St. Landry democrat., 1890-01-04
.RISfMAS IN SONG AND STORY.

Christmas comes but once year" --TnoMA.
/ ser.
lovely old Tusser! Thou must have
med this thought in the soft light OF
Fl Yule log, with the savory doors of the
sristmas feast lingering around thee
ions of Christmas turkeys must have
faced before thee on the hearth, and chill
I'm, playing holiday games under the
site mistleto, have filled thy heart with
lie music of their infectious gIee. Millions
flynn to the Nativity is loftier in strain.
tout it cluster sacred thoughts of Beth
alem in Judea;' but thy line, dear old
tomas, comes first to me at this season
i the year, when good cheer is the spirit
lat rules the world.
lit is much to be regretted that the tue
aigin of our Christmas is somewhat in
lived in obscurity, and that our most
#pular saint-St. Nicholas-can present
with but an imperfect biography. We
IN trace back to the beginning of the fifth
3ntury the Christian observance of the
lily season. Beyond this period all is dark
ID uncertain. The Saturnalis of the Ro-
ANS, with it's heathenish rites and mys-
sries, swayed the masses but the more
telligent wanted something better.
istianfty had already touched the world
t.a.lany places; the story sof Bethlehem
I'D touched the people, and the Church
istituted change. The innovation Uas
bt readily welcomed. There were many
5ho had not become tired of the wild rev
which had grown up in Saturn's honor,
Id while ae church celebrated Christmas
holy manner, the youth of the land
anced on through the giddy mazes of the
aturnalia.
Germany, in great measure, inaugural
4 the change. The Fatherland is the
birthplace cf Santa Claus. He has warm
herman blood in his veins, and German
lectures of him show that he is essentially
'eutonic. Hundreds of years ago comps-
les of German boys, of whom Luther was
robably one, went in merry procession
trough the country villages, just before
christmas, singing:
Wassail. wassail through the tawn,
IF you've any apples, throw them down.
Up with the stocking, down with the shoe!
If you've got no apples, morey will do"
Later on, Christmas crossed the Channel.
anita Claus found ready welcome among
1e homes of England. The half tanned
arons unbarred their castle doors at his
mock, and the peasantry let him know
nat the latchstrins& long been out to
i'm. Then came into use those beautiful
ad touching Christmas carols which have
nriched our language and given to poetry
new charm. Troops of little Saxons
ang merrily, as, indeed, they sing today,
le following refrain:
And all the bells of earth shall ring,
On Christmas Day. on Christmas Day;
And all the souls on earth shall sing
j On Christmas Day, in the morning
Throughout the realm now blazed the
ule-Log, or Christmas Block, and the
.istletoe, khe sacre7 branch Of the Druids,
ung abos the portals of high and low.
t Court4nd in the homes of the titled, an
ficef entitled the 'sLord of Misrule," su-
the revels by royal appoint.
ent. His reign began on All-HalloW Eve
i'd lasted till Candelmas Day. There was
surfeit of feasts and merry making. The
,ar's head was brought in with ELUSIVE
,remony, an apple or orange cleaning
,tween the great white tusks. Some
mes the head was set off with rosemary,
um pudding and mince pies, and, doubt
1t, fanked, too, by the choicest contents
baronial cellars.
Good Sir Walter, who seems to have
Used nothing concerning. the customs of
q English people, sings thus of Yule-
le:
y Heap on more wood, the wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will.
We'll keep our merry Christie as still.
Each age has deemed the new born year
The fittest time for festrl cheer,
And well our Christian sires of old
Loved, when the year its course had rolled,
And brought blithe Christmas back again
with all it's hospitable train,
Domestic and religious rite
Gave honor to the holy night.
ON Christmas, Eve the bells were rung,
On Christmas Eve the mass was sung,
THAT holy night, of all the year,
saw the stoled priest the chalice rear
n WAS early made the custom to ring |
: bells the night before Christmas. We
- them vet in 5ane parts Of our land, |
4 Il, some cAgntl IS the practice is uni |
rsal 40 XII w from what pen fell |
s stanza that folio, 3 this paragraph. |
a Il credited to that volur nous and |
Their misleading authority, "Oid Song"
+ do know that it has music IN every |
y and that it suits the joyous season
Itch il now upon us when we say, with |
nv Tim. .God bless us every one.
a old north breeze, through the skeleton trees
] chanting the ysar out drearily;
! loud let 1t blow, for at home we know
hat the dry logs craekle cheerily,
i the frozen ground is in letters bound,
m nile up the wood, we can burn it;
! christmas has come, and in every home
4 summer our hearts can turn it.
Wassaill Wassail!
res happiness to all, abroad and at home;
Wassail Wassaill
res happiness for Christmas is GOMEZ
Iu;tb t,a mistletoe they used TO twine
holly, and the red berries were added 1!
he IA, other adornments Of the old time
ristmas tree. And right here across the