Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-21

festival of the sa-
cred night. For weeks before the time,
there as here. the air is full of spirit of
secrecy and mystery of hustle and trade,
and the good "hausfrau" is busy COM
pounding jars full of wonderful cakes, that
are warranted to keep for weeks after the
festival
But at o'clock, December o. every
thing is quiet. The shops of every kind
and description are promptly closed, and
although in ones Christmas cares one may
have forgotten to purchase such trifes as
butter and eggs, not even for gain from
your necessity will the shutters be taken
down. For this is the night when in all
the homes of the land is celebrated the
advent of the Savior, who came babe
into an humble human home, making baby
hood blessed for all ages.
Even the poorest home has it's Christmas
tree. Looking in at the window of room
where a whole family lived one sees a
tiny tree, perhaps only a foot high, but
decorated with few candles and bit of
tirsel, and around 1t the children were
gathered to receive a few cakes only, hap
by in Christmas. though it brought them
chiefly sentimental joys.
1t is a family gathering time, but they
gather at the tree. not the table. In the
middle of the well-lighted room, towering
toward the ceiling, stands the "Weih-
nachts baum" or Christmas tree. an OBJ
Jece OF beauty, glittefing with tinsel, bright
with many-colored glass ornaments and
luminous with candles. 1t bears no bur-
deIs. but on table at the side of the
rcom are heaped the tempting packages.
Lresently the good mother throws open
the doors. and the children and others are
admitted. Their first gaze of rapturous
wonderment satisfied, the children form a
circle around the tree and sing melodiously
the Christmas hymn, 20 du Heilige, o du
seitge." A translation of the first stanza
runs this:
%: thou holy day: o, thou blessed day;
Mercy-brnging sweet Christmas time!
The world lay forlorn
When the Christ was born.
Rejoice, o, ye Christmas of every climer'
Then having recognized the divine origin
or the day. its human side is noticed. No
one Is overlooked in the distribution of
gifts The servants are called in to re-
custom prescribes that every maid servant
shall receive dress for Christmas Its
qhality depends on the purse of the donor
Only at this hour of all the year does
childhood reign In Germany.
FenstinE and Visiting
The next day the family attend the
church service at am, and then the day
Is occupied with feasting and visiting The
18th is also holiday-the stores are still
celebration at the church occurs There is
a regular program for this occasion, and it
is only changed when the printed programs
have been worn out with long usage and
new ones must be printed. The people
seem to have none of our Athenian-like
curiosity to hear some new thing, besides
1t Is more economical plan. The gifts to
the children are packages of Nuremberg
Lebkuchen, a sort of honey spice cake for
which Nuremberg has long been famous.
Ian l fnr tl,A NI,,,t
Is Frahliche Weihnaeht," merry Christ
mas, and the beaming countenances and
hearty handShakeS that accompany it
make even the saddest and sourest glad for
moment. All through the week the spirit
of Christmas fingers: all the week the chill
dren play with their toys; and at the end of
the holidays the children return to school
and the toys go into the garnet to rest I'M
I'll the next holiday season. This is the rea-
son why one can see in the Nuremberg Ma
tonal Museum dolls and their houses 300
years Old in state of perfect preserva-
ton; in all that time they have only had
six whole years of careful usage!
These are but skeleton outlines of Ger
man Christmas, it is impossible to fix in
cold type the universal spirit of peace and
goodwill, of friendiiness and kindness, ard
the manifest desire to make 1t for every
one season of joy to the world. Yet these
are the browning claims of the festival
there, where hearts are aglow II any one
has become hard-hearted through loneli-
VI
of life, SO that Christmas to him means
only an outlay Of money, a day whose ad-
vent Is dreaded-let him spend the season
anywhere in Germany, holding himself re-
drop from his eyes. his heart be unnamed,
and the spirit of little child-the hest
boon of lfe-be his again.
The Day in Naples.
Down about the ankle Of the geographic
al boot which Italy dips into the Mediter-
ranean sea in the beautiful city whose
proverbial praise is "see Naples and die
is the spot where we shall next see Christ
mas celebrated, I'll Natalie" the Nativity.
as they call 1t here. There is a marked
difference between the two celebra tions
for whereas in Germany the festival re-
wolves around the home, among the people
OF the delicious south the observance is
more public, and one must be on the streets
to it all.
Why not? The street is their life. The
children are dressed and nursed and chas-
tised on the streets, the people sew and
visit and eat their maccaroni outside their
doors; why not stay out of doors at Christ
mas and let their joy be persuasive and
contagious? Besides, yonder in the Via
Roma or Toledo there is being held the
great fair. and so on Christmas Eve we
find ourselves jostling with the good-na-
tured crowd on the narrow pavement
1t Is street so narrow that only two
carriages can drive abreast and the DO
ncemen must De V1g1lant indeed to keep one
line moving up and one down. Carriage
hire is cheap in Naples, and on this occa-
sion every family who can rake together a
few soldier cents-is driving 1t doesn't
seem 10 interfere with their pleasure be-
cause they ride six or seven in a small
victoria, and there is no society for the
prevention of cruelty of animals" to pre-
vent overcrowding. The plucky little horses
are adorned with three cocks feathers on
the left side of the head. The carriages of
nj hai nI,or ~
getting in line with these hacks. The sides
of the street are lined with booths, some
Ike small theaters. with dancing marion
cites; others like tents brilliantly decorated
with tinsel and gilt. and their lanterns and
torches make living pictures of the crowd.
The people at the booths are shouting and
beating drums and blowing horns to call
attention to their wares, and the people on
the narrow pavement are laughing and
joking as they are pressed to the wall by
the carriages Pandemonium is let loose,
but good nature reigns.
At the Street Booths.
But such wares. all the fancy bazaar
jumbles and worlds fair combinat ions
pale before it, for only in Naples could one
find such an ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, Won
drous-colored shells, sprays of coral, cam
eos and tortoise shell from the bay: lava
r;ol,a