The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1874-12-17
Christmas Legends.

CnFiStmaS Legends.
Is there, in all the year, night so
full Of mystic meaning as the Christmas
Eve? Around it cluster so MANY quaint
old legends, SO many sweet hallowed
superstitions, that one is fain. upon
such night, to give fancy full scope.
and to listen with believing ears to ali
the weird stories and ron1ances of the
| Christmas time.
In this wise, matter-of-fact age. the
old legends are fast losing credence.
and reason is apt to sheer at the misty
cobwebs of the past. Even the good
st. Nicholas himself is secuted by the
rising generation mo one pays homage
to his shrine except the merest infants.
and it is to be feared that the dear. little
man will have, ere long, to retire from
the world forever.
But life has enough of hard, stern
realities surrounding it the whole year
round for any harm to come to us
through the sweet myths of this charmed
eve.
For our part, we are sorry to know
| that the good Santa Claus is losing
prestige, for we look back to the time
when we hailed his coming with infinite
delight; when we lay awake for hours
upon Christmas Eve to hear the tink-
ling of bells and the tramp of reindeer
hoofs upon the roof, and fancied we
heard the saint himself, as, "dressed
all in fur from his head to his foot" he
came stealthlly down the chimney to
| fill the expectant stockings.
We pity the poor child who will grow
up and have no such pleasant visions to
look back upon-no childish ideal to
soften the asperity of life's reality.
To the midnight hour of Christmas
Eve belong the quaintest, sweetest
legends. At this time the little bees
are said to hum in their cells, and they
who listen attentively may hear the
tinkling of bells far beneath the earth
down in the subterranean depths
where dwell the Trolls.
The ringing of these bells is believed
by the miners to come from those
caverns which contain the richest ore
where solemn mass is held upon Christ
mas Eve by live, weird beings who
dwell in the depths of the earth. The
service is chanted by invisible sprites,
and the cavern is most brilliantly
Illuminated.
There is also legend of a bell which
solemnly tolls on Christmas Eve, from
10 o'clock until 1, in pond near Got
tingen, in Germany. The water in this
pond is very deep, and from it was
taken the water of baptism in the
church near by. The legend of the
bell relates that it once swung in the
high tower of the church, where it had
been placed without having first been
consecrated by baptism, as was the
custom of that time. But when the
Christmas tide came round, and the
bell commenced to ring out the merry
Christmas chimes, it was hurled by
some supernatural power from it's lofty
position into the depths of the pond, |
beneath whose waters it sank and was
seen no more. But always at the SOL
emn hour of II upon Christmas Eve the
bell rises to the surface of the water.
tolls away it's hour, and then sinks
again. This legend is still believed in
devoutly in the vicinity of the pond.
Upon Christmas Eve the cock is said
to crow all night long, that all evil
things which infest the air may flee
away.
and then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad:
The nights are wholesome, then no planets
strike;
No fairy takes, no witch has power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is the time"
If all hours could be as free from Ill
as the solemn hour when Christ was
born! Is it strange, when we remem-
Der that the Holy Babe sleptin manger,
that universal belief has long pre-
vailed that upon Christmas Eve the
oxen kneel in their stalls and hold con-
verse like men? The deer, also, in our
vast forests, are believed by the Indians
to adore the Great Spirit on this mystic
night, kneeling and looking upward.
In the good old times, when belief
in witches disturbed the dreams of our
forefathers, the doors of the houses
we're carefully closed and guarded upon
Christmas Eve, lest strange dogs or cats
should enter, who might prove to be
witches in disguise. And if a whirr in
the air without was heard, it was be-
lieved to be the rushing of broomstick
over the house, bearing some wicked
witch away to her midnight revels. And
no one dared to peep out, lest they en-
countered the glance of the evil eye.
Even the cattle were not exempt from
the witches power, and sharp scythe
was placed in the fodder as charm to
keep the wicked ones away.
They who are born on Christmas, or
Good Friday, are said to see spirits,
and even to possess the power of COM
manding them. This may be rather
doubtful blessing, if we may believe
history, which relates that "the Span
iards imputed the haggard and down
cast looks of their Philip the Second to
the disagreeable visions to which this
privilege subjected him.
One of the strangest legends comes
from merry old England, and gravely