The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1897-12-25

to the exact date of the birth of Christ.
The 25th of December was not liked until
about 500 years after that event, and the
impossibility of determining accurately
by tradition Il date 500 years before will
easily he appreciated. The festival itself
was observed, it is said, as early as the
end of the first century, but with no
agreement as to the date; in some places
the feast occurring as early as the 21st
of December, and in others as late as the
middle of January. The efforts of the
Christian preachers and teachers finally
succeeded in supplanting the Saturnalia
with the Christmas r~ejoicings. The tree
around which the people had danced was
converted into a Christmas tree: the bon
fires which the rabb!e had lighted, and
which the priests had adored as symbols
of the devouring element, were made to
throw their cheerful light in honor of the
Child of Bethlehem; the decorations
which were hung upon the branches of
the oak took the form of crosses and
crowns and globes of bright metal.
Long after the Christian era began, the
yule tree, or yule log, remained an insti-
tuition among the Germanic tribes. AS
already stated, the midwinter tree was
burned at the conclusion of the festival,
and Il trace of this ceremony Is still seen
in the yule log, which. in country districts
of England, is dragged in by half a dozen
sturdy yokels and thrown back of the
hearth to furnish a basis for the winters
fire. The ashes and charred Goals Of the
midwinter tree were formerly gathered
to use in ~incantations, being deemed 10
possess supernatural qualities, and even
in this century bits of charcoal from the
yule log are treasured by English coun-
try girls and boys on account of some
superstitious fancies connected with these
bits of sacred wood. Even the songs Of
the Saturnalia, in u modified form, lave
come down to the present day.
The midwinter tree, modified from its
pa gan uses, became the Christmas tree,
and even in its ornaments and decOra-
tions may be found a symbolism not so
deeply hidden that it N be easily de-
tected. The linked chains of gilt paper
were once so many emblems of eternity;
the glass globes and gilded balls were
emblems of the sun and moon; the little
rake images were once figures of the
saints: more anciently still were little
idols fashioned of wheaton dough and
baked hard in an oven; the tiny candles,
without which no Christmas tree could be
a Christmas tree, are II Renaissance of
the days when every sun and fire wor-
shipper carried with him to the great an
nual festival his torch or candle, and
when the sacred fire was lighted, in the
round tower or on the altar of the Druids,
the light was passed from torch to torch
until the entire circle was ablaZe. In
court, in camp and in ~cloister in Ger
many, France and Italy the Christmas
tree was an institution for hundreds upon
hundreds of years.
The tree most commonly used in En-
gland is the holly or holy tree, so called
because, producing its berries toward the
Christmas season and remaining green
throughout the winter, it is, in popular
superstition, associated with the greatest
of Christmas festivals.
The first Christmas tree in America
was decorated and lighted up in New
Amsterdam when Manhattan Island was
Il colony of the Dutch. The honest Dutch
men, even in the New World, could not
forget the pleasant associations connect
ed with the season, and it is recorded
that on the first Christmas passed by the
Dutch c~olonists on this side the Atlantic
they cut down u CEDAR, took it into the
church. and, with such means as were at
hand, decorated and lighted it, hanging
upon its branches presents from the Gov
ernor and his lady to every member of
the colony. The tree was never in favor
among the Puritans of New England,
however, until after the beginning of the
present century. They imagined that in
some way not very clear to their own
minds it savored of papacy, and that for
them was enough to cause its rejection.
As has been said, the Christmas tree
is the representation Of many hands, and
often, too, of the products of many lands.
The tree is cut down by the ak of the
farmer and forwarded to market by the
monopolists who control the railway uaf-
fc of the country. The cut and gilt
paper with which it is decorated formerly