Evening star., 1900-12-15
How the Iay is Celebrated All the
Word Over.
4 THE CT GIFTS AND MERRINENF
Ancient Pagan Rites That Survive
in Modified FORM.
BURNING TIE YULE LOG

Written for Tie Evening Star by Clara Euge.
Christmas celebrations are drawn from
diverse sources and are by means all of
Christian origin. in so far as the ceremonies
and festivities are concerned. In fact, there
Is more of pagan than of Christian in them
and many Of them antedate the religion Of
Christ. In the countries of Romanic de-
seen; the Roman saturnalia has left dis
tinct traces. This great festival in honor
Of the Roman god of agriculture, Saturn.
was celebrated in old Rome every Deem
ber. Children and slaves were overwhelmed
with presents and merriment reigned IN
every form for whole week.
Southern Europe and Spanish and Portu-
gUese America have retained Christmas
mostly ecclesiastical festival. but a
Joyful one, time of public rejoicing; while
In the northern countries its celebration has
more domestic character. 1t Is home
and family feast
The derivation of northern customs may
be traced to the gods Of the "Edda," the
greatest source of northern mythology. Its
scriptures were found IN Iceland. The GUS
toms derived from the saturnalia and those
from northern myths were by and by
partly amalgamated through the mixture
OF peoples. but still every country has its
own pee uliar ceremonies Of Christmas.
Founded on Myths.
rely most distinctly on the old northern
myths The celebration of the solstce was
a great festival in olden times. For a long
time 1t was believed that the year stood
still at the solstice. With 1t began again
the reign of Freyr, the sun god The
"fuletde' the Scandinavians call Christ
mas. Yul' means wheel. The old in
habttants of Scandinavia imagined the sun
TO be IKE a wheel. "Yuleklapp" signifies
the Clapping OF the wheels, and the ex-
preston is still in use for the manner in
which the presents are distributed in the
north Of Europe. They are thrown into
room and packed in a mysterious manner
SO that nobody can guess what the contents
are Verses generally accompany each
bundle directing the presents from one
person to another. This peculiar usage
IS derived from the mysterious manner, in
which the sun god gave his presents lie
the flowers. the green grass and the leaves
Therefore the green decoration is. still In
use for Christmas. Also the Christmas
tree Is certainly derived from early sources
1t Is Of right 4 fir tree. because this re-
mains always green. 1t symbOlizes eternal
spring Christians applied it to the wor-
snip OF Christ because through Him eter-
mai spring began for humanity. The can
dies signify eternal light, which came into
The world with Christ.
Scandinavian luIetidc
In Scandinavia one has, / believe the
greatest veneratioon for ''YuIetide" of all
countries. The courts closed, old quar-
reis forgotten, feuds adjusted pretty
symbol Of the spirit that reigns is the
practice Of placing in a every pair of
shoes in each household. SO that during
the year the family will live in peace and
harmony. Candles are left burning TO show
the way 70 'YuIe Trumpte" tthe Christ
mas SpiriU bringing the gifts. one sets
a cake of meal in the snow as :; Christ
mas Offering: for the birds a sheaf OF
wheat II placed on pole in front of each
mouse 10 provide them with food The
family itself has no time to take a regular
meal on the 24th. although baking and
COOKING begin about four weeks before ON
Tue daE II the celebration at noon the
%hole household VIII assemble In the
hit'hrn and dip piece of bread in the
nam hr"lh Then everybody has 10 pre-
pare again FOR the YuIekIapp ana the great
supper following. Alter this games arc
PldSIH i4ey are usually interrupted by a
hItpCk Al lh" door. -Four or five VS. dress
ed In white enter. one carries a star
SNAPPED lantern and another an ornamented
BIAS Don containing two dolls the Virgin
and IN" Christ child. The bows sing Cbrist
mas carols. Af;erward appear maskej n,r-
FORMERS, who DO tricks and play panto-
mines P''''
The SuIe Log
Besides Scandinavia and Iceland. England
nas most faithfully preserved the custom
OF the ''yule log" 1t is a massive nieca NJ
''S'' '''44'S 'ic iuSStt root of oak
which Is kept burning at Christmas ,tp,a
Tor Twelve days. y piece is kept for the
!oiiowlng year. 1t was first lit in honor Of
the hcdthsn sun god, then the custom Vac
transferred To signify the Eternal Light
Ihe log Is drawn in triumph from its rest
Ing place amid shouts Of laughter every
wayfarer dofiing his hat as he masses
Formeriy the minstrels hauled, with song
and music. This is an example of the old
yule song:
Part must be kept wherewitt to tend
lle christmas log next yearc
And where It's safely kept the fend
Can do no mischief there
In England a very important symbol Of
decoration is the mistletoe. 1t is customary
for every young man TO try to bring his
beloved under the mistletoe where he ts
allowed 10 kiss her. For this custom we
are indebted to Scandinavian mythology
The plant was dedicated to the goddess
Triga. Ii was the emblem Of love, and ev-
cry one who passed under 1t received a
kiss.
st. Nick in Germany.
In some parts Of Germany and Austria
tables spread and lights left burning