The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1910-12-24

might cause it to diminish and appear to melt
away by carrying 1t off
Lead, steel and vermin may be circumvented
If the proper precautions taken. For the
first wear a shirt spun. woven and sewed by a
pure chaste maiden Christmas day; wear
something sewed with thread spun Christmas
eve and mo vermn will stick you"
If one be born at sermon time Christmas
morning he can spirits; burn elder
Christmas eve and you will have revealed to you
all the witches and in the neighbor-
hood.
Thieves will find it consoIing to know that if
they steal anything Christmas without being
caught they can safely steal things all the year
Likewise, steal hay and give to your cattle, and
not only will they thrive all the year and grow
fat, but you will not be caught in any of your
future thefts.
Christmas day passed without eating any
beans and you will become ass eat a raw egg
on Christmas morning. fasting and you can carry
heavy weights.
If you have been disappointed save the
crumbs for three Christmas and they will
be effective as a physic shake out the tablecloth
over the bare ground under the open sky after
your Christmas dinner and crumbwort will grow
there; hang wash cout hedge on Christ
day Christmas eve, then groom the horses
with it and they will grow fat.
Take great of your fire on Christmas
morning; if it burn brightly that betokens pros
perity for all the coming year; if it smolder, be-
ware, for that portends misfortune and adversely
1t is unlucky TO give to a ne1ghbOr a live coal
with which to kindle fire Christmas morn
ing; also it is unucky to carry coal or any
thing else from the house on Christmas morning
until something has first been brought in.
Our Christmas tree which is feature of
most public Christmas eve celebrations and in
many homes, is comparatively in Christen-
dom, but it springs from very ancient Gus
toms The Egyptians regarded the date palm as
emblem of Immortality and of the starlit fir
mament and at the time of the winter solstice
cd fhpir wit ita hrap n
held by them to be "a symbol of life" triumphant
death, and therefore of perennial life in the
renewal of each bounteous year.
Scandinavian myth speaks of service
tree" sprung from the blood-drenched soil where
two lovers had been killed by violence. During
the Christmas mysterious lights which no
wind could extinguish often flaming
in its branches. A later explanation of the
Christmas tree dates back to Martin Luther and
tells of him attempting to describe to his family
the beauties of snow-covered forest under
starry sky. Unable to make them comprehend
satisfactorily, he went into the garden, cut a
small fir tree and set it up in the nursery with
its branches covered with lighted candles
At about the season when celebrate Christ
mas the Jews celebrated their Feast of Lights
the Feast of Dedication, of which lighted candles
are prominent feature. THE Night of Dedfca-
ton Christmas eve Is called in Germany, while
the Feast of Lights" is celebrated also in
Greece at Christmas time, although Christ
is dismal time in Greece, bsing disliked
by that warmthloving people because it is cold
and dreary-also favorite for ghosts and
COLLINS to walk abroad.
During the middle ages the Christmas tree
became an institution at Strassburg and ia
miliar along the Rhine for 200 years before It's
popularity extended throughout the rest of the
world.
Christmas cards, which may now be had In
every degree of elaborateness and gorgeousness
at prices from q penny each upward. compar