The Sun.
London, England, 1834-12-27 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS.

(From the Mirror.)
The following account of a custom on Christmas eve, at
Ratzenburg, in Germany, is given by Mr. Coleridge :
" For three or four months before Christmas the girls are
all busy, and the boys save up their pocket-money to buy
presents to present to their parents and to each other on
Christmas eve. What the present is to be is cautiously
kept secret ; and the girls have a world of contrivances to
conceal it, such as working when they are out on visits, and
the others are not with them, getting up in the morning
before daylight, &c. Then, on the evening before Christ-
mas-day, one of the parlours is lighted up by the children,
into which the parents must not go ; a great yew bough is
fastened on the table at a little distance from the wall, a
multitude of little tapers are fixed on the bough, but not
so as to burn it, till they are nearly consumed, and co-
loured paper, &c., hangs and flutters from the twigs.
Under this bough the children lay out in great order the
presents they mean for their parents, still concealing in
their pockets what they intend for each other. Then
the parents are introduced, and each presents his little
gift ; they then bring out the remainder, one by one, from
their pockets, and present them with kisses and embraces.
Where I witnessed this scene there were eight or nine
children, and the eldest daughter and mother wept aloud
for joy and tenderness ; and the tears ran down the
face of the father, and he clasped all his children so tight
to his breast, he seemed as if he did it to stifle the sob that
was rising within it. I was very much affected. The shadow
of the bough, and its appendages on the wall, and arching
over on the ceiling, made a pretty picture ; and then the
raptures of the very little ones, when at last the twigs and
their needles began to take fire and snap—oh it was a de-
light to them 1 On Christmas-day the parents lay out on
the table in the great parlour the presents for the children ;
a scene of more sober joys succeeds, as on this day, after an
old custom, the mother says privately to each of her daugh-
ters, and the father to the sons, that which they have ob-
seysed most praiseworthy, and that which has been the
most faulty in their conduct. Formerly, and still in all the
smaller towns and villages throughout North Germany,

these presents were sent by all the parents to some one
fellow, who, in high buskins, a white robe, a mask, and an
enormous flaxen wig, personates Knecht Rupert,' that is,
the servant Rupert. On Christmas night he goes round
to every house, and says that Jesus Christ, his mas-
ter, sent him thither. The parents and elder children
receive him with great pomp and reverence, while the little
ones are most terribly frightened. He then inquires for
the children, and according to the charaeter which he hears
from the parents, he gives them the intended presents, as
if they came out of heaven from Jesus Christ. Or, if they
should have been bad children, he gives the parents a rod,
and in the name of his master, recommends them to use it
frequently. About seven or eight years old the children
arc let into the secret, and it is curious how faithfully they
keep it."