FESTIVALS.

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14829, 17 December 1921, Page 9 (Supplement)

FESTIVALS.

TO KEEP THE DAY HOLY. (By "Marama.") What is the cause why mankind, attaches such mystic importance to the keeping of certain dales. It is prob- • ably an inheritance from times when people attached more weight to the forms and less to the spirit of religion. In the middle ages our ancestors kept many holy days, and, allowing for * change in manners and tastes, kep>, ?hem probably very much as ve do. W e have altered the spelling and curtailed the number; we have dropped all pretence of any sanctity being attached to the day, and shall probably have legislation in a few years fixing Christmas Day for the nearest Monday. It is a utilitarian age, in spite of a considerable tendency to leave work for play. We have ceased to make any' claims for holidays other than the necessity for recuperation. As those who work hardest are not necessarily those who take the longest holidays, the reason seems scarcely adequate, although it is undoubtedly of some validity. A hundred years ago the man who lived to work was regarded as the model citizen; we do not think so now. Faith and Knowledge. Meantime man has lost much out of his life by dropping the sanctions of faith for his-holidays. When he could really associate Christmas with the miraculous birth of Christ, and could turn his thoughts to the thrilling tale of the journey to Bethlehem, th.2 Child in the manger, the shepherds keeping watch over their ilocks by night, and the Glory of ihc Lord shining round them while the Angel proclaimed "glad tidings of great joy, for a Saviour is born unto you," what a miraculous opening into some wider and brighter world was vouchsafed to raariy a man and woman to whom life was customarily dull and grey. We arc accustomed to think that our opportunities are greater than wore t-nose of our forefathers, but it is doubtful whether we have gained in happiness'by the exchange of faith for knowledge. • We have not really widened the world, but have narrowed iUin some respects, for we have lost that realisation of another world which was the cherished possession of irany choice souls. Whether it be so or not, there is no retracing our steps. We have eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and the angel with the flaming sword stands at the gate to bar our entrance to the garden reserved for those who have faith. The Greatest «Joy. But if unfortunate adults have lost much in happiness, which they vainly seek to replace with pleasure, Ihe children ar e still capable pf extracting the last ounce of enjoyment out of the stir, the bustle, the festivity, and the expectation of good times. Macau lay used to say that children were the real poets, for they had imagination. Perhaps it is more to the purpose to say that they have irresponsibility. The cares of this world weigh heavily on many, but' everyone strives to shield the little people from them. Sometimes it is said that children trive too good a time, and this may be trufl, |but no one would wish to enforce tint 'view at this season of the year. To most people who .have arrived at the time when both pleasures and pains have lost something of their acutcness, the happiness of the children is the greatest joy they know. Was it not Mr Lucas who recalled the pantomime he saw in Paris,.with a boxful of gay and excited children, while a greyhaired old gentleman among them was apparently the most excited and pleased of the lot. That was Mr W. E. Gladstone, but vitality of such a nature is granted to very few. Most of Us are ready to find our pleasure in the children's joy, which is not entirely due to good cheer, and Santa Claus, but arises partly from the general atmosphere of change, of goodwill, of observance of a festival. Pleasures and Pains. ■ Meantime it is to be feared that some people's pleasures arc, otner people's pains. We are ahand-to-mouth generation, and cannot live for three days with the shops closed, without a great deal of preparation and forethought. The housewife has to scheme for the provisioning of the family, though she is usually more than sufficiently busy over the matter of little people's clothing. When the arrangements for picnics or outings have also to be made, and the duties connected with Santa Claus duly attended to, we can believe that the statement that Christmas romes but once a year does not appear to the good housewife to be a matter of regret. But if she is too busy, she is by no means alone in this trouble. The shopkeeper in some businesses does three or four days' work in one; in some trades he does two months' work in one. There is, of course, the satisfaction of being busy, but there is also the reflection that if the work could be evenly spread, it could he better, and with much .greater case. Housewives and' shopkeepers do not exhaust the list of those to whom Christmas means extra work. The school teacher will make her plaiit f.r examinations, and children to be got home. The children who arc examined may even complain, if thov can remember to do so, among the distractions of the time. The railwaymen and the 'bus drivers all have their share in the activity. The recollection of a soul-stirring event has

moved one-half of the world to festivity, and made the other half busy in supplying the means. Getting Out of the Rut. There arc people who grumble at Christmas; old curmudgeons. It is good for man to be shaken out of the mill round of existence into which he is too apt to fall. Habit is'invaluable as saving trouble and oiling the wheels of life, but, like all clher good things, must be taken in moderation. W e arc the better for seeing something different, and even if we think at the time that it is but mitigated pleasure, we look back on it with satisfaction. At the lowest estimate it adds a zest to the return to habitual ways. Scott's picture of the Covenanting preacher who fought at Bothwejl Brig, and in the interval of war's alarms returned to the manse to pursue his theological studies over a glass of ale and a pipe of tobacco, is drawn from the life. High days and holidays serve to break up the dull routine, and freshen the wits. We can all do with them, and while We arc .looking 'forward to pleasure in some form cr we shall do well to think of those whose enjoyments arc few, such • as the orphan and the needy, and of thosfi in other countries, fn infinitely sadder plight, of whom it is said millions must perish of starvation.