CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS.

New Zealand Graphic, 20 December 1894, Page 20

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS.

For eighteen centuries the sacred event which the festival of Christmas celebrates has been invested in this and other countries not only with many beautiful legends, but with various customs; yet there is a great deal of truth in the oft-repeated complaint that Christmas is not what it used to be. Many of the old observances have passed away, and live only in the memories of our grandfathers and grandmothers, and others still older are enshrined in books, where their description can still be found by those who care to know how our ancestors welcomed the festive season. Its most interesting traditions are worth recalling, however, especially as efforts are being made to revive some of them. At this time of the year CAROL SINGING is popular. The custom is of great antiquity, and was once held to be of the first importance ; but it has now for the most part degenerated into a wretched juvenile performance, shrieked out of time and out of tune, sometimes to most ridiculous words. Anciently Bishops were wont to sing carols at Christmas among their clergy. A carol of the time of Henry VI. is preserved in the Sloane MSS., and, modernised, runs thus:— Welcome be Thou, Heavenly King, Welcome, born in a morning ; Welcome, for whom we shall sing Welcome Yule. Welcome be ye, Stephen and John. Welcome, Innocents every one ; Welcome, Thomas, martyr one ; Welcome Yule. Welcome be ye. good New Year ; Welcome Twelfth-day both in fere. Welcome Saints, loved and deare ; Welcome Yule. Welcome be ye that are here. Welcome all, and make good cheere ; Welcome all another yeare. Welcome Yule ! It would seem that carols have always been divided into two classes, viz., the religious or devotional song used in the service of the Church or chanted from house to house to announce the birthday of the Redeemer, and the festive carol, intended for the merry circle round the hearth or the convivial board. In the hall of Merton College, Oxford, before the Reformation, the Fellows sang by the fire, and in the ancient times persons used to keep watch with the shepherds, while minstrels sang carols, an observance till very«lately, if not still, kept up in the Isle of Man, where the people attend a Church service and remain in the sacred edifice singing carols until midnight. When Henry VII. kept his Christmas at Greenwich the Dean and those of the Chapel Royal sat in the middle of the hall, and immediately after the first course ‘sang a carall.’ Carol singing, having reached its lowest depths, seems now about to be revived in England, It prevails in Wales and also in Ireland, but in Scotland it is scarcely known. From Scandinavia, through our Saxon ancestors, comes

THE YULE LOG CELEBRATIONS which are so fast falling into disuse. Modern fireplaces are not made to accommodate logs, nor would modern houses bear the heat of the fires which roared on old English hearths so fiercely that all prudent housewives were careful to have their chimneys swept before Christmas. In the great open rooms of old houses, and no less in spacious halls, fires were essential, and great heat a necessity. No wonder that the Yule Log was held in esteem ; that it was marked down from one Yule Tide to another, and brought home on Christmas Eve with dancing music and dancing. Round the Yule Log gradually clustered some quaint customs. The practice of keeping a part of one log wherewith to light that of next year is then referred to by the poet :—

Kindle the Christmas brand, and then Till sunne set let it burne. Which quench, then lay it up again, Till Christmas next return e. Part must be kept wherewith to tend I he Christinas log next year ; And where 'tis safely kept", the fiend Can do no mischief there.

The log is still lighted in some places, although no longer with the same ceremony as in former times. Thus, in Devonshire it is known as the ‘ Ashenfaggot,’ and in Cornwall it goes by the name of ‘ The Mock.’ In the North of England a lump of coal is often substituted.

Among the Christmas customs that have nearly fallen into disuse may be mentioned

THE CHRISTMAS CANDLE, which was lighted in most houses on Christmas morning, and allowed to burn undisturbed until the close of the day. This custom is in some measure still kept up in the North of England, where grocers give their customers a large wax candle. Christmas, says Blunt, was called ‘ The Feast of Lights' in the Latin Church because they used many lights or candles at the feast.

MUMMINGS AND MASQUERADING were once an important element at Christmas festivities. The amusement consisted in songs and antics of men dressed up as animals or mythic characters. Derbyshire was once famous for its mummers, who dressed up in all manner of fantastic and quaint attire, went from house to house performing various antics and sometimes a kind of rude play. This custom is said to prevail still in Cornwall, and in other out-of-the-way districts. At one time mumming was very common in Oxfordshire, and as the mummers perambulated the villages they sang a doggerel, of which the following is a specimen :—

A Merry’ Christmas and a Happy’ New Year, Your pockets full of money anti your cellars full ol beer. A curious species of mumming was once the custom at Tenby, in Wales. About Christmas time the fishermen dressed up one of their number, whom thev called * The Lord Mayor of Pennyless Cove.’ He was covered in

evergreen and wore a mask over his face. Seated in a chair, his companions carried him about with flags flying and a couple of violins playing before him. Before every house the Lord Mayor addressed the occupants, wishing them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If his good wishes were responded to with money, his followers gave three cheers, the masker himself returning thanks. The beautiful custom of DECORATING HOUSES AND CHURCHES with evergreens seems to be of Pagan origin, and like many others derived from that source, is full of poetic meaning. The green boughs were put up in order that sylvan spirits, driven from their native woods by the rain and snow, might find shelter under the leaves till the spring had regarnished their home in the world outside.

To the mistletoe, a favourite bough for Christmas decoration, there has attached, from time immemorial, a traditionary • kissing right' that is popularly considered as inviolable as any secured to Englishmen by Magna Charta. Any male who during the Christmas season can catch a female under a sprig of mistletoe is entitled to a kiss, which the damsel —be she maid, wife, or widow—is in honour bound to accord him without resistance or remonstrance of any kind. Probably some of our readers who are familiar with the expression. ‘CHRISTMAS BOX,’ may not know its origin and significance. An authority on such matters writes that in the early days of Christianity boxes were placed in the churches for promiscuous charities and opened on Christmas Day. On the following morning (Boxing Day) the contents were distributed among the poor of the parish by the priest, and called ‘ the dole of the Christmas Box. ’ It will be seen, however, from the foregoing that Christmas has all along been a season of good cheer, a time when the poor got not a few crumbs from the rich man’s table, and this characteristic trait is still stoutly maintained. Christmas is now the season par excellence of benefaction and enjoyment, as befits the great occasion of which it is the anniversary. And so to quote the lines of Wither :— Without the door let sorrow be. And if for cold it has to die. We’ll bury it in Christinas pie And evermore be merry.