The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1902-12-31
FIRST DAY OF THE YEAR.
Jan. I More Honored Abroad Than
In America.

Jan. I More HonOred Abroad Than
In America.
Although there seems to be a dispo-
sition in the United States to allow the
celebration Of New Years day to fall
into desuetude and it has been shorn
of much of its old time glory in Amer
lea by the Importance now attributed
here to Christmas, it still retains its
rank as the most ancient festival Of
the world. Both the Mohammedans
and the Jews regard the first day Of
their respective years as the anniyer-
sary of the birth, or, rather, creation,
day Of Adam and celebrate it with all
sorts of rejoicings and entertainments,
while in olden times, before the Chris
tian era, it was observed as day sa-
cred to the god Janus. The ancient
Romans made it public holiday and
selected it as the proper date for the
exchange OF presents of gilded fruits.
It was the day, moreover, on which
the newly elected magistrates Of the
Athenian republic, as we'll as those OF
the mighty commonwealth on the banks
Of the Tiber entered upon their duties.
The Druids also held the first day of
the year in particular honor and ven
Grafton, and even now number of pa
gan superstitions in connection there
with have survived among the peas
antry of Brittany, Wales and the south
western counties Of England. To this
day the lower classes of the districts
Just named retain a firm belief in the
fortune bringing properties Of the mis-
tletoe, while the people who live along
the shores of the bay of Biscay are alb
solutely convinced that at the moment
when the clock strikes II on New
Years eve the animals. including dogs,
horses, sheep, oxen and pigs, become
endowed for the space Of an hour with
the power Of speech and that the huge
Druidical monoliths known as dolmens,
or menhirs, eXtricate themselves from
their sockets for the purpose of rolling
down to the seashore to refresh them
selves by u dip in the briny waters OF
the deep.
So firmly rooted is this belief that 10
Brittany peasant would dare wander
about in the neighborhood Of these
hoary ruins of the stone age at that
hour, being assured that some terrible
fate would overtake him if he were to
happen to witness this annual excur-
sion of the dolmens, and it may safely
be taken for granted that were he by
any chance to catch sight of them at
that hour Of the morning Of the first
day Of the yea they would certainly
appear to him to be dancing and reel
ing about in a weird saraband; for
in Brittany, as in many other parts of
Europe, the new year is ushered in
with heavy and copious potations, the
result of which is to cause the drinker
to see many strange things.
In Scandinavia the favorite beverage
on these occasions is drunk from silver
or wooden tankards or preferably from
horns. These latter are those of the
ure OK, an animal now extinct, and are
frequently not only Of great antiquity,
but also Of much beauty. Many Of
them, indeed, are old enough to have
been used by the worshipers Of Thor
and Odin for toasts on their return
from successful raids, when they sang
songs celebrating the virtues Of the
heroes who had died on the battlefield
and had entered fully armed into Val
halla. Drinking from these horns re-
quires q peculiar knack; otherwise the
contents are certain to empty them
selves upon one.-New York Tribune.