with a golden sickle detaching the mistletoe, and presenting it to the priests, who received and bore the branches away with deep reverence. On the first day of the year, the branches, after resting on the Druidical altars inthe interval, were distributed among the people as a sacred and holy plant, the Druids crying, " The mistletoe for the new year." Many were the superstitions attaching to the plant. Among the latter day charms associated with it, when suspended in a bunch in the servants' hall, was the traditionary and favourite observance of kissing the maids under the branches, the superstition prevailing that the maiden who missed being heartily kissed under her mistletoe at Christinas would forfeit her chance of early matrimony, and certainly not be married in the ensuing twelve mouths. A medieval observance which always followed the gathering of holly and mistletoe was the cutting and hauling home of the Yule log. The favourite Yule logwas a cross-grained block of elm, or- the rugged root of a tree of fantastic and grotesque form, and this was drawn homo to the kitchen, or great hall, with the same merry-making that attended the gathering of the holly. Before tho crowning event of kindling the Christmas log from the charred remains of its predecessor of the year before, there were sports in plenty to be performed. Ofttimes these logs were directed to be provided by the lords of the manor. The furnishing of Christmas logs was a form of tenure ; thus the cellarist of St Edmundsbury held under the abbey the manor of Hardwick, and was bound by the . conditions of his title to provide annually four Christmas stocks, each ot eight feet in length. Formerly the members of the family and guests sat down in turn on the Yule log, the throne of the master of the revels ; sang a Yule song and drank to a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. As part of their feast, Yule dough or Yule cakes were consumed. These bore impressed figures in the shape of an image; sometimes they were made in the form of an infant ; nor was the manger overlooked. Auother employment for the log, ere its conflagration, was provided by the old Christmas gambol of drawing " Dun out of the mire," an ancientHnstitution often men : tioned. The Yule stock, drawn into the middle of the fioor, becme " Dun, the cart horse" for the nonce : the cry was raised that he had stuck in tlie mire. Two of the company, with or withour ropes, advanced to extricate Dun. After various real and feigned exertions they called for more help, until all present were mixed up in tho rough and tumble exertion. The fun arose from the horseplay of tlie revellers, falling about, and contriving to roll or drop the log on each other's toes. Tliis was kept up with hearty enjoyment until, the fun being exhausted, " Dun was drawn out." The carol sinjrers and " waits" were a regular feature of the day. The former visited the homes of the rich and filled the wintry air with their music. • -while the "waits" performed on musical instruments, and were largely employed for the Christmas plays and kindred amusements. Those who were not employed went from house to house dressed in grotesque costumes and received gifts of money for their performances. The regular watchman also went about shouting out Christmas verses, ancl every one was expected to show appreciation by dropping a coin into the box carried by the rhymer for that particular purpose. Of course the Christmas dinner was the loading feature of the day, and the big landowner was expected to entertain all of his tenants and neighbours from daybreak to mi dnight . The first dish to be placed on the table was the Boar's head, and great state and ceremony marked this service. Musicians and trumpeters led the procession, in which there were huntsmen .with long spears and pages with drawn swords. Carols were intoned as the procession * moved into the dining-room and psalms : were chanted, for in some ingenious way the olden time people connected the Boar's i head religiously with the celebration of tlie i Holy Nativity.