The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1902-01-16
Some History Anent the Ancient
Origin of Christmas Festival.
DIfFICULTIES IN ESTABLISHING DATE
Old Father Time Experienced Hard
Time In Finally Getting His CAL
endar on Straight.

passed since Christmas was first cele.
brated by Christians. During all these
long centuries they have not failed to
meet somewhere and pay reverence to
the day that somehow was chosen as
the birth of the Savior. 1t ia not at
all certain that the 25th of December
was His birthday, but that does not
matter much, so that Christian people
observe some day and show their graf
itude. Indeed, the Greeks and the Rus
slams still celebrate the 9Th of Jam
uary and call it Christmas, for they
have never yet adopted the new calen-
dar established by Pope Gregory XIII
in the year 1852. Now, it is important
for the young people and many Of the
old ones to know that for nearly six
teen centuries old Father Time had
been gaining little every year on the
exact time that it takes the earth to
go around the sun. This gain had
amounted to about twelve days, so the
pope, who was a great and wise man,
issued his mandate that time should be
set back, and it was set back. All the
Roman Catholic countries conformed
at once to the new date, but the Pro
testant countries were jealous of the
pope, and so Germany would not con.
form until the year 1900. Great Brit.
ain and Ireland refused to conform
until the year 1852, and the American
colonies put it OH a few years later.
Greece and Russia have not conformed
yet, but they will. They are getting
tired of having to put two dates TO all
their letters and commercial transac.
tons with other countries. When Gen.
eral Young was our consul at st. Pc.
tersburg all his letters that were writ
ten home had two dates that were
twelve days apart. One he marked
N. s." for new style, and the other
20. s." for old style. England had to
abandon another measure of time, fol-
until about two hundred years ago the
new year began on the 25th Of March.
some countries began it on Easter day.
tell you, my young friends, old Father
Time has had a perplexing problem to
keep his calendar straight. The day
used to begin at o'clock in the morn.
ing The week began on Monday. Tho
Jews had twelve lunar months of
twenty-eight days, and every third year
had thirteen to make up for lost time
For centuries there were only ten
months In the year among the Greeks
and Romans, and February had thirty.
six days just like all the other months
But popes and emperors ruled the civ
lilzed world, and changed the measures
Oh time to suit their own whims. Pope
gregory was a scholar, a mathemati.
elan and promoter of public educa.
uon, and he knew that the calendar
was wrong, and was getting more so
every year. 1t was a bold stroke of
power, but he was backed by all the
great astronomers Of Europe, and he
set the clock back, and It stands.
But what about Christmas? II has
TO be written about every time II
comes around for there is a new gener.
alton OF young people coming on ey.
cry year, and they must be taught to
know as much as those who are older
This Is the most important event that
ever happened In the history of the
world, and every man and woman and
every boy and girl who can read sbould
be as familiar with it as they are with
the spelling book. The word mass"
does not literally mean birth. 1t means
dismissed" and came into usa he.
cause after any service in the Roman
catholic church the priest would saw
tne congregation is now dismissed. In
Latin, 1t is "mass." Hence, there was
nigh mass and low mass and candle
mass and Michael mass and Christmas
"a dismlssion and benedictlon after
worship.
For two or three centuries after
Christ His followers had SO many ups
and downs they could not establish
molly days or feasts or festivals. Some
emperors were kind and tolerant and
some were cruel and prosecuted them.
During the reign Of the Emperor Do
cletian the Christians Of Rome deter
mined to celebrate Christmas in their
own church where they had been per.
mitted to worship, but Diocletlan had
taken a great dislike to them, and az
ter the church was full he sent soldiers
there and locked the doors and set flre
to the building and burned them all
alive--men. women and children. The
wretch died soon after. but It was
many years before Christians dared to
celebrate Christmas again. This was