Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1885-12-24
THE CHIEF FESTIVAL.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED YEARS
OLD;
Peculiar Character Of tho Christmas Re-
joicings- Origin and History Of Its OBJ
servance---The Day in Rome, Among
the Norsemen, In England,
France, and Amcrica-who
is. st. Nicholas?--Christ-
mas CaroIs-The Du-
ties Of tho Day.

mas CaroIs-The Du-
ties Of tho Day.
Christmas has no peer, nor ever can
have. 1t is the sweetest, tenderest, bless
eldest Of days; the holiest of holidays.
God renewed his fellowship with man
once for all time, and the melody that
filled the heavens on that first Christmas
morning will never be reawakened by any
event of equal or similar sublimity 1t
has no dispute with Easter, for Our Lord
born claims deeper alteration than Our
Lord risen; the Judean stable, when Mary
knew mothers joys without mothers
pangs, is dearer to us than the sad sepul-
chre whose portal she bathed with her
tears; and as the broader meaning of the
Nativity enters the general mind quicker
or the general heart deeper than the lesson
Of the Resurrection, so the former has
had a wider popular observance as fes-
tival 1t quite overrides the limitations
that hedge in otfer feasts. 1t is loved of
one sect as of another, AID is as much at
home among the box-pews of quaint old
country meeting houses as in the citys
Gothic church, with its liturgies and
pomps; moreover, and most glorious of
all, it is not so much a church as a home
festival. Its roots lie deep in human
hearts and feed on generous impulses
that honor it with no languid compliance,
but with spontaneous joy. 1t is the peo-
pies day; and they make it one of in
comparable heartiness, where good red
blood asserts itself, and good living exalts
the body, good deeds the soul, while game
and rout and revcl take precedence of
formal rite. Easter claims the measured
intonaton of the stoled, white banded
priest; the careful melody Of the trained
boy choir; palpit loaded with rare ex
otics of forced growth; pews splendid
with elaborate millinery and costly silks
the empty, artificial form of giving, al
represented in the easter egg" fillet
with bon .bons or fine Jewels, a presen
from the rich-to the rich; aad spiri
that comes and goes like the tickle sun
shine Of an Easter Sunday. Christmas day
priest rector and parson cat fat turkey
and drink goodwines at a crowded board
their own, or some large-hearted parish
toner's; glad Christmas carols are gleeful
ly sung in all the dialectsof every Ian
guage spoken by Christian people; from
innumcrable windows the cherry green O
holly, and ivy, and mistietoe tells OF warn
hearts within; the love Of the Lord de
y sscends ppor, -1c,b,iless. cheerful givers
who give by bagfdls, or basketfuls, will
open handed charity, where every gift il
blessing and wins poor mans bene
diction for the giver; ard the spirit of th
day is like a winter fire that grows b,
what it feeds on, warns everything tina
LIT touches, and is constantly renewed
Nor are the devotional duties of the oc
casion overlooked or slighted. There /
no service more tenderly solemn, non
more reverent, none more ineffably rest
full, peaceful and holy than the service o
Christmas morning, whsn Gods "un
speakablc gift and mans acceptanc
form the theme of contemplation.
, But Christmas tide takes its chief glor
| from the wealth of social observance tha
; mark 1t as season of exceeding JOY an
: unlimited good cheer. For the "old, oil
very old, gray bearded gentleman calle
Christmas" says An Hue and Cry AJftc
Christmas, had singing. feasts, and jo
little in all places, both in cite and cour
trie for his coming" The record c
Christmas keeping is wide one, and we
: filed. Tradition--Time's spoken lal
! guage-has kept loving account whel
). history is scant or silent. Indeed, it hi
so loved the theme, and has OCCASIONAL
: played such pranks with it, that the pre-
}. ent student Of Christmas customs wal
y ders ID delightful maze of myth and Fl
= BILE and allegory, till all earth seems "or
g merry Christmas fairy-land, where ii
}. dear sweet Lord himself is Christkint
u Chriskinkle, and Krinkel, and San
i Claus" Leland thus pleasantly undo,
IS the little genealogical knot tied in Il
h Middle Ages by children who had IL
e Gothic love Of myths in their souls, ar
IS whose later work was Gothic art and a
& chitecture. The mythology of diml
y distant ages furnished the suggestion al
IS framework Of our Christmas rites al
n medieval fun, fancy, and sentiment v
talized and extended the observance.
which had else perished, for Latin Chri
tianity, its earliest seat, would have let
+ die Of starvation and neglect. The Romi
7, Saturnala and Bacchanalia, born Of u
% worship OF Saturn and the Wine.god
= the Golden Age, marked the season of II
. Winter solstice with wild rcvelry. III
!, pausing of the sun in his southwa
II course and his proximatc return to disp
T. the chill and gloom called for rejoicin
and these festivals were distinguished
"a boisterous merriment and extraordina
Y license, prolonged through many day
No war could be declared or prosecute
~ in this time; no criminal was execute
W master and slave were equals, or the forl
er served the latter; foes forgot tht
auarrels and friends fcasted and drul
together. Thus the birth of Christ fell
"a a time already notable for Pagan obseI
ne anccs. When the Christian fathers soug
No o century or two later, to commemori
NJ the Nativity, they found it difficult to |
70 of holiday that could hold Its o,
~ ~ against the licentious public festiv
"a IA These pious men abhorred the idolatro
~ pagan high jinks as the devil does ht
nc water, but they were keen rs well
or pious, and instituting feasts in honor
y, certain convenient saints and martyrs.
hu whom the supply was inexhaustiblt
eide anybody's Nres Of the Sdints,) Il
deftly Incorporated Herewith such p
IN; tions of the established ceremonies
suited their purpose The plan work
TO perfection, for the Christian feast
nj sorbed all the vitality Of the other
= pagan torch ilickcred and went out, to
he relighted as a Christmas candle, heatl
dcities became saints OF the new rcligi
Saturn was transformed into 81. Pet
the Pantheon into Romish Church, {
idolatrous Rome into Papal city.
ou The Roman priests were not alone
lot this experience. The Christian
N ~ 4 ~ a..