Weekly Phoenix herald., 1882-12-22
CHR1sTzAS. .
sketch OF Its Origin and History.

How the heart leaps al tne men
tion of the wo-d as memo'y goe
back to years agone when in child
hoods festal gayelies everyone ha
planted remembrances that can ceas'
but when the weariness of life shall
cover with its lethean wave all joy
and all sorrows of the past, and nper
the sealed mysteries of futuriiy. Or
the eve of such great festivals, it Is
that one seeks some silent 81 o.
where, undisturb-d, he pointers over
the past and once more reTels in its
Joys a child, or drops a secret tear
upon its sorrows- The memories
will come, aud it is well tiIat they
should cone. We have often thoug ii
that such grent festivals Of the
church anil our great national holi-
day mould our morality and patriot
ism more than we know of. Christ
mas. to The mature mind brIDgs its
reflections, to the young its anticipa-
tons. Reflection leaves its cast
upon the mind TO be deepened and
matured at each returning season,
and no man reflects upon the limo
cence of his childhood and the joys
that went with that innocence, now
ever humble they may have been,
without being q better man for the
thought. No man can reflect upon
the patriotism of mis- forefathers,
their devotion to principle, their ter
rible struggle for liberty. aud not be
better citizen and nobler man.
SO the advent of the holiday nov
approaching b.ings with it deeper
joy u no5ler pleasure to the thought
full man or woman than that which
merely hovers over the surface of the
present. The day has lis transient
joys, its permanent uses.
The insti ution of the festival
termed Christmas has been a'tribu-
ted to Telesphorus, who hourished
from 1873 A. D. TO 161 A. D. The
first certain trace CT the festival, how
ever, is found some fifty years later.
S-Aen Christians are found Assem-
bling to celebrate the birth of Christ.
The exact month and day of the
month when this celebration oc-
CURED has varied greatly in past
ages. Some of the churches cele-
brated the day in June and some in
January, some in April and some in
May, though all now center upon
tho 25th day of December, whic
archeologists tell US is pretty GER
tainly not the day upon which Christ
was born. 1t is interesting and Gu
rieus, however, to study the causes
which have led up to the celebration
of the 25th of December as the day
of the nativity. Among the gr-at
ancient heather nations, all of whom
dwelt north of the equator, thes:wi1-
ter solstice or season when the sun
apparently halted in his receding
and turned back tb ths north and to
them was regarded as the most i'm
portant of the year, and was hailed
with great demonstrations Of joy, for
again the period of warmth and p.ea-
fifuI production of the soil once
more began its approach. This fes-
tival was very common among
heather nations, being observed by
the Teutpns, the Sclave the B itons
the Celts, all of whom were then in
. savage condition, and among the
nations bordering upon the Aediter-
rsnean sea, as the Greeks, Romans,
PheAician Egyptians, and others
more highly civilized thaa the ones
first named. The Christian church
being unsettled as to the day OF na-
tiyity and being permeated with the
ancient heathen customs and usages,
hit upon the expediency of introduc-
ing the ceremonies of the celebra-
tion Of the nativity into this season
also, a season which exte1de1 over
. number OF days. In order that
the Christian faith might the more
prominently be bought to the attsn-
tion of the heathens. impo ing crre-
monies and liturgy were devised by
the church to. and which ultimately
did, take precedence cf the heather
ceremonies though some of the an
cicnt heather practices emain in
modified form among s"me nations
to the present duy. Christmas car
OILS, Christmas iramas giving repre-