Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-12-24
Dtauntotl Speftator.
WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER "a. 1880.
Christmas and Santa Claus.

Christmas and Santa Claus.
This great festival in commemoration OF
the birth of tho Saviour will be celebrated
tomorrow throughout all christian lands in
all parts of the earth. It is not usually
celebrated in the manner it should be. 1t
should be observed in a christian manner,
with decency and order, and in consistence
with the event it commentaries, and not
with horrid noises and Bacchanalian revel-
ries. We hope it will be appropriately
celebrated, and that it will be an occasion
of pure enjoyment and exquisite delight,
particularly to the young who have been
anticipating the arrival of Christmas and
the visit and presents of good old Santa
Claus with such eager anxiety. We hope
he will not fail to arrive on time, and that
he will dispense his benefactions with
liberal hand, and not overlook any child
who has been expecting to be recipient of
his generous bounty. The term Christmas
is derived from the Latin word Christi
Masse, the mass of Christ. The feast was
instituted by Pope Telephorus, who died
A. D. 1873. At first the day was often
COMPOUNDED with the Epiphany, and cele-
brated by the Eastern churches in the
months of April and May. In the fourth
century there was formal investigation,
which resulted in fixing as the appropriate
day the 25th of December. Although this
day was not deemed by some of the fathers
as conclusively authenticated by the proofs
upon which the decision was made, it was
uniformly adopted throughout the Church,
and has continued from that time to be the
day of the solemnities and festivities. The
day has always been regarded in that two
fold character of holy commemoration of
the birth of our Blessed Lord, and at the
same time as festivity of relaxation from
labor and care, of merriment and joy. In
the middle ages the day was celebrated by
the gay, fantastic dramatic spectacles of
that period, the scenery representing an
infant attended by the Virgin Mary, st.
Joseph, the wise men, and surrounded by
cherubs, bulls heads, and other grotesque
decorations.
1t is the tradition that Christ was born
about the middle of the night, and the
Catholic custom of ushering in the day
with the celebration of three masses-one
at midnight, second at early dawn, and
another in the morning originated in the
sixth century. In former times the cele-
bration of Christmas began in the latter
part of the previous day-'Christmas
Eve." The house was first decked with
holly, ivy, and other evergreens, and il
Illuminated with candles of an uncommon
size, called Christmas candles. The custom
of singing carols, recalling the song of the
shepherds at the birth of Christ, arose
when the common people ceased to under
stand Latin. In these songs the clergy,
high and low, parents and children, joined,
combining In the meriment the strains of
the organ, tambour, guitar, and violin,
each participant, if in the night, bearing in
the hand torch. The yule-log or Christ
people sat around RECALLING themselves
with beer. In the course of the night
small parties went about from house to
house chatting simply popular ditties, full
of joyful allusion to the Redeemer; and it
is still the custom, during the last days
preceding Christmas, for the Calabrian
minstrels to descend from the mountains
to Rome, salutipg the shrines of the Virgin
Mother with their wild songs, under the
poetlcal notion of che ering her until the
birth.time SO near. Raphael, in allusion to
this custom, introduced into his picture of
"The Nativity" a shepherd playing on a
sort of bag-pipe. Throughout England
and the Continent, and in some parts Of
this country, the bells at midnight are rung
to usher in the day.
Santa Claus, whose traditional budget of
all good things, his journey through the air
and descent down all the chimneyp, are the
visions of early childhood, which follow us
into manhood and age, is st. Nicholas, one
of the most popular saints Of Catholic
Europe, being invoked as the patron Of
sailors, travellers, captives, and the guardian
of unmarried girls and children. The
Dutch call him Santa Claus, and from
them we take the name.
The earliest legend of his appearance is
derived from the Italians. Giraldi, a
shoemaker of Ferrars, was very poor, and
could not give his three pretty daughters
even the smallest dowry and thus, though
each had an admirer, they were left I'M
married. The father prayed to his patron
Saint, st. Nicholas, that he would inter-
pose with miracle. A neighbor, rich
merchant, one day overhearing his simple
petition ridculed the idea that st. Nicholas
would thus interpose for his daughters, and
told him that his Saint was Buonajuta the
Jew who lent money at two per cent. a
month. "He is not so deaf as st.
Nicholas" the merchant added, sand if
you know how to manage you can make
four per cent" The poor shoemaker.
however, maintained his integrity, and
daily prayed. Christmas meanwhile came,
and the Jew, finding balance of three
hundred ducats on the yearly account due
the merchant, thought to make him a sur
prise In sending him fattened and roasted
duck with the three hundred gold pieces
sewed up in the body. The merchants
wife. however, sharing in the prevailing
prejudices against the Jews, refused to re-
ceive present from one of the race. The
merchant therefore sold the duck for q
dollar to the poor, praying shoemaker, who
took it home for his Christmas dinner, and
when, on opening the fowl with the carver,
the gold fell out, his exclamation was,
s'Praise to St. Nicholas !" and divided the
cum between bis tgo eldest daughters
The merchant discovering the result of the
experiment of sewing up gold in the carcas
of a duck, brought an action against
Giraldi, but the magistrate, devoted man,
on hearing the case, and learning how the
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