Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-27
ENGLISH CHRISTMAS.
Observing the Day of the Nativity in
the Tight Little Island.
THE YULE-L0G AND THE TREE.
Charms Of the Home Circle Entertainments
Over in Ireland.
THE CUSTOMS IN BONNIE SCOTLAND

| loving one, even In the lrlSn Wlntel, anu
the blessed hold that Christmas time has
taken upon the universal Christian world
heart, blended with that marvellous COM
pensative power of utilizing the most
trifing possibilities for human joy which
| the Irish nature possesses, permits and pro-
vides a quality of Christmas time cheer
which is often surprising to those whose
lives are measurably filled with bounteous-
| ness and content.
! Of the Irish Christmastide itself there is
| little in the life and customs of the great
ard powerful, better than an echo of En-
glish Christmas cheer. At the country
manor houses and castles there are the same
feasting and aims giving as in England. In
! the cities throngs surge and crowd with ella
| tion and despair in their faces as with us.
| But nowhere else on the earth does Christ
mas time bring such shuddering, pallid,
piteous poverty to stand, stare and hunger
| for the glories of home windows open, or
the wonders of shop windows ablaze with
what these desperately forsaken humans
have never owned or known.
Not Observed in the Sacred Sense.
While there is undoubtedly an almost
| universal reverence for the more sacred side
| of the Christmastide-and I truly know
| that at least the Irish peasantry have an
| innate reverence for all that is sacred and
| good Christmas is not generally observed
in its high and holy sense in Ireland. 1t is
time for much that is tender and worthy,
but also one for deplorable excess. In decor
alton the ivy and holly are everywhere seen
and procurable, and tiny sprig of mistle-
toe conspicuously appears in all the homes
of the more favored classes. Rich or poor,
Catholic or Protestant, every family will
possess "Christmas block of ash, which
is the favorite, or of ''bog DEAL found in
the Irish peat banks or bogs. This is to Ire
land as the yule log to England, and it burns
brightly for the home coming of every heart
the home may own.
Passing Christmas at home is sentiment
and determination more impressive and un-
varying, save with the Irish nobility. than
IN any other land 1 know. And on Christ
mas eve itself there cannot be found among
the lowly classes human soul not lost
one, that is not there or sometime there
within the glow and warmth. With the
humber villagers everywhere, and always
with the peasantry of the south and west,
the ''Christmas mold" or huge, long can
die, weighing from one to two pounds, If its
price needs be begged or stolen, is an in
valuable requisite for Christmas eve. 1t
will simply irrevocably be had.
Hospitality That Is Unbounded.
The bog deal block is fired; the doors are
flung wide open for friend, mendicant or
enemy to enter with cead mile failte "a
thousand times welcome);, the mammoth
candle is lighted to burn out, but never be
extinguished; and while there is constant
going and coming, it is softly done, as if the
Nativity were still universal presence.
There is always circle of eager faces about
the fireplace, where strange, weird, ever
old and ever new tales, abounding in re-
-]igious sentiment, are told, while the half
lights dance fairylike among the blacAened,
oenturv-old thatch rafters above. To mid
night mass nearly all repair; then the tea
breakfast" is had; those who have saved
enough brew great bowls of punch; those
who have not get along quite as well upon
the stirring poteen, and as the day comes In
Irish registering with all its llberailty be-
gins.
But Christmas time in Ireland Is one of
unspeaksble loss to the bird family of tiny
wrens. This tragedy Sf the wren should
have luminous place in literature. Half
million of Irish children with kippens and
clubs are beating about the hedges for vic
Tins Sacredly protected during every
other day of the year, the wren is now
sought with terocious yelling of
Come huntin' the wren, says Robin to Bob
bin;
Come hunttn' the wren. says Richard to
Robin;
Come huntin' the wren, says Jack Tilaone;
Come huntin' the wren, says every one!
The Custom OF Hunting the Wren.
The wren is hunted, for, according to the
superstition, it must be found; its mangled
little body is beribboned and dangled in a
rush-cage, or hung from holly branch; and
with this strange hint to alms-giving sway
ing aloft, hordes Of youngsters shrieking-
We hunted the wren through frost and
We hunted the wren seven miles or more:
We knocked him down and he could not |
And we brought him home in holly treei
crowd the streets in Irish Christmas DAYS
when the night comes hold such wakes |
over the dead wrens as only a master |
could paint or describe. The origin of this |
strange custom cannot be found. 1t is lost |
even in the rare and fecund birth spot for so
much that gives Ireland surprising interest
that wild, weird, whimsical, loveable
phantasy called 'Irish tradition"
The genuine Christmas-tide which the
people of England and America know, and
all Catholic countries has scarcely been
know in Scotland since the domination OF
the Presbyterian Church in .the land O.
cakes. The clergy have ever been inde-
fatirable in their efforts to stamp out any
manner of celebration of the Nativity; and
there was time, happily long past, when
ministers visited every house in their
parishes to detect if possible any tsuper-
stitious" Christmas observance on the part
of the people.
Scarcely Observed at All in Scotland.
Even to this day any sacred and rever-
ential observance of Christmas in Scotland
is made by Episcopalian families and among
the highlanders and islanders, who still re-
tain strong affinities with that ancient re-
ligion for whose establishment so many of
their ancestors lost their lives. In cities
like Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and Aber-
deem, the day is observed by the whole
people as mere holiday; an occasion for
license and enjoyment of the more bolster
Gus kind; although of late years there is a
marked tendency to eventually adopt some
of the immemorial customs OF the English
Christmas.
The Scotch as people therefore gener-
alIy observe the last day Of the old and the
first day of the new year with much festiy-
ity. Having no religious significance, this
festivity until late years reached pretty
closely to frantic merriment and license;
and while the poetical literature Of Scotland
is as bare of Christmas references as that of
England is rich and sweet, it is full of
quaint old rhymes upon New Years time,
customs and cheer.
In many portions of Scotland, in defer
ence to the march of modern ideas. and par
ticlarly significant of the gradual encroach-
ment of English thought and feeling, these