The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-19
CUsTosfs oF cn1IsTn1as
Festival Comes Down the Are. xrra,.
 Paganism.

~es@.aSS O~NM sNA9 Ages ERnrsN New York Evening Post.
 The Christmas festival has not ai- ways been observed at the same tirnA nor In the same present. dav rnanmer put like nation or person, has had Us own individual history, It's own ex- periences of elevation and hufniliatioT.
 The customs of Christmas, aside from
 those directly bearing upon the birth
 of Christ, are, like so many of STE restive rites, adapted from the paKaus.
 Tor the pagans, when they were Chris
 tfanized did not entirely abandon their l former habits. When Pope Gregory sent to St. Augustine to convert Saxon
 England. he told him to accommodate. If possible. Christian to heathen ceres
 monies, that the people might not be startled; and in particular he advised him to allow them on certain festivals
 to Kill and eat "a great number of oxen, to the glory of God the Father,a as they had done in honor of the devil On the Christmas next after the arrival
 of St. Augustine, he baptized many nundreds Of converts. but permitted the usual celebration, only prohibiting tht
 lntermigling of Christians and pagans in the dances.
 Many of the Christian practices were taken from the Roman feast of Saturn This feast was held In December. and at first only one day was devoted to it, but later it occupied seven days oi license. It was only neutral and moi at all detrimental to the Christian faitE that some of the customs of Saturnalia should be transferred to the Christmas feast. The Saturnalia lasted seven days. the festivities Of christmaa twelve. The twelfth night made fas
 nous by Shakespeare, Is January ( or manifestation of Christ to the Gens 
 The traditional plants for christmaA are the box, firi holly and mistletoe, There is a Saxon couplet that run1 thus:
 Whosoever against holly do cry,
 In rope shall be hung full high-4
 The ancient Druids went In solemn procession to the annual cutting of mis- tletoe on the sixth day of the moon nearest New Year. The oficiatlng a golden sickle. que st2ae paant. which was received on a white cloth. To add to the impressiveness bulls and even human victims were offered in It's honor. The mistletoe was supposed to Keep away evil.
 The Yule-log is a remnant of the Yuul. when the Ecandinavfans used 10 kindla large fires in honor Of their god, Thor,
 Today many people enjoy spending a part of Christmas Day at the theas tre. This is by no means a new GUS. tom Since the twelfth century, when miracle plays were introduced, people have found pleasure in this amusement, The miracle plays were forerunners ot the drama and our modern play# They were full of anachronisms--Noah,s wife would swear by St. John and some hiss torical IsraeIite would say mass--but they supplied real want of rhe people. The pantomitne has been called the le. gitimate drama of Christmas. It came from Italy. but tradition carries 1t bach to pagan times.
 ! During the Middle Ages, when music architecture, painting and poetry found an expression in religious way the Christmas celebrations were beautiful and dignifed. Later the festival de@ generated into mere occasion, for law. Aessness. The Norwegians make much of the virtue of hospitality, tue first courtesy among them being to oner . pipe of tobacco.- At their Chrisrmaa dinner, which is rather simple, theiE national hymns are sung between tho courses. In Sweden much attention ia paid to cleanliness. The houses are completely renovated before the Christi mas festival. An almost univerea1 cus- tom is that of tying a sheaf of corn to a pqle, which is placed in the gar den for the birds Christmas dinner. Our santa Claus originated In Holland. the Christmas stocking in Belgium or France, while ''Merrie Christmas" was the old English Christmas greeting.
 Mention should be made of two of ! the many Christmas afnusements. Mask ing has in years past been made much of It is doubtless a remnant of the Roman masquerade. Of eard-piaying a historian says. The country maid leaves out one-half of her marketing and must be sent again, if she fargets a pack of cards on Christmas Eve. we read that in Queen Anhe's time the squire of 800 pounds a year never play Cd cards except at Christmas, when rhe' family pack was produced from fher