Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-12-27
CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS ORIGIN.
History of Cards, Carols, Trees and Other
Festivities of the Season.


In our Christmas observance there are
curious "reminiscences of the saturnaIia
of the Romans though in the navy dis.
clpHne is passing Use sponge over the
slate. In Rome during the last days OF
December slaves were allowed freedom
of speech, wore their masters clothes
without repruach, and were waited on ar
table by their owners. or course, the
servants ball-when the employers and
their guests do the waiting-is a survival
of the same genial spirit. But in the
navy, thirty or forty years ago, the same
interchange of offices prevailed On
Christmas day the petty officers gave up
their authority to boys, who were given
the badges and the pipes of the boat
swans mates and the officers cleaneo
the decks.
The Christmas tree is very little older
than the Christmas card in this country,
having been brought over from Germany
at the beginning of Queen Victoria's
reign But we should never dream of
condemning the Christmas tree because
it was made in Germany" for they do
these things in the land of Grimm so
much better than we do. Indeed, the
whole modern tendency to make Christ
mas feast only for the children can be
traced to the northern nations, for it is
from them that we have learned all
about hanging up our stockings, waiting
for Santa Claus, and so on. One of the
prettiest of Christmas customs is the
Children's Fair held in Stockholm on
Christmas eve, when the whole of the
tOwnspeople, including the King ana
the Queen, go out into the market place
and buy toys for all the poor children Of
the town.
One can scarcely realize in these DAYS,
when almost numberless Christmas cards
are sent broadcast, that the custom does
not extend further back than 1916. The
first card was issued that year from
Summerly's Home Treasury Office, IL
Old Bond street. from design drawn by
J. G. Horsley, Z. A., picturing a merry
family party, from grandparents to
grandchildren, around table, drinking
generous draughts of wine, typifying the
good wishes expressed beneath. Flank
ing the merry makers on the right was a
woman giving clothing to a destitute
woman and child, and on the left was
a man distributing food to the hungry,
Illustrating the good deeds of the season
y thousand copies were issued, and this
was considered a large circulation in
those times.
The Christmas carols originated proba-
bly, in the songs sung between the scenes
Of the mystery and miracle plays of the
Middle Ages. These plays were the
popular form of religious entertainment,
and between the scenes it was the Gus
tom to introduce songs dealing with the
redemption of mankind. These songs.
naturally enough, became fixed in the
popular memory, and served as kind of
religious folksong to those who had
learned them. In King Henry Wis
time and subsequently the choir of the
royal chapel was required to sing Christ
mas carols for the Sovereign. The most
familiar of all carols is that which begins
with the familiar lines:
God rest you, merrle gentlemen,
May nothing you dIsmay.
This is set to an old English HYMN.
tune. Oxford men have favorite.
| "Caput apris defero," known as the
Bears Head Carol, which has long been
preserved as one of the choice songs of
the university. The boars head and its
Importance at the Christmas festival are,
1t VIII be remembered, the subject of one
Of Washington Irving's essays.