The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-24

"on Chrstmas-eve the bells were rung
on Christmas-eve the mass sung:
That only night, ia all the year,
Saw the stoled priest the. .chalice bear.
Then opened wide the bdron's hail
To vessal, tenant, serf, and ALL
Power laid his rod OF rule aside
And ceremony doffed his pride.
The heir, with roses in his Shoes
That night might village partner choose
All hailed with uncontrolled delight
And general voice, the happy night
That to the cottage, as the crown,
Brought tidiDgs OF salvation down.
England was merry England when
Old Christmas brought his sports again.
Twas Christmas broach'd the mightest ale;
Twas Christmas told the merrest tale
poor mans heart through half the year."
Many of the Christmas customs had the r
origin far beyond the time when Julius Cesar
had set his foot in Britain or st. Augustine had
preached Christianity to the men of Kent. They
are simply Christian teachings grated on
heather rites. No festival is more amalgamated
in this way than Christmas, the festivities of
which, originally derived from the Roman Satur-
MALTA, were afterwards intermingled with the
ceremonies of the Druids, and, subsequently,
with the grim mythology of the Saxons and
Normaus. The quaint old carols illustrate these
facts admirably, and at the same time show the
joyous character of the festival, as well as the
peculiarly perverted picty which surrounded it
in remote ages.
1t was the practice of our ancestors to lay
aside the charred remains of the Yue log where
with to kindle its successor. The preservation
of last years Christmas log was, in their belief,
most eifectual security to the house against
fire. Further, it was regarded as a sign of i'll
luck if a squirting person entered the hall when
the log was burning; and similarly evil omen
was exhibited in the arrival of a barefooted
person; but the direst caamities of all certainly
followed if fat-footed woman made her ap-
pearance.
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 the milder season. The holly, ivy, rosemary,
bays, laurel, and mistletoe furnished the favor
ite trimmings, which were not removed till
! Candlemas. Chaplets of these were also worn
| about the head, practice to which the phrase
to kiss under the rose" to "whisper under
the mistletoe," are illusions. In old church
! calenders Christmas eve is marked TemplG
| erOrnant,V (adorn the temples). Holly and
ivy still remain in England this most esteemed
| Christmas evergreen, though at the two univer-
! stiles of the college chapels are decked with
! laurel.
1t is said that there was q famous hawthorn
in the church-yard of Glastonbury Abbey, which
always budded on the 24Lh and blossomed on
| the 25th of December. After the change of
style it was observed that it blossomed on Janu-
airy 5, which would have been Christmas day
o. s. 1t is said that slips from this thorn are
preserved which blossom on January 9th to the
present time. Near Raleigh there is a valley
said to have been caused centuries ago by an
earthquake, which swallowed up a whole viii
lage and church. 1t was formerly custom for
people to assemble here on Christmas morning
tn IN ba ri of hp hal of hp
beneath them. The Christmas celebrations in
England have lost their primitive boisterous
character the gambols and carols are nearly
gone by, and family reunions and evergreen
trimmings are all that remain of the various
rough merrjments which used to mark the fes-
tival. The last memorable appointment of a
lord ot.misrule was in 1927, when he had come
to be denominated "a grand captane of mis-
chiefe."
The institution of the festival itself in honor
of the birth of Saviour is attributed by the
decretal letters to Pope Telesphorus, who died
A. ID. 13S. At first it was the most movable of
the Christian festive Gays, often celebrated by
the Eastern churches in the months of April and
May. In the fourth century the urgency of st.
Cyril OF Jerusalem obtained from Pope Julius
an order for an investigation to be made con-
cerning the day of Christs nativity. The result
the West was an agreement upon the 18th of
December. The chief grounds for the decision
were the tables of the censors In the
archives of Rome and although, in the
opinion of some OF the fathers, there was
not authentic proof of the Identification
of the day, yet the decision was uniformly
accepted, and from that time nativity has
been celebrated throughout the Church on the
same day. la England the Christmas season
began on Christmas and continued for a fort
night, until Twelfth day, which was formerly
celebrated with greater ceremony than the be-
ginning of the season and consequently became
the old Christmas Day epiphany. Now the
first day, or the 25lh of December is the most
generally observed.
The respectable Samuei Pepys in his diary
makes several notes about Christmas as he did
about every thing else that came within his
knowledge. The following is not the least
amusing entry in that quaint and curious
diary
| Christmas day (l665 ITO church in the morning
| and then a wedding IN the church, which have
| moi sten many a day aud the yOuag people SC
merry one with another, and strange to see what
delight we mari led people have to these poor
fools decoyed in our condition, every man and
woman gazing and smiling at them
A longer note Is made for Christmas, 1882,