San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1879-01-04


been recognized for so long period
and any change would only be from one
doubtful day to another still moro
doubtful.
There was, in the days whea Chris
tianity was beginning to spread among
the Pagan nations of Europe, desire
ON the part of missionaries to accommo'
date, in all that was innocent and unob.
jectionable, the new religion to the Gus
toms of the people among whom they
preached. Whether or not they were
justified in this it Is unnecessary to in
quire: thut they did 30 is an established
fact 1t was the practice among all
idolat,ous nations to celebrate the be-
ginning of the year with reioicings III
honor of their tabled deities. Logs
were burnt and beasts were slain, and
houses hung with evergreens. To yield
up these practices was uncongenial to n
semi-barbarous people. although they
were ready enough to change their faith.
To meet the predictions of these races,
the Christmas festival might very well
be held in December, and the hospitali-
ty and merry making be still allowed,
though for different object than that
for which they were originally estab-
lished 1t needs no great antiquarian
research to show that the Yule log blazed
IN honor of Northern deities-that the
wassail bowl was quaffed in prai;e of
Wodin and Thor---that the mistletoe
was collected, cut down with silver
snife by white-rohed priests of heathen-
ism that Scundinavians, and Anglo
S lxons, and Druids, and ancient Ro-
mans, and Greeks, and Egyptians cele-
brated customs very similar to Christ
mas customs long before there was any
Christmas festival to keep.
Hence we find u number Of curious
superstitions about Christmas and the
New Year-superstitions which have
mad their origin in Paganism, though
some of them have been adopted, and,
rs it were, christened by the Church OF
the Middle Ages. Hamlet says:
"Some say that never 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Savior's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dGwning singeth all night long;
And they say no spirit stirs abroad;
The nights arc wholesome then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, no witch has power to charm
SO hallowcd and 30 gracious is the time"
1t used to be asserted that at Christ
mas time not only was the cock merry,
out the owl for twelve days was spright-
ly, and conducted itself after a fashion
,ingularly Mt variance with its usually
exclusive habits. At twelve o'clock On
Christmas Eve all water was said to
blush, and for moment turn to wine;
the bees in their hives were heard to
sing: dumb animals were gifted with
speech, ard that oxen knelt down i'll
alteration; the dead trees put forth ten
der buds of hope, and subterranean bells
were heard singing sweetly and softly
for the birth of our Lord!
These quaint superstitions were held
with tenacity by many honest country
folks, after they had been banished from
the popular mind. 1t was asserted that
after the alteration of the style, the OK
en- still persisted in adhering to the old
Christmas Eve, and one good man went
so far rs to state that he had witnessed
the two oldest oxen fall upon their knees
at twelve o'clock, and make cruel
moan like Christian creatures Per-
haps if the good man had watched every
night, he might have seen the same
thing: tired oxen will rest themselves,
and are not always silent.
The Christmas superstitions already
mentioned were not of any baneful in
iiueuce; but it was supposed that, in
revenge for the restraint put upon them
on Christmas day, the powers Of dark
ness became afterwards the more ram
pant. CLANS Magnus, Metropolitan Of
Sweden, declared that about Christmas
time there was strange mutation of
men into animals, in the cold, northern
parts Of the country; that in certain
place. and on Il certain night, there was
II gathering of huge multitude OF
wolves. that were changed from men-
men who had made beasts of themselves