Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1901-12-11
ORIGIN OFF XMAS
FE@ i UV1 It les
BY G. /. Langdon.

l.
| feasting aside from the instinct which
teaches us that the joy of holiday
| making is impossible or incomplete
| without good eating and drinking. One
| is that Christmas is the survival of
one, or both, of two great pagan &esti-
walls; the other, that the mind Of man
| In all times and conditions expressed
rejoicing by the laden board and the
trimming bowl.
Victory, good fortune, weddings,
christenings, are celebrated today by
dinners, as they have been for thou
sands Of years, the practice undoubted-
ly coming down from that prehistoric
time when the victory over the animal
was the means of supplying the feast.
We can find trace of it and its con-
comitant habit, giftmaking, In the
book of Esther, where Mordecai says
| to his people that on the anniversaries
Of the days wherein the Jews rested
| from their enemies, and the month
which was turned unto them from sor-
row to joy, and from mourning into a
good day, they should make them days
of feasting and of joy and Of sending
| portions one to another and gifts to
| the poor.
And what greater cause for rejoicing
and the usual expression thereof could
exist for the early Christians than the
fact of the birth of Christ?
1t is true that there were differences
Of opinion in the early church as to the
| date, or even the season Of the year,
when that all important event occur
red. Clemens Alexandrinus tells us
that it was kept by many Christians
in April and by some in Egypt in the
month Pachon, corresponding to our
May, but long before the council Of
Nice had fixed the day, separating 1t
from the Epiphany, a curious circum-
stance had operated to fix forever the
observance Oft in the European mid
winter
Observing the course of the seasons
and their relation to the growing or
lessening length of the days, the Ary-
ans inhabiting Europe had come to
learn that at the winter solstice the
decline of nature was over and that as
the day heightened she revived until
a few weeks later she walked abroad
gladsomely again in the green garb Of
spring. 1t was fitting time for uni
versal rejoicing. Nothing could be
done afield. The bins and butts were
still well filled and the cattle fat. 1t
was also time to remember the good
ness of the gods; to make sacrifice as
well as to feast.
Hence we find at the dawn Of Chris
| tianity two great midwinter festivals
among the two most powerful branches
of the Aryans of that period - the
| Saturnalia among the Romans on the
south and the Thor feast Of the Seandi-
navians. 1t is curious fact that they
appear to be identical as to time Of
observance.
ruled long enough to have planted her
customs the Saturnalia was a season
Of sacrifice to Saturn Of social equality
and of riotous license. The slave in
many households was permitted to be-
come master for the week Of the feast
ing, and his master executed the ridic-
ulous orders which he gave. Buffoon-
cry In street professions and in the
homes was one of the chief elements
of the festivity. Orgies indescribable
formed another. Present giving was
universal
The sea kings called the season julie
whence Yule), and they celebrated 1t in
gorging and drinking, besides making
sacrifice to Thor. Around great blaz-
ing log, big enough to burn for the
whole week Of the gluttonous feast
ing, they flung the half bare OK bones
In rude jest and passed the wassail
bowl.
The primitive church found these
pagan festivals institutions which it
could not uproot, so 1t wisely adopted
them, turning the sacrificial rites there
Of into worship for the born Christ,
stripping the feasts of their grossest
sensuality, but letting much Of their
joyousness remain.
Besides the two great festivals men,
toned. there was another observed at
the same time by large family Of the
Europeans-the Gauls, Gaels or Celts-
which was similarly adopted by the
church as she spread her teaching
among them, but this had far less
influence than the other two upon the
customs which have marked the cele-
bration of Christmas down to the pres
ent time. The reason is that there was
more of sacrificial rite and less of
feasting in its celebration. From 1t,
however, comes the kissing under the
mistletoe, which with them was en-
blematic of the union of man and wo-
man and of the union of mankind with
Baal. From it also comes the Christ
mas tree, dear to the little ones, sur
vival of the hanging of votive gifts on
their sacred pines.
But out of the other two great pagan
festivals arose the principal form that
the feasting took. Eating and drink
ing Of the best, giving to the poor by
right of their equality at that season,
as well as the old mummery, practical
ly abolished since Puritanlsm tried to
suppress the festival utterly In 1647,
are easily and directly traceable to
those pagan orgies.
rkIE nAnAClTE AAlOri rrOE