Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-12-25
Christmas In Spaiu.

There is no civilized country on
earth IN which children are not made
happy by the promise of the coming
Christmas. But in every country the
festival is called by different name,
and its presiding genius is painted
with q different costume and manner.
You know all about our jolly Dutch
Santa Claus, with his shrewd, twink
ling eyes, his frosty beard, his ruddy
face and the bag of treasures with
which he comes tumbling down the
chimney, while his team of reindeer
snort and stamp on the 10y roof. The
English Christmas is equally we'll
known, and the wonders Of the German
miracle-tree, the first sight of which no
child ever forgets. But you are, per-
haps, not SO familiar with the spirit of
the blessed season of advent in South
ern Europe, and so will tell you some
of the pleasures and fancic, OF the
Spanish Christmas.
The good cheer which it brings
everywhere is especially evident in
Spain. They ore !, frugal people; and
many gool Spanish family is support
ed ',.y less than the waste of q house.
hold on Murray Hill. But there is no
sparing at Christmas. This is season
as fatal to turkeys as THANKSGIVING in
New England. The Castalian farmers
drive them into Madrid in great droyes.
which they conduct from door to door,
making the dim old streets gay with
their scarlet wattles, and noisy with
obstreperous gabblihg. But the head
quarters of the marketing during those
days are in the Plaza Mayor, where every
variety of fruit and provision is sold.
There is nothing more striking than
those vast heaps of fresh gol,! !.
! oranges, plucked the day before in -:
groves of Anaalusia; nuts from Gra;,-
ada, and dates IRON Africa; every
flavor and color Of tropical fruitaee;
anu in the stalls beneath the gloomy
arches, the butchers drive their flour
ishjng trade. All is gay and joyous
chatfering and TESTING, greeting of
friends and filing of baskets. The sky
is wintry, but the ground is ruddy and
ricI, with the fruits OF summer.
At night the whole city turns out in
to the streets. The youths and maid.
ems of the poorer class go trooping
through the town with tamborines,
castanets aud guitars, singing and
dancing. Every ono has different
song to suit his own state of mind.
The women sing Of love and religion,
and many of the men can sing of moth.
ing better than politics. Bnt the part
which the children take in the festival
bears il curious resemblance to those
time-honored ceremonies we all remem
her, The associations of Christmas in
SPAN are all Of the Gospel. There is
! no northern st. Nick there to stuff the
stockings of good children with rewards
of merit. Why, then, on Christmas
eve do you see the little shoes exposed
by the windows and doors? The wise
kings of the East arc supposed to be
journcying by night to Bethlehem,
bearing gifts and homage to the heav-
emily Child, and out OF their abund
ance, when they pass by the houses
where good children sleep, they will
drop into the shoes some of the treas
ures they are bearing to the Baby
Prince in Jndea. The t',unght is never
absent from the rejoicinys IF Christmas
tide i'll Spain. Every hour OF the time
is sacred to Him who came to bring
peace and good will to the world. The
iavorite toy OF the season is called
'The Nativity" It is sometimes very
elaborate and costly, representing a
Landscape under starry night; the
shepherds watching their fiOcks the
magi coming in with wonder and awe,
and the Child IN the stable, shedding
upon the darkness that living light
~, 'ich WAS to oversprcal the world. -
X,bn ut4y m 81. Nicholas for Jo"',-