Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1898-12-21

to the inmates, no matter how humble
may be their condition are welcome.
The young dance while the elder pIav
cards. at midnight when the bells be-
gin to ring, all assemble around the
punch table and drink together, clink-
ing their glasses in friendly way.
After that there is more dancing and
they close the nights proceedings when
they feel tired. On Christmas day
there is no celebration Of any sort.
Christmas in the land of the midniy ht
sun has retained, to an extent unparal-
leled in other lands, the primitive no.
ton of the rich feasting the poor and
providing gambols for them. On the
24th of December every woman rich or
poor, on that day and the next has her
table constantly spread with lut-fish,
with roast veal, with cakes of many
kinds, with tarts, with heaps Of ap-
pies. The housewives who from the
pressure of poverty Or misfortune,
find themselves unable to prepare their
tables do not hesitate to lay their case
secretly before a wealthy neighbor,
who takes care that the supplicant
shall be amply relieved. But the most
singular custom Of the Christmas tide
Is the bene6cence shown to the ami
mails. All the oxen, horses, COWS,
sheep are fed plentifully upon their
favorite food; nor are the fowls of the
farm yard forgotten, and in front of
the barnyard the farmer raises a tall
fir, which he crowns with a sheaf of
oats for the benefit OF the wild little
birds. The day after Christmas day
the visiting each others houses in
turn begins, to have feasting, sporting
and dancing. The great dance is the
Halllng, which is supposed to he the
Pagan dance of the old Berserkers
Nothing can equal the extraordinary
wildness of the music given by the vio
lin on these occasions. The dance is
given by one or two men and begins
in crouching position, with a series
OF little hops, accompanied by lazy
swaying movements of the arms. Sud-
denly the dancer filings himself into
the air as if about to fly: he throws
himself forward, backward, sideways
with the most violent springs, and
seems<ever on the verge of falling.
Then the music sinks into sad, sob
bling wailing notes and the dancer
drops into the crouching attitude
again.
In Russia they are II days behind
our calendar SO that Christmas there
does not come till January 5th. The
Christmas festivities are a maiden
festival designed especially for the
unmarried young ladies of Russia and
for nobody else. Before the house is
chosen which is to be the scene of the
festivity it is first arranged who are to
be the heroines. That being settled
by dexterous mammals and vOluble
maiden aunts, the next thing to deter
mine is the names of the young men
who are to be elected. When the
young men have been chosen, then the
astute and matchmaking mothers set
tie the pairs-''whO is to be elected
with whom?' Tongue cannot tell the
scheminy and contriYing that goes on
among them. There are regular eau
cuses which discuss nothing else, and
the result is a series of compromises.
When these important bases are estab-
lished the house is chosen and the
business commences with the issue of
invitations. The fair maidens arrive
at the head of long trains of servants,
friends, relatives: for the longer the
train; OF s1eighs the greater the glory
of the inyiter. The mistress of the
house produces the much thought of
list, and, after reading out the name
of a fair maiden, reads the name Of
the young man who is to be her gal
liant and partner in the dance. The
maids and their elect are the sole act
Ors in the dances and games that fol-
lows till refreshments are served, after
which there are masked dances by the
peasants who come in as bears, goats,
clowns, blind beggars, old lame women
and other fantastic shapes. They al
SO recite fables and fairy stories into
which they introduce satirical allu-
sions to persons present, and make
fearfnl jokes about the preliminary
caucusing. All is considered fair pro.
vided no names are mentioned and no
improper language is used. The
masks are invited to refresh them
selves, which they do vigorously, and
then the company look on while the
fair maids and their elect play Rus
sian version Of "Heavy, heavy hangs
over your head.'
In the United States may be found
some relics and notifications Of the
Christm as customs of all other lands,
and even reminders of the old Satur-
nalian orgies: but the main features of
an American Christmas is the promi-
hence Of the myth of Santa Claus.
There is for the little ones {. thrill Of
the spirit when their own stockings
that they took off their own fat little
legs are found filled with glorious
things, and with articles too bulky for
| admission fastened to them. But it
is strange that when the shadow of
Puritanism made the English world
gray, that such hoax as the Santa
Claus legend should become SO promi-
nent, it does not even in symbolical
form suggest the Christ child and is a
reversiop to the mythical conceptions
of primitive child races. The legend
is hurtful and crowds out the Christ
mas feeling which made all mankind
of one family on the night when Christ
was born.
The Pipe Organ.
Twin, in