The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-12-05
CHRISTMAS.

The happy season Of Christmas is once
more close upon us. destined 20 bring JOY
fulness and mirth TO millions of helrts
but bitter sadness and a sense Of utter
loneliness to the fortorn. Heaven pity
those who at this festive period have no
smiling faces Of dear ones at their board.
or. worse sun, possess neither home nor
means nor friends When most families
Hre annlally gathered together ia loving
communion, it is meet tha, the common
sympa-hies OF humanity should be most
strongly stirred on behalf Of the wretched
and the outcast
1t is unquestiOnable that our Christmas
festival is OF pagan origin; that it is the
survival OF sun wo-shlp-one form Of that
great and universal phallic creed which
would seem to be as old and as ubiquitous
as mankind. Who can say for how many
thousands or scores OF thousands OF
years the souls of men were moved to
hope and Joy by tine return OF the sun TO
vivify and bless the earth? The end Of
the winter solstice was period of ex-
pectancy and promise, celebrated by joy
fd feasting. curious customs. and appro-
pirate worship. and the FIRST day Of every
week was dedicated by our Anglo-Saxon
ancestors to the solar day. Christianity
Appropriated the pagan festivals 20 its
own cult with as few innovations as pos
sible, so as not to shock too rudely the
conservative susceptibilitfes Of its con-
verts. And thus the time Of year OF
the universal Saturnana was fixed upon
as the precise period Of the birth Of Christ
the spiritual sun, "the sun OF righteous
ness mhO was to bring gladness and
healing beneath his wings. The scrip
tural phrase is a plain allusion to the
solar serpent worship which prevailed
in Syria, as in this country and through
out the world. An ancient hierogram Of
its divinity was circle, egg. or sun, with
hovering wings.
The Yuie clog or log vas emblematc
Of the same sacred fire. The suns name
in Welsh was haul; in Breton, heol. The
Anglo-Saxon name for Christmas was
geOi or iule; Danish and Swedish, jul;
Iceandic, iol or jol; and English, Yule.
Thus Yule plainly mant the festival Of
the sun. A year was often called a sun
by the ancients. and Yule was the time
when the old sun died and the new one
was born. Thus the birth Of Christ CO.
incides with the birth Of the sun.
Warmestry, in his "vindlcation Of the
solemnity of the Nativity o. Christ"
1913, says: If it doth appeare that the
time Of this festival doth comply with
the time of the heathens' Saturaalia, this
leaves no charge of inpiety upon it; for,
Since things are best cured by their con-
traries, it was both wisdom and piety
in the ancient Christians cwhose work it
was to convert the heathens from such. as
well as other superstitions and mlscar-
riages) to vindicate such times from the
service of the DEVIL, by appointing them
to tIe more solemne and especial SER
vice of God. The Blazes are foolish and
vaine, and not countenaced by the church.
"Christmasse Kariles, II they be such
as are fit for the time, and of holy and
sober composTe. and used with Christian
Sobriety and piety. they are not unlawful,
and may be profitable, II they be sung
With grace in the heart.
New Yeares gifts, II performed with
cut superstition. may be harmless provo
cations to Christian love- and mutuaI tes-
timoniee thereof to good purpose, and
never the worse because the helthens
have them at the like times"
AN very sensible, but at the same time
n clever example of special pleading, not
unknown in our time, in which heather
priority is ignored. The "Blazes," or
Yule logs, however, were difficult for
Warmestry to account for or to claim as
Christian emblens. We can scarcely sup
pose him ignorant Of their meaning or OF
mat Of the Others, but he doubtlessly
thought It would not be wise 10 enlighten
the vulgar. Herrick tells US that the
Yule log Of the new Christmas used to
be lit with last years brand" In some
places this was kept under the bed during
me interval as a preventive against thun-
der and fire. It was said to cure cattle