The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-01-04

' L VIE vi Wedbu6T anu uO SlolS uiuS
i this time of year is certainly a
surprising fact to the inhabitants of
our capital, and they can hardly re-
alize that Christmas is SO close at
hand. Christmas in our country is
considered a great holiday, and not
even the unpleasant winds are able
to keep our people from crowding the
streets, stores and principally the
great markets, for which our Northern
Palmyra is quite famous. These are
certainly most interesting places to
visit before Christmas and Easter.
st. Petersburg, situated as it is on
marshes and swamps, does not pro-
duce anything edible, but lives en-
tirely on the surrounding villages,
which, before the holidays, send their
productions to our markets. 1t is
hard to realize that this quantity of
frozen meat will barely suffice to feed
the hungry mouths of the common
classes through one week. Frozen
provisions are never bought by the
wealthy, but the working people, who
never touch meat during the many
weeks of Lent which precede Easter
and Christmas, are quite ready to
spend the last copper they possess in
buying these good things, without
which according to their belief,
Christmas would not be Christmas,
and Easter would not be Easter. If
we had less holidays in the year I
believe our people would be better off;
but how can they be saving if they
have "to eat and drink and make
merry" the greater part of the year?
A Children's Holiday.
Christmas here, as in all other
Christian countries, is the holiday of
the children, who have three weeks
vacation, and the Christmas tree is
the great feature of it. AS rule the
Christmas tree is lighted on the eve
of the holiday, which, like all our
holidays, counts from the last sunset.
On the eve the little lamps before
the image which decorates every
room, store, restaurant, ETC., is lighted,
and the orthodox people never omit
going to the evening service. Con-
trsry to other churches, the Greek
Catholic church looks upon the hol-
iday which celebrates the birth of
Christ as inferior to the holiday which
celebrates his resurrection, and the
Christmas service at our church only
differs from the Sunday service by a
procession of priests, who, carrying
images and banners, go three times
around the aisles of the church. In
Easter the Russians celebrate not
only the Resurrection of Christ, but
also the awakening of nature after a
six months sleep, and they regard it
as the greatest holiday in the year.
Some weeks before Easter the
streets of the cities assume differ
ent aspect. Everywhere there is life
and movement, and the crowds OF
common people that gather before
the bazaars and in the market places
show that all are anxious to get their
shopping done before they make
their devotions, which is usually a
week before Easter. Those who have
been so fortunate as to visit the
"Palm Market" in st. Petersburg or
Moscow two weeks before Easter
have witnessed sight not easily for
gotten.
Before the long line of stores that
compose the "Gostinoi Dwor," the
great colonnaded bazaar of our cap
ital, whole forest of willow branches
(the Greek Church uses the willow
to celebrate the festival of Palms as
the Roman Catholic uses the "Arbor
vitae'') is piled up, for every man,
woman and child takes one branch
of willow to decorate his room. Driv-
ing in this place is prohibited for a
week, and the numberless booths and
stalls that fill up the entire street
offer cheap articles and candy of the
most varied kinds to those who can
not afford to spend much and would
hardly believe it to be Easter if they
could not offer triAing present tc
their friends or have something sweet
on their Easter table.
During the six weeks of Lent, the
common people, who are very obser,
want of the rules of their church, have
lived mostly on rye bread, potatoes
cucumbers and weak tea, and are
longing for Easter and Christmas tc
make up for lost time.
The stomach that has been deprived
of any nourishing food for six weeks
can hardly stand the amount of indi
gestible things that it is likely tc
receive ON Easter and Christmas
Statistics furnish the proof that a