Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1905-12-22
Christmas Customs In England.

Curious Christmas customs In England
are by no means confined to the remote
rural districts or to the purely super
stitious and ignorant In London the
Waits still go around the streets after
midnight for a month preceding Christ
mas day, playing Christmas songs. This
is particularly the case in the East End.
Often three or four parties OF these itin-
Grant musicians may be heard playing
The Mistletoe Bough" at two or three
o'clock In the morning, when a keen east
wind Is blowing, or perhaps snow Is fall
ing. The Waits" who take their name
from the "Wayght," an old musical in
strument not unlike the modern hautboy,
were originally pages or MINISTRIES at
tached to the household OF king or no
bleman. The towns and villages formerly
employed bands OF musicians to play in
the streets by night at Christmas time
in commemoration of the song OF the
angels at the birth of Christ, and until
quite recently the Waits" of the city OF
Westminster were regularly sworn into
office every year. Now they are simply
voluntary itinerant bands who fined en-
ployment at night for a few weeks before
the holiday season in accordance with
the old custom, and who send one OF their
number around to collect subscriptions
from the inhabitants some time during
the day. Carol singing on Christmas is
also as much In vogue In the East
End OF London as ever IL was a century
or two ago. The older members OF the
various church choirs and the Sunday
school children always parade the streets
after midnight on Christmas eve singing
outside the dwelling houses of the most
influential parishioners, They are usually
invited into the houses they visit and re-
called with tea and coffee and toast
Queen Victoria. when she assembled the
throne did much to abolish many coarse
Christmas practices which had been car
ried on for centuries at the British court
especially wild revelry and drunkenness
that were not calculated to improve the
morals of the people. The Queen. how
ever. always believed in observing the
festive season in real old English fashion.
II was, moreover, her husband the be-
loved Prince Consort Albert. who intro
duced the custom OF the Christmas tree
from his German home. The Queens
Christmas dinner always included a baron
OF beef and woodcock pie, historic
dishes, while the bringing i'm OF the gilded
boars head, an ancient and time honored
custom, was carried out with due form
and solemnity at the royal table In Os-
borne House every Christmas day. This
boar's head ceremony is also observed by
the great English public schools of Elton,
Winchester, Rugby and Harrow. and by
the universities of oxford and Cambridge
1t dates back to heather days when a boar
was killed at the winter solstice and its
head offered in sacrifice to Freyr, the god
OF peace and plenty who was supposed to
ride upon boar with golden bristles The
common practice Of eating sucking pigs
at Christmas has a similar origin. The
bringing in of the boar's head is the great
event of the Christmas feast 1t is borne
aloft steaming upon a silver dish. while
all the diners, rising, sing the "Boar's
Head Song" as II has been sung for
L. eft
boar's mouth after the manner of the
ancient Norsemen, who in this way SYM
bolized the plenty for which they prayed
-[Woman's Home Companion.