CHRISTMASTIDE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17223, 14 December 1923, Page 10 (Supplement)

CHRISTMASTIDE.

TO-DAY AND IN THE PAST. DEPARTURES FROM TRADITION. Christmas comes but once a year: the old Christmas cards always said so. Tlieir mam reason for reiterating the fact was that it furnished a nice easy rhyme. “Year” rhymed with “ cheer,” which, of course, was always predicted “ good.” The fact that Christmas came once a year only contained the implication that it would come most surely. Therein our fathers did not prove themselves to bo acute observers. They failed to note that, while in- J deed Christmas always comes, it is never quite the same Christmas that comes (says a writer in the Melbourne “Age”). For instance, this approaching Christmas will be nothing like the Christmases you and I. remember as boys. Y'et the young people will imagine it is quite the | genuine article. The anomaly is that no people sing more earnestly. “Change and decay in all around I see ” than the people who talk as if the Christmas institution enjoyed exemption from the universal law. of change. The changes are none the less real though not immediately perceptible. Under an extended survey the differences show up distinctly. Of course, Christmas'has. certain stage properties which are always brought out- tho stocking hanging, the merry making, tho gift giving and receiving. Things seem ever the same. But tliev move | for all that. | Santa. Claus seems a permanently I established figure; nil vour life vcm have known what lie is like. He ' was as familiar in appearance ns John : Bull, or Mr Pickwick: bis equipment | consisted of his benevolent sniile, lj'S ! white whiskers, his reindeers. and | sleigh. The reindeers have gone; the | motor-car had a short- innings as a i means of conveyance; bub now Santa I Claus.sweeps down upon up in an aero • I plane. Before long he will have been ; transformed out of all recognition in dress and appearance. But the yoiingj sters wrill be quite satisfied with him j all tho same. THE OLD-FASHION ED ENGLISH CHRISTMAS. ! The older generation cannot- comi plain ; they have long since fashioned Christinas according to a pattern <>f tlieir mvn. Very necessarily and wisely, too. The old-fashioned English \ Christinas was never possible in the j Antipodes. To tell the truth, it never j really existed in England. Dickens I started it; the lesser writers kept, it up. and. with the help of the Christmas .number artists, tliev palmed off ! as a reality what was never more, than an elaborate fiction. But' they offer- ; Lively standardised Christmas joys, and , threw in numerous accessories designed ! to make everyone, sentimental. You remember it wa* always on an English Christmas eve that the black j sheep of the family returned unexpectedly; the door was thrown open, j and ho was welcomed in out ot the j falling enow to join in the happy i revels. Then at midnight he conI ! fessed that the impoverished condition ; in which he had returned was a mere M misguise. He was reallv a millionaire. Imt Lhev all insisted on assuring j him that they would have loved him IjiuaJt a* nn&U

But not even Christmas can pretend to ignore climate. Our pioneers, with that loyalty ,to the land of their, birth which . w-fis. not the least noble of-their qualities, bravely tried to keep up tlieir English Christmas under cloudless skies. Roast turkey and piping-hot plum pudding with the temperature at about a hundred was a form of loyalty barely distinguishable from lunacy. The younger generation admired but- declined to imitate. They had horse sense sufficient to see that Christmas festivities would have to be fashioned anew. The Christmas notions of fathers wore like the laws of the Medes and Persians that alter not. But the native-born Antipodean has never lacked courage and initiative, and he exercised both in changing Christmas from an indoor to an outdoor institution. THE ANTIPODEAN IDEA. He had common sense on his side, even though the departure from tradition were daring. For roast turkey ho’'substituted fruit salads, for plum puddings lie substituted ices, and everyone was the better and happier for t-lie dietetic change. In the Old Ciountry hosts of people are still puzzled as they gaze at pictures of people spending Christmas stretched out lull length on the sand by the fringe of the sea. when he doesn’t happen to be swimming in it, or vigorously fanning himself in some shady nook of his glorious bush. British minds cannot be convinced that such a Christmas can be real. And yet you and 1 know that in essentials it is: only externals have changed : the spirit of kindness and good .will abide?.. Christmas brings its . problems and perplexities, as- well as its pleasures. Its surface problems are familiar, the j choosing of presents is an annually re- | during torture. Gloves or handkerchiefs. books or manicure sets? Ts S Eric too old for a box of toys: is ! Maud too young fqr a box of powder? Would a confirmation dress or a cigar- ! ette case most, please Ethel? Should I it be. golf balls or a shaving outfit for ' George, who is approaching the- stage ' for making use of both? j It won’t matter what you decide, vou will have the usual sense of dissatisfaction when it is all over. Christinas is really a season when you together? the things 'they don’t want. And it is a tribute to the influence of Christmas that all of us so bravely veil with a smile the disappointment wc so acutely feel. OH RI STM AS FI C'T TONS. But there are perplexities much ! deeper rooted than these. Probablv i there is not a single .set of thoughtful', well-meaning parents who do not everv ! Christmas feel troubled over tin- telling of the customary fictions. The problem is old and intricate. Where does wisdom lie? The ethic of the Santa Claus and Father Christmas deception has long been debated, but never satisfactorily decided. In countless homes during these passing days the old subject is being canvassed afresh by young parents willing to be loyal to truth, yet. reluctant to rob their children of tlie glad anticipation and rapturous joy which the Christmas fiction unquestionably creates. A generous supply of fairy stories seems absolutely # necessary for the normal child. Its imagination feeds on them; there is little'else upon which its opening mind can so easily fasten Santa Claus, however, is not exactly in the fairy st-ory category. There is usually a tacit understanding that the fairv tale is. like some portions of liirdoiv. a lie agreed upon. Tho average parent, reads or tells it-wilh- .. JAW XAJVIIAM-h Yl

ln Santa’s case there is a deliberate and drawn-out deception, of which only one side is aware: the other the • unsuspecting dupe of an • elaborate fabrication'. ; For a season - the obligation to be truthful is suspended. Father Christmas and his doings may continue to wprry the moral philosopher. but it is safe to say that the affectionate-father and mother w ill continue to take some risk for the children’s pleasure, cheered by the thought-that countless millions ot' children have passed through the experience without their sense of truthfulness being weakened, and have grown to be grev-haired men and women cherishing happy childhood memories, for which they are entirely indebted to the old-fashioned Christmas myths.