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


discussion and hair-splitting The ideas in the
following curious stanzas are probably new to
some modern dogmatic cavllers on knotty
points of religion. The lines are from the Cot
ton MSS
"Of womanhede, 10 thre degrees there be,
Widowhede, wedlocke, and verginnte;
Widowhede clamed heaven, her title is this
BY expressions that mekelie sufiereth she;
And vergins clame by ehastite alone;
Then God thought woman should set them at one;
wedlocke by generacton, heaven hires shuld be-
And cease the strife;
For Marie was MAIDEN, widOwe and wife,
In an age of abject superstition, when the air
was densely populated with spirits, when the
commonest occurrences of everyday existence
were regarded as omens and when lucky days
were absolute facts, it is but natural that great
importance should be attached to the particular
day of the week on which Christmas happened.
Accordingly, in the Harleian MSS. there is a
doggerel poem containing number of weather.
wise and personal predictions of what shall
happen during the subsequent years when the
festival falls on certain days. Here is the
prophecy, and gloomy one it Isl
mYf Crystmas day on the Saterday falle,
That wynter vs. to be dredden allie;
Hyt shall so full OF CRETE tempeste,
That hyt shall sic bottle man and beste:
Frute and cOrne shall Gayle CRETE won,
And olde folke dyen many on.
Mhate woman that day OF chylde travayle,
They shall be borne IN CRETE perelle;
Within halle a year they shall dye, par fay.
The somer than shall wete ryghte vile;
" thou awghte stee, hyt shal the spyle;
Thou dyest yf sekencs take the"
According to the same manuscript there is
also prophecy connected with the occurrence
OF the day upon Sunday. This applies directly
to the festival this year. The prophecy is not
quite so bad as that for Saturday, it being
peculiarly lucky in many particulars. The
weather-wise and the almanac-makers will do
well to follow its weather suggestions when
making their conjectures. Here it isl
"Lordinges, warne you al beforne,
Gef that day that CTyste was borne,
Fall upon Sunday;
That wynter shall be gO1d per fay,
But CRETE WyndeS alOfte ShAlOe,
That somer shall be faYre and dry;
by kynde skylle, whythO ORtyn lesse,
Throw all ondes shalbe peas,
And good TYNE all thyngs to don,
But he that stel, tn he shalbe founde some,
Whate chylde that day borne be,
great lord he shabe."
The prophecy is evidently on the principle of
''the better the day the better the deed"
A belief was long current that at midnight on
Christmas eve cattle in their stalls fell down on
their knees in alteration of their infant Saviour
in the same manner as the legend reports them
to have done in the stable of Bethlehem. A
bard of the fifteenth century perpetrates an
amusing variation of the belief in the following
unique stanZa:-
'In a cracche was that chylde layde;
Both oXe and asse wyth hym payde,
Wyth Joye and bllsse;
Miserere nobis."
A beautiful phase in popular superstition is
that which represents a complete prostration of
the powers of darkness as taking place at this
season. Cbanticleer is then supposed to crow
all night long, and by his vigilance to scare
away all malignant spirits. The idea is incom-
parably expressed by Shakespeare, who puts it
in the mouth of 'Marcellus":-
at faded at the growing of the cock;
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our SaVi0ur's birth is celebrated,
The bird OF dawning sngeth all night long;
And then they say no spirit can walk abroad ETC.
Among the revels of the Christmas season
were the so-called feasts of fools and of asses,
grotesque saturnalia, which were sometimes
termed December liberties" in which every
thing serious was burlesqued, interiors personi-
flying their superiors, great men becoming fro
licsome, and which illustrate the proneness of
man to occasionally reverse the order of society
and ridicule its decencies. In the Protestant
district of Germany and the north of Europe
Christmas is often called the "children's fes-
tival," and Christmas eye is devoted to
giving presents, and especially between parents
and children, and brothers and sisters, by
means of the so-called Christmas tree. A large
yew bough is erected, lighted with tapers, and
nuts, playthings, and ornaments. Each of these
| is marked with the name of the persons for
whom 1t was intended, but not with the name
| of the donor aud when the whole family party
is assembled, the presents are distributed around
the room according to their labels, amid joyful
! acclamations and congratulations. more
sober scene succeeds, for the mother takes this
occasion TO say privately to the daughters, and
| the father to the sons, what has been observed
| most praiseworthy and what most faulty in
| their conduct. Formerly, and still in some
| of theEsmaller villages of North Germany, the
presents made by all the parents were sent to
some one person, who, in high buskins, a white
robe, mask and enormous 1aX wig, becoming
the bugbear of children known as KnecM Rt-
1 pert, goes from house TO house, is received by
the parents with great pomp and reverence,
calls for the children, aud bestoWs the intended
gift upon them according to the character which
he hears from the parents after severe inqui-
ries. A beautiful poem of Hebel, Christ Baum
celebrates the German ceremonies on Christmas
eve. 1t is an old Swedish tradition, preserved
in the history of CLAUS, archbishop of Upsal
that at the festival of Christmas the men living
in the cold northern parts are suddenly and
strangely metamorposed into wolves; and thai
huge multitude of them meet together at an
appointed place during the night, and rage
20 6eTeely against napklnd and other cgea