The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-12-28

That to the cottage, as the crown,
Brought tidings of salvation down.

brOugnJ uOlngS OF SalVaClOn QOWn.
England was merry England when
Old Christmas brought his sports again.
Twas Christmas br0ach'd the mightiest ale
Twas Christmas told the merriest tale;
A Christmas gambOl oft would cheer
A poor mans heart through half the year.
A glowing fire, made of great logs, the
principal of which was termed the yule log,
or Christmas block, which might be burnt
till Candlemas eve, kept out the severity of
the weather; and the abundance was shared
amid music, conjuring, riddles, hot cookies,
fool.plough, snap-dragon, jokes, laughter,
repartees, forfeits, and dances. The gener-
GUS wassail bowls and bowls of punch never
failed to bring tumultuous joys. The fa-
vorite and first dish on Christmas day was
a soused boar's head, which was borne to
the principal table with great state and
solemnity, "upon silver platter, with min~
stralsye." There is tradition that this
custom originated at Queens college, Ok
ford, in commemoration of the valor of
student, who, while on a walk reading
Aristotle, being suddenly attacked by
wild boar, rammed the volume into the
throat of the aggressor, crying Grecum est
till he had fairly choked the beast to death.
The common custom of decking the houses
and churches at Christmas with evergreens
is derived from ancient druid practices. 1t
was an old belief that sylvan spirits might
flock to the evergreens, and remain unnipped
by frost till milder season. The holly,
ivy, rosemary, bays, laurel, and mistletoe
furnished the favorite trimmings, which were
not removed till Candlemas. Chaplets of
these were also worn about the head,
practice to which the phrases to "kiss under
the rose," to "whisper under the mstletoe,'
are illusions. In old church calendars,
Christmas eve is marked: 1emplu erornan-
tur (adOrn the temples) Holly and ivy still
remain in England the most estsemed Christ.
mas evergreens, though at the two univer-
sites the windows of the college chapels are
decked with laurel. 1t was an old English
superstition that on Christmas eve the oxen
were always found on their knees, rs in an
attitude of devotion, and that after the
change from old to new style they contn-
ued to do this only on the eve of old Christ
mas day. This was derived from preva-
lent medi8val notion that an OK and an ass
which were present at the nativity fell upon
their knees in a suppliant posture, as ap-
pears from numerous prints and from the
Latin poem of Sannazarius in the 18th Gen.
tury. It was an ancient tradition, alluded
to by Shakespeare, that midnight spirits
forsake the earth and 60 to their own con-
fines at the Growing of the cock, and that
Ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our SaviOur's birth is celebrated,
This bird of dawning singeth all night long
And then, they say, no spirit stirs abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planet
strikes;
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is the time.
There was a famous hawthorn in the church
yard of Glastonbury abbey, which always
budded on the Oath and blossomed on the
25th of December. After the change of
style it was observed that it blossomed on
January 5, which would have been Christ.
mas day o. S. 1t is said that slips from
this thorn are preserved which blossom on
Jan. 9th to the present time. Near Ral-
eigh there is valley said to have been
caused centuries ago by an earthquake
which swallowed up whole village and a
church. 1t was formerly custom ior peo-
pie to assemble here on Christmas morning,
to listen to the ringing of the bells of the
church beneath them. The Christmas cele-
brations in England haye lost their primi-
tive bOlsterous character, the gambols aud
carols are nearly gone by, and family re-
unlors and evergreen trimmings are nearly
all that remain of the various rough merr-
ments which used to mark the festival. The
last memorable appointment of lord of
misrue was in 1927, when be had come to
be denominated "a grand captaine of mis-
chiefe."
And now, we wish every reader of the
PIONEER AND DEMOCRAT, and out of the
fullness of our heart, every body else, too,
"a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY New
YEAR."