Arizona republican., 1891-12-20
A SHAKER CHRISTMAS.
HOW THE FESTIVAL IS KEPT BY THESE RELIGIOUS CELlBATES.

The Day Is One of Great Significance to Them and Is Observed with Great Solen,nity-Their Songs, Marches and Shaking-The Christmas Dinner.
 No one probably celebrates the glad Christmas holiday in more peculiar way than do the Shakers, those strange yet industrious celibates who were brought over from England considerably over century ago by the good old "Mother Ann Lee" There are several colonies of these queer people in the United States, and all enjoy the same pleasures, if there can be such thing in their lives, and all believe in the same doctrines. Years ago these honest but misguided people discovered that the Scriptures directed all men and women to live apart They believe that be- cause the Messiah did not marry it is a sin for them to do so, and consequently there is but one love in their lives, and that love of religion.
 The Shakers have manner and style peculiarly their own and worship God in every breath. Believing as they do in the Messiah, they think it duty to celebrate the birth of the Saviour, and their service on Christmas day is most beautiful and impressive.
 The remark "still as a Shaker meet ing" has often been heard, and those who have attended meeting of these devout people know that word is never spoken until the "spirit moves," and so it goes from Sunday to Sunday until Christmas comes, which with them means day of the greatest devotion. The day to them does not bring the joys, pleasures and dissipations of the world, there is no giv- ing of gifts, no belief in St. Nicholas, no Christmas tree and no pleasures, in fact nothing but prayer. No preparations are made for the glad festival,
 The morning before Christmas the cehbates move toward the little church in couples. The men go by themselves and dress in the conventional black, with broad brimmed hats and gaze straight before them. They never smile, for to smile is a sin in their belief. The wom- en follow the men, and wear Shaker bon nets of yellow straw and gray gowns,
 
 white handkerchief covers the chest in primitive simplicity. Quietness reigns throughout the day. never word being spoken. In fact the spirit does not move, and the people stand there for hours like statues. At sundown they go to the dOrmitories and retire.
 Christmas morning they go to the church again and pass the holiday in prayer, song and religious glorifcation. They stand perfectly quiet and mute un- til the spirit moves," when each one gives his or her experience, for on this day above all they delight in testifying to their great and complete happiness. A Shaker church is entirely different .from the "world's peoples" church. h. stead of seats or pews, as are usually seen in churches, there is big open space, and the men and women range themselves on opposite sides of the room. One of the elders makes short address. Then all is quietness. After about half an hour a dozen or so of the younger people, either male or female, or perhaps both, enter the center of the space and begin a solemn march.
 The Shakers sing beautifully and their tunes are remarkably pretty, sprightly and quick in character, and have a won- derfully fascinating air. The rich, deep bass voices harmonize perfectly with the clear, sweet and high tenors and so- pranos. Almost irresistibly the feet and hands of all commence keeping time with rythmical beats. Soon the entire body of Shakers are moving around the singers. As the music increases the men and women circling around be- come so imbued with the beating of the notes that their bodies swing and rock, their feet dance and shuttle, their hands and arms swing and beat the air, all in perfect keeping with the music. This grows more intense until they all drop from sheer fatigue. Quietness again reigns for nearly an hour, when the same performance is gone over, and then over again, until sundown, when all re- pair to the dormitories to enjoy the only meal in the year in each others com pany, for on every other day the men and women eat by themselves.
 The Christmas dinner of the Shakers is not like the Christmas dinner of the worlds people. There are no wines, fruits nor delicacies. They have turkeys, ducks, chickens and plain bread and butter and vegetables of every kind, well cooked and in the greatest abun- dance. The women occupy one side of the table, the men the other. The elder sits at the head and invokes divine bless ing. then each man and woman rises al- ternately and lifting their right hand say, "God is love-" They then begin eating, and during the meal not a word is spoken, each one helping himself or herself to what they desire. They drink an enormous quantity of milk during the meal. At the conclusion of the Christmas dinner all rise and sing. The clear voices of the celibates make the