Telegram-herald., 1889-12-17
g - Is NosnAY.



mas festival is observed. and among ths
s1sstes and Norwegi2ns IL tbs eounrry
--semtzbIe sons q Thor, - nst.y II them
SEEN u BE in their rugged vrlhty and
usalsel - strength-the Christmas tide IS
hardly less . celebration II the death 4
B4lI4r. tie soI of hight or tie light 4
lie world. than Il TIE birtA of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
They borrow the significance q the
feast Il the winter solstioe, IA other
words. from = myth that IN poetic senti-
ment shadows forth s meaning al least
suggestive and typical OF tie story q
The nativity and Ia many OF the Nor
eegiAn and Swedish homes Ia our Own
northwestern states the games and Gus
toms with ~ hich the holiday festival Is
enriched come directly from the customs
Of the N0Tsemen Ia New York city this
is hardly true. Like the citizens Of other
foreign origin, they have their distinct
lively national churches and societies,
and IN these associations the older Gus
toms are sul preserved in modified
form, bat there Is less each year Of the
picturesque home life and northern man
ners among them. ! found less dis
tlnCtlvo scandinavian celebration last
year than seems possible among 50 intel
hgent and earnest a people, and the most
characteristic Of all the festivals among
them last Christmas is the one in the
little Scandinavian church in William
street, South Brooklyn.
II seems "a pity that this is so, for Of
the many poems Of the worlds religions
that are founded on the dying Of the year
that Of Baldur seems the QuaIntest and
most beautiful. He was the son of Thor
and OF Frigga, and resembled Apollo in
his attributes of light and beauty. When
light and the warmth and brightness Of
tie northern summer came 70 die on the
Eve Of the shortest day in the year, Bal
dur was slain. He had been troubled by
horrid dreams and premonitions of evil
which he and the other gods failed to in
terpret, and Frigga, determined TO pro-
tect him, if possible, exacted an oath
from everything in earth and heaven and
he'll that they would none of them harm
Baldur. Only from the mistletoe she did
not exact the oath.
The Asa Loki, who was the god Of
darkness and evil, and who hated Baldur,
inquired about this, and Frigga told him
what she had done. Only from the
mistletoe had she taken no pledge, be-
cause it was, she said, so young and so
little that it had not seemed worth while.
Baldur. like Achilles, had been made in
vulnerable by his mothers tender care,
and it came to be one of the favorite
sports in the games of the gods for him
TO stand up and receive unharmed the
assaults of all the weapons of the other
asas, or gods. I0ki travelled away TO the
south country, and, gathering the mistle-
toe, he fashioned a spear whose head was
made of the wood of the despised para
site. This he took with him TO the
winter festival of the gods, and when
Baldur stood up, Loki asked Asa Hod.
the blind god, why he did not cast a
spear at the sun god. Hod replied that
he could not, because he was blind. and
Loki told him that he would direct the
spear. He did so, Hod hurled it, and
Baldur was slain.
Ever afterward, at the feast of the
winter solstice, the mistletoe was among
the NOrsemen an emblem of the myth,
and not merely bit of meaningless dec
Grafton. When Christianity made its
way northward, the priests among the
Germans and ScandinaviaIs forbade the
Introduction Of the mistletoe into the
churches, but the prohibition was not
long effective, and today it Is connected
with Christmas games, though less
among the Scandinayians than further
south, where it grows most.
But how should the commemoration
Of Baldurs death become blended with
the celebration Of Christmasy' l asked
Of n venerable Scand, who has studied
the traditions IF his own and other races
long and earnestly.
Because he answered, "the two are
one. | do not mean that Baldur and
Christ are one. though some Christian
writers have tried 70 show that Baldur
was merely the northern heathen's dream
Of the Messiah. ! mean that their death
and birth are ccommemQratedi IN these win
ter feasts which have been celebrated BY
all nations and all religions at about the
time of the winter solstice The Phoe-
n.ciaus, the Kolts. the Skands. the Hin
docs, the Greeks and Romans. the Jews.
the 5iohammedaEs and the Christians
have alike taken that season for their
most Important feast. Among the Dru-
ids was the oak ceremonial. which led to
. 4 d. lr-
-ri-m traces these back to the Twelfth
century in Germany. TIE Hindoo feast
70 I-5sami Is celebrated with charity 10
very human being. The Romans and
.gco o..s observed their satuTnaha by Civ
.as tAeir slaves temporary freedom and
license.
"Oa-erve that these are al celebrated
sf,er ,ne husbandman's labor for the
eear b closed ana tbe year itself dies
lIIe Rev. Dr. Jennings. in Dis work on
jeS.sl antiquities. says it is a vulgar
eial.n merely that Christ was born on
Dec - Iae feast Is held then. simply
because B. IS The world = time for feast
Among our own people King Hakon the
+ooi tie foster son of King Ethelstan.
II EncIard. tried. in the Tenth century.
.o abolish the sac1fcid feasts wiki
ne hrnorei Baldur. AMI 70 sub
Christmas celebration. Re
ai.el- vas col petIed 20 take part
"a tle 80 heather rt-s bmsef. but b
FAi prevailed after ~ bad passed away
a..e aea ceen cattle. swine and horses
and o~caeio1aIir human lives.
ct cou-se. is 10 longer tha r1s
a FAIEs CURTIS.
>a -rnra IS s~.rsrad to p tr-rr