Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-12-24

mouth, sarnshed with herbs, and served
by stalwart yeomen in green coats and low
shoes with broad buckles, scarlet dOublets
and gray yarn hozen, and be carved by
the official carver. arrayed rs described in
the "Squyer of Lowe Degree
- here he arrayed him in scarlet red.
And set a chap,et on his heddc
bette about his sides too,
With brOde btrres 10 and iro.
\ horne about his necke he caste.
And forthe he went ut the last
To do his office IN the halle
Among the Lort.es both great ana small
The Mummers.
\ Jester with cap and bells, OF, if pre-
ferred, 4 lord of miSrue, to furnish
riot and amusement, and company OF
musicians with lutes, viols and c;therns-
SD will the feStivity be ancient and ;esthct
c. But 1t would have 20 be held out ef
the way of quiet people with modern
nerves, and after all it would be incomplete
without the Christmas plays, nasIues and
spectacles which followed. Imagine Il res
urrccted ancestor, accustomed to the
mummeries of old times, introduced to
modern pantomimc-'' IIump:y Dumpty,"
for instance. 1t is interesting to note the
change in Christmas plays. First, III
1913, We have the mummers," prob
ably without dialoguC-men disguised in
masks of heads OF animals and grotcsque
hoods. relics Of the "mOrrico dancers.
We find dresses ordered for the mum
mcrs before King Edward Ill eighty
tunicS of buckranl, fOrty-twO yisors, four
teen faces OF women, fourteen heads Oi
angels, and mantles embroidered with
dragons heads, trncs with tho heads
and eyes of pcacocks, with stars and vari
GUS devices. a step further, in the time
Of Henry NllI., we find Mosques and pa
seants and later still Punch and judy
the father and mother of tho pantOmimc
the next the pantOmime, which keeps the
stage to-day us peculiar to Christmas
week.
Christmas SuPerstitiOEs.
As to the superstitiOns connected with
the day, have any come down to- US" Do
some still say?
Ever when that season come,
Wherein our SlviOur'S birth Is cclchitri.
The bird OF GiuwnnS sin:eth :ill night lon.,
AMI then no spirit stirs abroad,
The nights are wholesome then no planets
strike:
No fairy talks. nor witch hath power to charm
So h:tilOwcd and SO gracious is the time
In old prints of the Nativity an OK and an
ass are represented rs in the stalls, mcckly
regarding the Virgin and the Child in the
Manager. The tradition was that On ''Old
Christmas Day" all oxen in stall went
down on their knees at midnight. and as
late rs 1860 many country people i'll Eng
| lsnd prcfeSscd to have watched and seen
the oxen get down on their knee; with q
moan like Christian creatures, exactly
as the clock WAS on the stroke of twelve.
| "A Modern English Chrisin,.,s.
Let us come down to the beginning of
our own century and sec how Christ
mas, though the same in spirit, Ii
! changed in manner of Observ-
ance. We go back to u magazine of the
time, where VIC happen to find Just what
VIC want. Says the writer in his graphic
skctch-thc scene is in England, 1t Is
scarcely necessary to say son the north
side OF the church are great many holly
| tire. S. 1t is from these that our dining
and bedrooms are Furnished with bou9hs.
Families here take it by turns to enter
tain their friends. They meet early. Tho
beef and pudding arc noble, and ST. are
the mince pies. The nuts, half paythins;;s;
and half catable; the oranges are cold and
acid, as they ought to DO; the wassall
bowls, generous old English, huge, dc
maus;in., iad'es, threatening overflow al.
they come in, solid with roasted apples
when set down. Towards bedtime you
hear of cider wine, and not seldom of
punch. At the manor house it is pretty
much the same as elsewhorc-girls, al
though ladies, are kissing under The
mistlctoc. If any family among Us
happens to have hit upon al excellent
brewing they send it round about, the
squirc's house included, and he does the
same by the rest. Riddles, hot cookies,
foricits, music, dances, sudden and not to
be suppressed, prevail among great and
! sfIaI!, ard from two o'clock to midnight
the village looks like u deserted place ont
of doors, but is full Of life and mcrri,IcnL
within. We had a discussion rs to what
was the great point ami crowninG glory "i
Christmas. Many w.re for mi,ic; pies,
some for the beef and plum pudding, more
for tic wassall bowl. n maiden lady
timlly said the mistlctoc, but We agreed
u. last that although these w,rt prcdi9iouS
and some of them exclusively heloiI@in. to
the season, the fire was the great in,iis-
pcns:ibe upon which we all turned our
faces t. wards it md began warming our
hands A great blazing fire is TIC visible
heart and soul of Christmas u huge,
hcapcd up, Ocer hcaped up, all aLtractn:.
fire, with a semicirc!c of faces, is rot to hc
denied u.s.
| Christmas in America.
DHt di.tS IL IS Utulcu NS stii'i W Hit HAVE
we in is place? The turkey TO: Otsr crown
! ing blessing 1T this season. Let Us hoil,:
our national bird 1t would be UNI at io;i,;
not to do so. When he came in ,s app:o-
PIRATE especially to the season VIC know
not, but he is a worthy usurper over boar )
head and bcef-a monarch who .cigns by
gastronomr right. After all, however. he
is not tEo cIowning blcssiis of the sea
sou. lie is common to Thanksgiving ard
other days. 1t is not even that most mod
crn of customs breaking in upon the
character of the day and more" hOnorod il
the breach than the observance" ''Christ
mas visits from house to house. No! VIC
get our great JOY of the day, onr mOlcrn
crowning blessing, from abroad. We arc
not children any longer, nor do We know
how to play as children, as cur ancestors
did. For us there arc no more "cakes anal
alc.' We are too big, too wise, too diSni-
fled, too self conscious, too careworn. We
have no children among US over ten years
of age. But to all under that age VIC offer
the Christmas Tree" 1t is easy tn find
out where the custom of y Christmas tree
for the children and of Christmas gifts
comes from. 1t from Germany and Den
mark So late as the time when Colcr:dse
wrote ''The Friend" it was little known
If known at all-in England or
America, for CoIeridee writes i'll lis third
essay of Part ii There is :. Christmas
GUST ON here at Ratzeburg which pleased