The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1898-12-29
NEW YEARS CUSTOMS
HOW THE FESTIVAL IS CELEBRATED
IN DIFFERENT PLACES.

The Spanish Ern Iva Porto Rico nnu
"32S" I'm the PhiIippincs--OId Tiiuo
Turkey Shooting - Passing of the
PRntOmimc.
tCopyrlght. 1898 by the Author.l
NUNDAY. jan. /, begins the year 1899
- Of the Christian era, but there are
~ citizens and residents who use othor
calendars Mohammedan sailors and ped
dlers of the leading soaports are still In the
thirteen hundred and sixteenth year Of
their era. Tho many Armenian refugees
are In the thirteen hundred and forty
seventh year Of theirs. The orthodox Jews
are in the thirty nine hundred and four
teenth year Of the Abrahamio era. The
citizens of Chinatown In San Francisco,
New York and the other large cities are
celebrating the forty.seven hundred and
fifty first year since the accession of Fnh
Hi, their great civilizing emperor, while
many Christian sects look at the time as
the flfty-six hundred and fifty ninth year
of the world. In our now territory of
Porto Rico the educated Spanish still refer
to the Spanish era, which began 3S b. 9.
and Is now 1887 years old. The Philip
pine insurgents keep alive tho memory of
their wrongs by using 32S, the number of
the year which is the period that has
elapsed since Lu2on was conquered by the
Spanish arms under Miguel Lopez dc
Legazpi. Our Mormon brethren commem-
orato their faith by calling tho present
time tho seventy sixth year since the angel
disclosed tho golden book Of Mormon to
Joseph Smith
The festival is very old, much older
than civilization itself. IL was intended
to commemorate the return of the sun
which was tabled to have gone away or to
have been slain or wounded in the poetry
and myths of tho early northern races.
This occurred at the winter solstice, Dec,
2l-22, aud SO far as was known was OBJ.
served by all primitive nations as time
of Joy. As human knowledge grew the
| moon became used as the mCasurer of
timo the very words moon and month
meaning originally the "measurer. AS
the lunar and solar years never agree there
arose early tendency 60 break the first
festival into two, and this accounts for tho
discrepancy which prevails among civil
llzed nations in regard to the observance of
the great winter festival With the Ger
mano Gothic races the favorite is Yule or
} Christmas, but with tho Latin races it is
New Years. No better illustration Of
the cosmopolitan character of our country
could be found than our celebrating both
festivals and making Christmas and New
] Years events of equal entertainment and
Joy. In the American celebration of New
Years there is distinct picture of our
colonial history. In nearly every district
the prevailing style Of observance is that
of the first settlers from Europe Those
, who paid the greatest attention to the day
were the Dutch, French, Huguenots and
: Spaniards. The Dutch center Of observ-
ance was New York and New Jersey. The
French was Louisiana and Mississippi
In the southern states and Maine In the
northern. The Huguenots settled first In
New York, Massachusetts,, North and
South Carolina, while the Spanish had
= settlements in Florida California, New
Mexico, Arizona and Texas.
Our good friends the pilgrims and Puri
tans were a triae austere, and their chic
festival was the day Of Thanksgiving
which they themselves appointed. The
younger people who were encouraged by
their mothers kept up many of the oldel
festivals of the fatherland. In this way
there was covert celebration OF the har
vest moon Halloween, Christmas, New
; Years and May day, these being the chic
festivals of merrio England in yO Older
! time.
The so called Cavalier settlers Of Dola
ware and Maryland, Virginia, the Caro-
linas and Georgia observed New Years a'
3 a day OF rest and social entertainments
though without any umil0r u characters
tics. The Scotch settlers, who went in The
beginning chiefly to Virginia. West Nir
ginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, treuted thu
day with "A mild severity, although it II
, said that on New Years eve the allowance
: of Scotch whisky was doubled in every
household. The QuGkars under Penn CAV,
the occasion a religious significance, N
did aftGrward the MCthodists. The Ger
mans or Paatinos who came over in tn,
beginning Of the eighteenth century pnC
settled in New York and Pennsylvania
had a hearty affection for the day and ex
. pressed it in shooting parties and socia
functions. In the LtC.g.s Of consolidation
through which the nation has gone thu
old race lines have vanished, and most o
tho special features which marked thu
celebration by each element have passed
7 away or else been so modified as to los,
their primitive character
. Thus in the memory Of many who art
alive todaya common New Years practice