The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1878-12-24
CHRISTMAS.
The King Festival Of the Holidays
A Description Of its Origin and
Perpetuation.

Perpetuation.
The holidays sre here.
The shouis of merry childhood proclaim
il, the sights and sounds in happy homes
announce il. and the houses and tres AMI
white rot'ed Landscape nutely attest that
winters festivals have begun. and the king
Of them all 10 three days distant.
Thinking that description Of the origin
Of THE greet day, " dear to humanity aud
iniersoven wiih IT. sweetest sssociations
might be interesting to the readers Of the
BAzoo. ve lax. the following fr,m an eni.
n-nt authority:
This word (kri.fmas. il associated nov ia
the minds 81 nearly every nation and tribe
under the sun, with . perioJ Of fe.iivity
aud rsj,icinx. Aud nol only 10 this true tn.
day, b I il h.s been tue aimosi from the
time when the angels appeared % tie sh~p-
h~,.ls near Bethlehem in Jndea. saying.
BEHOLD. ] bring you ,idine. ii srra, j"y,
which .hall t'r tU all peOple." In -esrch-
rig Tor the origin Of the word itself, 10 veil
as lar the CUSTOM. and ceremonies which il
u.hrrs in, &c have To e" b.ck tn date I'M
,,.ssiia,ely succeeding The Christian era it
srlf. Clement Alexandris. Who lived and
sroie sb"ul the yer.r $50 alter Christ, ssi.i
that -ome we're liking the year End day ii
Chri.l's birth even then. About the same
zine, or even earlier. ~e hnd feast day
being celebrated BY Christians, aud called
then. a. 4, - nov, Epiphany. The word
Chri-,mss wAs not applied ~ this event 81
lint Il sas simply . birth festival, anal
held without regard Ia any particular time
or day. Al length. ~ we have ssei. in the
time III Clement Alex anslria, sou,e began To
6x dsy ou shich 40 hold this birth-fe-' j.
val. That day IN Cl~ment's time "a.
Thought To- I've the 3O,h Of May. Fifty y~ar'
later it Lsd br~n assigned to the 9Th ot JsA
ury. which sss oh.efves: extensively. O,hes'
6xed other days. Al last, after various
shiflinss of the calendar, and vsriou.
changes of date. il settled down TO the 18th
IL lIec~mher. which hss remained evel
since. and which date Vas established By
P.p,l decree.
There il NOT the s!ighiest probability thai
this date represents the sclusI lime o.
CLrist's birth. Both the day ard the veal
sre hoveles.ly lust bv the changes which
have been made IN The manner III reckoning
time s,nce The event occurred. The Jews has
one method oi compiling dates, tb. R.nnsn.
anoiher. The Romans tried to mend theis-
under the ign Of two 81 the C~-sr.- but II
vxs not until the yssr 5:;2. under The En-
pire II Ju-iinisn, that the method o
reckos.in. time from Ci.ris,s birth vas PER
m.nsn,iy established. Hence our conclusion
that ,h~,e - no probability. or even Po~-i
billy. Of ascer' aiming With snv kind Of &C
ruracy tine true date Of the advent. Thsr. ..
10 question but ,hsi not only the dates. t.n
in many instances the precise iocaliii~s al
Chri-i's es,'hiv !abora and appearance
are vurposeiv hidden ir"u, absolute id.nii
fication. Human nature is inherently
prore tn idol worship. and were il p,->ibie
To- tell the very day Of Christ = birth. ur ih,
exact spol where lie was cIuciisd an,i
buried, xe shon.d see an exhibition III idol
airy, entirely unparalleled in the history
ii the world. Therefore. both spots end
dates have been forever buried out oi ouI
reach and sight, amid the rubbish ana
wrecks of ages.
II, however, ne might give . guess -
To the true date. We should place it whers
many OF the hest Biblical scholars anG
critics place il. in the latter part OF S~p'em
berber, or eariy Ia October. All the inti-
cations seem "a p int in that direciior. J,
has been sa-eried, With some reason. too
that tire early Christisns, b~ing Hebrews
used to keep this birth festival in c.-nesc-
iion wi,h their Feast IL T.hesnSeles which
occurred in easlv au;nn,s, alter the ingsth
ering Of the fruits. The 25Ih 81 December
is alioge, her too late. The shepherds woul,
not have be~n Out in the fields Of night a
such q season. The present Climate Of
P,Ie.t,ne utterly forbids the suppnsilion
Whenever it was, it mu-t have been earlier
in the season than the 18th oil Decenb<r
The inquiry arises then. why vas ,hi'
dsie selected in preference to sny other ?
There are several reasons for the selec
tion Flint. uniformity Was desir-bls, and
a. there Vas no possibility Of ever -scertain
ing the true date, the c5lh Of Dscembes
Gas ~ good ~ any other day. Besides
this date was coming into pretty gene, al
use at the time il Vas 6xed upon. Second
the date itself wa not . matter OF 20 much
consequence. The important fact vas "a
commemorate the birth Of Christ, whenever
il occurred. Accordingly ve end at FRS,
the early Christians celebrated . birth
festival without regard 10 any particular
DAY. Bat il was decided for church pnr.
ln-ra that the festival should be ob-erved
simultaneously, ~ at length they resolsed
to d. ut upon the 18th of Decemher to se.
cure the resuli The third reason va
more important. The IS. hof DECEMBER. OF
ihefeahouts. has been observed ~ . period
of f-~,iviiy and rejoicing 40 far hack - Ne
are able tn trace history. Amongst the
ancient Gceeks and Romans, especially
among the latter, . feast had been
year almost from the b..
ginning Of the existence Of the nation. II
was called the SAturnalis. in honor Of their
god Saturn, whom they made the ruler Of
the earth, and The producer Of iis fruits
or. IN . word. the god OF nature. This les
iissl at 6rss vss ohaerved only one day,
DECEMBER 18th; afterwards il sss extend
I'll to three, and finally. BY order of Emper-
~r C.ligUia, to seven. which would bring il
70 iis eliminating point On the 18th. Dur
ing This festival all elsa.ss gave themselves
up N unresisxinesi liberty and merry 0ent.
"Eriends made presents tn each other |:
schools were clo-ed the Senate did not
sii; mn var vas proelaimed. no criminal
executed" Slaves put ON gay apparel. had
urrr.,rained liberty. and sat down large
public table, and were waited upon BY
their mastere. SOnRs vere sune, proceasions
formed services held in the temples par.
t.king Of joyous character. and univepsl
good feeling and good will ruled the hour.
All this WA before the time of Christ, run
ming back over 6OO yean.
But . festival nj this time Of the year
was By no means confined TO the Latin
race. Among the northern Scandin svians
tribes aud nations, inhs0iiing the countries
nov kposn ~ Denmark, Norway, Sweden
and Iceland; among the 0.uls, or ancient
tiermans, and among The Cells. Inhabitants
of ancient France. simiisr festivals were
ohaerv~d With similar Iejoicinea. The Scan.
dinavisn nation. the Cells and Germans.
the ancient Sa1ona. our forefsthers. kept
their "YuIe festival" % THE day, which
festival ia almoss the exact counterpart Of
our modern Chsistmas. Hou.>s sers deck
81 vith everRrerns; aOnes and carols we're
sung the vaessil bowl paced freely round: