Guletide Observances.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, 1 December 1904, Page 174

Guletide Observances.

By RACHEL DEE BROWNLOWE.

" Christmas, says Blount, was called the Feast of Lights in the Western or Latin 'Church, because they used many lights or candles at the feast; or leather, because Christ, the Light of all lights, that true light, then came into the world. Hence the Christmas Ciindle and what was perhaps only a succeedaneum, the Yule-block, or clog, before candles were in general use."

lATEVEK may have been the original idea in instituting a Feast of Lights in celebration of Christmastide, it appears quite evident that the Yuleclog is a survival of some ancient practice associated with pagan worship. The origin of the name Yule is surrounded with much obscurity. Dr. Annandale gives us four languages in which it is found, in forms strongly resembling each other, namely, AngloSaxon, Icelandic, Danish and Swedish. Another authority assures us that all the Celtic peoples were addicted to the worship of the Sun. If we bear in mind the fact that it was not only the winter solstice which was celebrated by the lighting of great fires, but that the summer solstice also was celebrated by the lighting of fires in the open air, we shall see that there is strong reason to believe that tlie Yule-log has merely been withdrawn by the Christian Church from its heathen associations, and kept a-bla/ing on the bare merit of its hospitable warmth. The Yule-log, as we know it, or rather as we know of it, is all that properly concerns us. Yet, were we to investigate, the obscurity surrounding this institution is flashed upon at various points by

(Brand's Popular Antiquities, by Sir Henry Ellis.)

suggestions which lend a lurid contrast to the blissful associations which cling about our Christmastide. Dr. Watson tells us that the worship of Baal extended as far west as the British Isles ; and it has been thought that the popular Christmas dish of Furmity is a survival of the ancient Saturnalia. It seems abundantly likely that many of the quaint, and even grotesque practices which obtained in the British Isles in connection with the Christmas festivities were incorporated into the Christian festival from pagan heathenism. The size of the Yule-log was considerable. We are told of an incident which occurred during the Civil War, when one of the combatants burnt the house of an opponent by firing the Yulelog. A rather ironical joVe ! Poets have loved to sing of the Yule-log ; thus Tennyson : " Again at Christmas did we weave The holly round the Christmas hparfch : The silent snow possessed the earth, And calmly fell our Christmas Eve." " The Yule-log sparkled keen with frost." Herrick, most descriptive of poets, sinuS : " Come, bring with a noise, My merry, merry boys, The Christmas log to the firing, While my good dame, she Bids ye all be free, And drink to your heart's desiring.

" With the last year's brand, Light the new block, and For good success in his spending, On your psal tries play, That sweet luck may Come while the log is a-teending." He goes on to mention the making of the mince-pie ; but says nothing about Furmity, which he mentions in another piece called " The Hock Cart." Furmity is a very palatable dish. It is made of husked wheat boiled ; and we know from •experience that it goes very well with a great wood fire, in an open Colonial fireplace, even in Auckland, when the weather is cold. Truly, a wood fire is the perfection of a fire ; but we must draw the line at a fullsized Yule-log in our wooden houses. Herrick refers to the pretty custom of decorating in his " Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve " : " Down with the rosemary and bays, Down with the mistletoe ; Instead of holly now upraise The greener box for show." One of the most grotesque costoms was that of Going a-hodening. This obtained at Ramsgate, in Kent. It was the procession through the streets of a party of young people ; the chief feature of the procession being the hoden, or wooden horse. This curious figure was contrived out of the head of a dead horse attached to a pole about four feet long ; over this a horse-cloth was thrown, under which one of the young people was concealed. By means of a string attached to the lower jaw the concealed person kept opening and shutting the horse's mouth. The hideous noise thus produced was accompanied on the part of the others by the ringing of hand-bells. They went from house to house dressed in fancy costumes, sinrino- sono;s and carols, and were entertained with refreshments, or offered mo^ey. The practice took its name doubtless from the hoden ; and even after it was discontinued the practice of carol-singing was called going a-hodening.

In some of the northern parts of England the people used to observe a custom of crying " Uie, Ule,' v in church, when the sermon or service was concluded ; and some ran about the streets singing : "Ule, Uie, Ule, Ule, Three puddings in a pule, Crack nuts and cry Ule." In Scotland it was considered lucky to be the lirst one to open the door to Ule. Some would place in the doorway a chair or table covered with a clean cloth and spread with bread and cheese " to Vole " ; while first thing in the morning- it was usual to set a new broom behind the outer door "to let in Yule." The practice of keeping a table spread all day, tor all comers, was one which was not perhaps without its attendant disadvantages ; for all comers were expected to partake, under penalty of illluck : a circumstance calculated, surely, to make calling on Christmas day a serious affair. One of the most picturesque ways of celebrating the Christmas season was that of bringing in baskets of rosy apples and presenting them to the members of the congregation in Church. To add to the effect, and doubtless to supply some quaint fancy, there was a spriy of rosemary stuck in each apple. The recipients presented the singing-boys, who dispensed them, with twopence, fourpence, or sixpence, as they could afford, in return for an apple. This custom prevailed at Ripon. We are told that in the Isle of Man the servants used to stay up all night ; and after the midnight ringing of the bells in the churches, when prayers were done, they would go and hunt the wren. When they had found one of these birds they would kill it, lay it on a bier and bring it to the church. Here, with mock solemnity, and the chanting of a dirge, in the Manx language, they would bury the unfortunate bird. In Treland also the custom of staying up to watch for Christmas

was indulged. He who first announced the crowing- of the cock was rewarded with a cup of tea in which a glass of spirits was mixed. At Culdaff, in Ireland, it was usual for the working classes to raffle for mutton, when sufficient people could be got to subscribe) and pay for a sheep. A favourite game in the Christmas holidays was the game of Kamuran. This was played with a ball, which was required to be sent in a certain course;, while the opponent exerted himself to send it in another direction. A crooked stick was used to drive the ball. The Welsh custom of assembling " in church at about three o'clock in the morning " taking part in a service, and then continuing' " singing psalms and hymns with great devotion till daylight," is certainly fully in harmony with the true spirit of keeping Christmas Eve as a vigil. Even those who v. ere unable, through age or other disability, to attend divine service at church, conducted the prayers and aang the carols at home. In connection with the ancient custom of bringing in the boar's head at St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, a good deal of ceremony was observed, and with telling effect no doubt. A blowing of bugles announced the approach of the dish. The cook, dressed in white, came in singing an old song printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1521 : " The bred heed in hande bringe I, With garlens gay and rosemarie ; I pray you all synge merrilie." The guests, each of whom had a copy of the words, joined in the chorus.

A similar custom prevailed at Queen's College, Oxford ; but here the ceremony is supposed to have had some reference to a curious experience of a scholar, who once being attacked by a boar, rammed his copy of Aristotle down the beast's throat, so choking- him. Many of the customs described are certainly curious, and no doubt wholly baffling in their origin. Some of them are entirely alien in their spirit from the spirit of the Christian religion ; and yet they have lived, with all the hardihood of superstition rooted in ignorance. Even Christianity does not always prevail over the human hunger for the. fanciful ; and one authority tells us that " A superstitious notion prevails in the western parts of Devonshire, that at twelve o'clock at night on Christmas Eve the oxen in their stalls are always found on their knees, in the attitude of devotion." The dwellers in western Devonshire must be singularly innocent of any sense of the excruciatingly ridiculous ! How many of the more commendable and hospitable customs mentioned are still in one form or another in vogue, we do not know. That which, because of its connection with the " old order " seemed likeliest to last, is with the " old order " passing- away. After all, only one thing signifies to us, keeping- Christmastide in this our great open temple of Nature, where " everything saith glory/ aM-that is, that the true Christmas Spirit shall prevail. That spirit will dictate its own expression ; and its language, the language of kindness, needs no interpreter.