CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN Ye OLDEN TIME

Waikato Times, Volume II, Issue 102, 24 December 1872, Page 2

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN Ye OLDEN TIME

The wheel has revolved once more, and Yule (Gothic tjiitl or hitil, the turning-point of the year, hence w.'/ee'), with its dear old customs, is again with us. It may not, therefore, be out of place to consider the customs of the season among oyr ancestors, from, many of which ours are derived. Christian nations have, from a very early period, celebrated Christmas about the period of the shortest day, but we must look much earlier than this for the origin of the custom. We must, ever remember that the church did not, as a general rule, invent new festivals, bui> alterecr the pagan ones to suit her own good purpose. This was especially the case with Christmas. The Romans worshipped Saturn at this time, hence their Saturnalia, during which their slave* were allowed freedom of speech—in fact-, they changed places with their masters for a short time. Tne Puritan author of Historio Mast;.r was not far wrong wnen he said: 'If we compare our Bacchanalian Christinases and N..w Year's ides with these Saturnalia and Feasts of Janus, we shall iind such near allinitye betweene the.n, both in regard of time they being both in the end of December and o« t.ae is!, of January)', and in their manner of solemnising (both of them being spent in rebelling, epicurism c, wantonesse, idlenesse, dancing, drinking, stage, plaies, pomp and jollity), that we must lieedes conclude the one to'bo the very issue of the other.' The festival of Christmas is the most important throughout the ecclesiastical year ; but is the 25th of December really the day on which our Saviour was bom? Some communities of Christians used to celebrate tiie festival on the Ist or titli of January, others on the 29th of March. A difference existed in the practice of the Eastern ,'\ud Western churches, the former observing it, on the Gth of January, the latter on December 25. Julius 1. ( 337—352) wa> the first pope who fixed the date, of course the latter one ; this we are informed by St Chrysostom. All nations of Christians jkw celebrate it it on,the silme day. Sir Isaac Newton in his Commentary on, ike Prophecies of Daniel, says that the Feast of the Nativity, like other festivals, was originally fixe.l at cardinal points of the year, without reference to the dates of the incidents they commemorated. The generally received view now is that the date does not. correspond with the actual date of the Nativity. Tho shepherds could not have watchcd by night on the Bethlehem Plains in December, which is .a 'periol. of great inclemency. In the opinion of some, the Christmas festival commences on the 16th of December, or 0 Sapi.entia day ; and of others, on the eve before Christmas-day. Tho festival, of course, ends on the Purification of the Virgin,or Oandlcmas, when all decorations in churches must be taken down. We cannot refrain from quoting Sir Walter Scott'.;" beautiful lines on the Jive from Mar mi or*. [ On Christmas Eve the bells were rung; O i Christmas Kyo tin- mass was sung , That only night in all the vear, Siw the stoled priest the chalice rear. The damsel donned iter klrtle .sheen; The hall was dressed with hwlly green ; forth. to the woo. 1 the ine .t y men i.»o, To gather in tho misletoe. Then opened wide the baron's hall To vassal, tenant, serf, and all;" Power laid his rod of rule aside, And Ceremony dolled "is pride. The heir, with roses iii his shoes, That night might villiige partner choose. The lord, undercgaling, share, Tile vulgar game of ' post and.pair.' All haiod with uncontrolled deligiit, And general voice, the h.'pp.}' nigitf, That to the cottage as the crown, Brought tidings of .salvation down.

We need- scarcely remark that daring the middle .ages Christmas was celebrated with great rejoicing ; and at the period of the Reformation, when Calvankts rejected it absolutely, the Anglican and Lutheran churches retained .this as well as other festivals. The clergy in Scotland tried to throw contempt on the day ; caused their wives and servants to spin, and their tenants to yoke their oxen to plough ; but John Hamilton tells us that ' our .Lord has not left it unpunisif; lor their oxen ran wod [mad], and bra,k their nekjis, and'leamife [lamed] sum ploughmen, as is notoriously luiawin in suntlrie partes of Scytlapd. The, Scots make merry on Bsy instead of at Christmas, 1< rom a very early period, churches have been decorated at Christmas, a custom derived from the pagans. Stowe tells us, that ' against the least ot Christmas cverv man's house, a ? also, tjipu* .parish. churches, wore decked with holme [the evergreen oak,] ivy, baycs,&e. The conduits and standards in.the streets were likewise garnished ; among the which I read that in, the. year 144-i, bj' tempest of thunder and lightning, towards the morning of C!irist.mas-dav, at. the Lcadewhall, in Cornhill, a st.nidard of tree, being set up in the midst of the pavement,'fast in the ground, muled full of holme and ivy, lor disport oi Christmass to trio people, was torn up and cast downc by the spirit (as was thought",)' and the stones of the pavement all about were cast into the street, and into divers houses, so that the people were sore agast at the great tempest.' ' ihe burning ol the Yulc-log was a Seandanavian custom. Bringing it in was the principal ceremony of Christmas Eve. Its entrance was welcomed with minstrelsy. We give ai'ew stanzas of a ditty supposed to be of the tunc of Henry VI, in .the Sloane Manuscripts : ' Welcome be thou, heavenly King, Welcome born oil "this morning, Welcome for who,n we shall"smg. Welcome Yule. Welcome be ye, Stephen and John. Welcome Innocents every one; Weicoiil9 Thomas Martyr one; U'elcome Yule.. Welcome be j e that are here; \vekon e. nil, and make gqod,ehe?i: ■ Welcome all, another year, '' Welcome Yule. Part of the log was carefully preserved to light tlio Yulelog of the .succeeding year, ft was also believed that its preservation was an effectual security against fire. It was considered a bad omen if a squinting person entered the hall while it was burning. A Yule-candle of enormous size was also lighted. Brand, m his Popular Antiquities, states that m the. buttery of St John's College, Oxford, an ancient candle socket ot stone still remains, ornamented with the Agnus Dei. ibis was for holding the Christmas candle, which Jnvrned on .the high talble at supper.' In Devonshire the Yule-log 13 an ashen fagot. 111 Cornwall, the lo" is called, the mock. A customstill practiced in the former county is for the farmer and friends to sally out on the Eve, and offer cider and hot cake as a libation to the principal apple tree. G-uns are fired while the liquor is bein" poured 011 the tree ; and song.? are sung, the burden of whica sjems to be to request the tree to bear well next season. A beautiful superstition was current in Devon and Coruw. 1 and we believe still lingers in remote' districts, that the cattle in their stalls fall do>vn andworship the infant Saviour. Be.s are said to sing in their hives. William* the Conqueror,, usually kept his Christmas at (Tjoucestcr, but "William II honoured Winchester at that festival. Henry I took a fancy to Westminster for the first four years of his reign, and then celebrated it at Windsor. Henry II kept his lirst Christmas at J'ormondsev, and in 1171, in Ireland. In 120f, John kept Christmas at Guildford, but was very angry because the Archbishop of Canterbury attempted to outdo liim.in extravagance.- In 121-1 the nobles who appeared at Westminster were outraged because tne. papal legate had-the plnoe of honour at the banquet; but Henry Ill's Christmas, in 1252, was a great success, one knights attending, besides of the realm, -to witness ilie marriage of the Princess Margaret with Alexander King of Scots.' The Archbishoo of York ga\e six hundred lat oxen and two thousan.l seven hundred pounds towards the expenses. In 124-8, Henry ordered Westminster Hall to be lilled with poor people, and feasted tor a week. Edward I kept Christmas at iiurv, Collingham, Ipswich, Bristol, and Carlisle. In 122-4 and 1225, Edward II kept tho, festival royally at Nottingham, but 1326 found him a prisoner at Kenilworth. Edward 111 kept Christmas as Guildtord in IJ3I and 1 3 18, masques aud mummiws on a large seale bcing exhibited. When Kiehard II kept Christmas at Lichfield, Jie enlarged the episcopal palace, and t.vo thousand oxen and two hundred tuns of wine were consumed on the occasion, Tc;i thousand people dined daily at the expense of the king. Richard kept two thousand cooks, who gave to the world the famous cookery-book, The Form qf Cury, c. 1390, Henry VI, in 1433, kept Christmas at -Bury and-was met on Newmarket Heath b'v the Aldermen and five hundred townsmen; and the Lord Abbot of the famous monastery entertained him in a manner worthy sueh a princely foundation. Henry Til generally kept Christmas m Westminster Hall, feasting his subjects right royallv. We may mention, en passant that the kings always wore their crowns on.these occasions.

Henry \ 111 took a conspicuous part in the.festivities, and fr, Vr utmas llsrali . v at Greenwich and Richmond! Artilrcial gardens, tents, &c., were devised in the hall, out of , l . c l? a ? 1 ? danccro.op knights, who fought. The-cloth of gold for one.of thess cost six hundred pounds. After a fewyears, Heurj contented himself with a duller Christmas, and generally gambled a good deal on the occasion. In the time oi Edward VI., a gentleman named i>rrer3 was made Lord and was very clerer in inventing plays and interhubs. The money lavished on these entertainments was enormous ; one of his lordship's druses cost fifty-two pounds,

and lie had a train of counsellors, gentlemen, ushers, footmen. pages, &c. Mary an d Elizabeth Vepfc Christmas at Hampton Couft, but the entertainments of the .hitter wc.ro. much gayer than thoso ol her sister. BenJonson was masque, writer at the Court of J awes. Thrco thousand pounds were expended upon t hat WTiter'slTajg-He ofDa>p>css, perlbrnk at Whitehall in 1605. Charles 1. kept Qhristmas liko TO father; but the Puritans abolished it. altogether; and Charles 11. did not restore, it to anything approaching it a former inagniticcijee. Mumming was a favourite Christmas amusement in tlio. olden limes. In Scotland (lie mummers were styled quivers or ouizanl-t. Mummer is the same as masl-er (Dan'sk ■mummc or Dutch momme). This custom was derived from the masquerades which formed a part of the Roman Saturnalia. Tiio mystery or mir/ieic, pl&vs are an example of the church charging the revels of the heathen into church amusements. Stowetells us of a splendid masquerade which, in 1877, was performed by the. citizens of London before Candlemas, for the amusement of Richard, son of the Black, Prince, afterwards Iliehard I. Twelve aldermen and (heir sons visited, llenry IV at Eltham as mummers, Henry \ 111. actually, an act declaring mummers liable to be committed to jails as vagabonds. A sort of drama like the legend of St.'Oeorge was generally acted by the mummers, and a doctor works a wonderful euro on tlio, wounded man.

On Christmas Ere, and on the morning of Christmas-day, carols were sung, many old specimens "of which nro verv interesting. The word is prob:\bly derived,'from cant are, to sing, and rota ! a joyous exclamation. \Vvnkyn do VVorde, in li)«l, published a Collection of Carols, and many early ones are preserved, in the British Museum, Other early collections are: ' Certavne jg >od!y carmvles to be songc to the Glory of Clod j! and again: ' Clirestenmas carowlos auctorisslied by my Lord ef London.' The Puritans, of course,, denounced the singing of carols in the same spirit as they fasted on Christmas-day. Bishop llall and Robert iierriek (seventeenth century) both wrote carols. It is a carious tact that carol-singing has never been very prevalent in iScotlad. Connected wieli carols are our old friends the waits. As, e.arly n,s 1400, there was a regular company of those minstrels at Exeter ; and Rymcr gives the following account, of the .duties ol such people: ' A way to (hat nightelye from, Jlychelmas lo Shreve Thorsdaye p-.peth the watehe withen, this courte fower tymes, in the. somere nyghtes iii times, and makethe b 11 gayle at ei e,-y ehanibpre-dore and oll'yee, as wellfor feare of pyckeres and pillcrs. He e'ateth in the hall with' mynstnelles, andtakcthe lvverve at night a loll'o, agallone of alle, and for somere nyghtes two candles pieli, a bushel of coles; dayle whilst lie is presente in courte for his wages in cheque roale allowed iiiid ob. or else iiid by the discretion ol the steHarde and tressorerc, and that aftere liis eomingo and diservinge; also elothinge with the household yeomen or mynstrielles ly r ke to the wages that he takethe ; and if ho be syke, ha twoe loves, twoe messe of great meate, one gallon of alle, Also this yeoman waight, at the makynge of the. Kuyghtes of tlio Bath, for his attendance upon them by nyght, tvme in watching in the ehapplle, hath lie to his fee all the watehinge clothinge.that the knyglit. shall wear, upon him.' From parts of this description,'it wouid appear that the wait was a sort ot watchman. In manv old books, the term is applied to a musical instrument. Butler, in his Pricnijrtes of Musi k (IG3G). implies that it was the same as the hautbois. Mr Coleridge considers that (be waits were wind-instrument players, as the word occurs with that meaning in the Romance of Kyiiq Ali/sannder. ' In Scotland, tlio waith signi.ies to wander, and perhaps there is a con' neetion between the word*. The waits became paid town' musicians, and were often employed as watchmen. In Westminster the appointment was under the control of the High. Constable andtiie Court ol Burgesses, and was much sought after. lhe lessee of the.tithes of Ilornehnreh, Essex, had to provide every Christmas a boar's head to bo wrestled for in' a iicld ad joining the chui e'i. A collegian ol,' Queen's College, Oxford,- is said to have been walking in Sljotovcr Forest, studying Aristotle ; a boar 'rushed-at him, and, with great' presence of mind, ho thrust the book down the throat of the animal and thus choked it. This is aai,il to be the origin of the dish in that college. ' ' ' ° !