The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1895-12-26
vX Y HEKEVER Christmas is eel
w ebrated the occasion is invest
" I'd with. more or less of Il re-

Y Y HEKEVER Christmas is eel
w ebrated the occasion is invest
ed with. more or less of Il re-
iiGious character, bat usage and surround
ings have much to do with the festive OBJ
servance of the day. Here, wealth and
fashion have somewhat changed the oc-
casion. People 60 to church less and
give more expensive gifts. Years ago
the day was simple, joyful and pictur-
esque-a time of home-comings, love
makings. pardons and prayers. The
stockings were hung, the children APP
peared with a great hnrIah to find three
or four bright pennies, candies, n few
raisins, a rosy checked apple. 1t was a
children's jubilee, with roast turkey,
mince pics. blind mans buff. and puss in
the corner. The practice of making pres
ents was little known. Farther back our
Puritan forefathers considered all fri
~yolities pagan mummeries, and attempted
to uproot the Oo-lav wish pleasure of the
Yule-tide OF merry Old England.
There. as here, the new order of things
has not banished the children's JOY of
hanging up the stocking. There, too, old
superstitions prevail. The Yule log, the
cellar, barrel, the mistletoe, the lighting
of the Christmas fire, the candles, the
carols are still part of an occasion when
the nobility display splendid munificence.
You still find the plum pudding, the holly,
the snapdragons, the boar's head decor
ated with rosemary. The Canadians are
In harmony with these customs, and at
st. John, New Brunswick, distinctive
features prevail. There is sleigh riding,
hockey on the frozen lakes, and curling
matches. After dinner, sumptuous gifts
are distributed from "a ship, the masts
reaching to the ceiling, thus taking the
place of the Christmas tree. A jolly old
mariner is hailed as EST. Nicholas" and
he unloads his cargo. After a feast, the
older people dance their ~favorite "Sir
Roger" with old-time steps and vigor. In
Peru there is "a great church festival.
Bishops and choristers, gorgeously clad,
bearing tapers. carrying images bedecked
with Jewels. A safe heads the process
sion. and into it the people drop their
offerings.
In some countries Santa Claus is nc
companied by an evil spirit which attends
TO naughty boys and girls. In Germany
and Austria Christ Kindchen" flies down
from heaven with gifts for good children,
while the ~hobsoblin. "Krampus," creeps
uJ 10 tiit btNSluE vi bio ciSo NhN ~
O switch. In Belgium the children fill
their shoes with hay and vegetables for
Santa Claus horse, and in the morning
find presents instead. In Bohemia men
dressed as Santa Claus and the evil spirit,
Itupprecht, go about rewarding good and
furnishing bad juveniles. In Italy and
Spain, Epiphany takes the place OF
Christmas. and in Russia Santa Claus is
the chief saint Of the Greek churches.
In Poland Christmas is the season of
'the little star" They have the little
star tree, little star carols, little star pres
ents. 1t begins after the twelfth night,
January g, with the appearance OF the
first star. Then comes the little star sup
per, the breaking of the wafer. when
wrongs are forgiven, quarrels forgotten.
A hay manger is under the table-a me
poriai token. All the presents are hid
den. and the children search for them,
singing Gregorian chants. A show with
marioncttes follows, a survival Of sacred
drama If the middle ages. In Central
America this same idea is executed by
out-of-door tabhaux, portraying religious
scenes.
Naturally enough, Christmas is the
great fete day at Bethlehem. At mid
night a procession starts with candles,
headed by a patriarch bearing the divine
child in a manger on n silken cushion,
rose-colcred and gold -embroidered, under
which is a straw bed with thorns. lie
proceeds to the spot where Jesus was
born, chanting the story of the nativity,
and places the child on n silver star. All
Bethlehem watches with lighted candles.
concentrating the occasion which mt
that hour is in the minds and hearts of
many millions of Christendom.