Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1909-12-23

Egyptians but they require clever hunt them
out, man capable of getting great results from small
data"
AT the period these two authors wrote all learn.
ing and science confined very narrow circle of
initiates. The common folks kept in strict igno.
rance OF the true meaning of their
teries were hidden book to their significance
and only the outward visible sign of the ceebra
came within their ken How far the secrets were kept
by these lntates-a combination compared with which
our steel and sugar trusts sink into insgnifcance-
Is too well known to every student Thus many cases
it is impossible definitely the actual basis of
uese ancient myths and customs and any attempts per.
lorce must necessarily remain the nature of a
PATCHWORK guilt scrap gathered here and there from
the ancient writings helps work up the quilt but the
ultimate stage has a somewhat crazy appearance
Is all the more eXasperating. because many of these
early writer's, such Herodotus Putarch and Others
nave stopped short in their just when a few ex
ira words would have eased the knots that prevent
US from unraveng the skein Tney were initiates and
aus sworn to silence Their oaths however did not pre-
vent them Whetung curiosity leaving us in y mo-
3ltlon where Puarch cynicaly remarks it would in
deed be clever task to great results from small
data ~
Athenaeus, another of the old Greek gossipers IN
speaking oil the policy OF the Romans in adopting
toms OF peoples whom they had conquered says: For
Is te conduct of prudent to abide by ancient
institutions under which they ancestors have
hFeu and made war upon and subdued the rest of the
world and yet at the time if there were any use.
tul or honorable institutions among the peoples whom
ey nave subdued those they take for their imitation at
the same time they prisoners And this was
the conduct OF the Romans in olden time for they
n
uuceu from the nations whom they had subdued every
relic OF desirable practices which they found" This in
measure was the policy of the early fathers adapt.
ing heather feass and sacrifices the festivals of the
church With them, however it was rather case of
adaptation than of adoption believing that the new or
der OF things would come easier the converts to the
Christian religion if the changes not made too
sweeping nor too harsh. Thus that so manv of the
customs connected with festivals have como down IN
us from time long prior to the birth of the Saviour
Unlike the many customs connected with the ceebra
uon OF Christmas. those of the beginning of the New
Year seems to bear more of the stamp paganism At
blance, due in large to the both can
be traced to the celebrations round the ancient festival of
the Saturnaia and winter sostice when the old wear
went out and the new came in; period general re-
jocing and it must be admitted great degree of row.
dyism, noise and license which all fulminaons Of
church councils in the Middle Ages city ordinances
and orders of chiefs of police in these DAYS have
been unable to suppress The youngser of to-day with
his horn is just prominent in creating racket as was
his prototype of a couple of thousand years ago
or late years this period of noise has been largely re-
srtcted to the of Christmas New Year but for
mery the period closely following Christmas day was one
stress OF the towns and villages and the of Msrue
the Abbot OF Unreason or the Abbas Stultorum held
sway The "Fee of Fools" celebrated on the three
udyS loHo"Ihs christmas eliminating Holy Innocents
day in general iamboree, in which not even the
churches were spared Young people dressed themselves
up as the great dgntaries of the church. even the
very oces seem to have been paraded held
in the churches The second of the Council Cog
nac held IN 1860 put under pain of accommodation all
such as masqueraded as bishops, At councils
held at Nantes in 143l at Boges in 143S fImfna
uons We're hurled against the Fools" while as
early as 1912 the celebration by the council
held at Farls Yet the custom of masquerading
days iooWlns Christmas is not yet extinct in many
ulcts ol france ana elsewhere, but the celebration
been shorn of much of its pcturesuueness and at the
time Of its extreme licens