CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 301, 20 December 1937, Page 3

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

WEALTH OF VARIETY Now is the time when shoppers are caught in the rush of Xmas shopping. Christmas approaches apace, and, with the shop windows displaying seductively a range and variety of goods never before equalled, prospective purchasers cannot resist the temptation in linger before taking the plunge. Shopkeepers find that their customers are willing to pay a little more this year than they did last year for first-grade articles, instead of being content with second-grade goods, as they were, but they are still “canny” in their selection, and demand full value. The lessons in economy that were bitterly learned in harder times have not, apparently, been forgotten. Many new labour-saving devices that have appeared on the market only within the past decade and have hitherto been looked upon as luxuries, are now coming to be regarded as household necessities. Some of these, such as refrigerators, electric cleaners, radios, furniture, and the like, are not now too expensive for ordinary folk, and the demand for them so much greater now than it was at this time last year. In many homes, it is found, the whole family, instead of giving each other Christmas presents, have pooled the money to buy more expensive articles of gen- J cral household utility.

Looking at the variety of gifts displayed, one would guess that during .he past year some of the world’s most ingenuious mechanics have devoted lheir talents to t-he invention of new ideas—and possibly one would not be Far wrong. Such gifts are almost unbelievably cheap, considering the amount of labour that must be involved in assembling their compli-

cated machanism. Toy motor-cars | and boats are perfect miniatures of the originals. So, too, are the tanks, armoured cars, ambulances, and pieces of artillery —grim reminders of the unsettled state of world affairs at a season when goodwill and peace on earth are supposed to be the uppermost thoughts in human minds. The gift departments are, indeed, so fascinating that it is hard to get past them into the regions of more serious shopping. Not more important, however, for after all, Christmas time is the kiddies’ time. It is a child we honour at Christmas. Buying presents for adults is more diliiuult this year than ever before, not because there is a dearth of appropriate articles, but because there are so many from which to choose. New household appliances, fabrics, dainty toilet articles, and novel ornaments for the fair sex are displayed on every hand. Even those who, year after year, give fatner a new tie or pair of socks, may be in two minds when they get into the men’s department. There is incredible variety even in socks and ties, not to mention a host of knick-knacks and labour-sav-ing devices that would probably please him better than either. i

HOLLY AND MISTLETOE , SOME QUAINT LEGENDS. Some delightful stories and legends' belong to the trees associated with the Christmas season. In the folklore of many countries the same tales may be traced in varying forms. Of none is this more true than of those relating to the holly and mistletoe, states a Sydney writer. The ancients held that the holly was a safeguard against lightning, and an old Yorkshire saying that “the thunder and lightning can’t harm ye if, there's holly in the house,” may have derived from that old belief. It was said in old times that holly was unknown until Christ was born, and that then it sprang up wherever His feel had trodden. An old superstition is that holly must never be brought into the house before Christmas and that should it be removed before Canciemas all the luck of the house will go with it. In Cornwall the holly was held sacred to the Virgin Mary, and was known as Modryb Marya, or Aunt Mary’s Tree. More than one story belongs to the pohutukawa, or New Zealand Christ-

mas tree. One tells that a Maori chieftain, when sailing along the coast one day, looked long at the lovely pohutukawa flaunting its scarlet blossoms along the cliffs, and then flung his headdress of scarlet feathers into the sea, saying that such ornaments were of no account in comparison with those of the trees. Another legend of a famous pohutukawa tree derives from Maori mythology. Th^- spirits of the dead on their way from earth were supposed to travel from all over New Zealand to Cape Reinga, in the extreme north. There they had to leave the land and plunge down through the ocean to the underworld. A giant pohutukawa grew on the cliff and, reluctant to leave earth, the spirits clung desperately to a bough of this tree which hung low over the water. Lower and lower bent the hough, weighed down by the clinging spirits, and the waves dashed against the cliff and thought it rare sport to spray the spirits before they took the inevitable plunge. For many years the great bending bough was pointed out to visitors, but it finally broke off, and in its turn plunged into the ocean.