Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1910-12-24
Christmas
Observance
BY REV. J. 3. TuRRENTINE.

ing to agreement, to furnish to YOU
valued columns an article on the
great theme of this season of the
year, Christmas, l have concluded to
depart from the beaten path so well
covered by my colleagues and give
your readers a sketch of some of the
interesting historic and Legendary
tales and facts of this happy day.
Christmas is christian festival
celebrated in memory of the birth OF
Jesus Christ. OF course, as has been
already said, none of us think this Is
the very day upon which Christ was
born into this world. Indeed, original
" the feast was celebrated by the
Eastern church as Epiphania, January
9Th, and by the Western church as
Natalis. December 18th. While this
latter day was in all probability not
the actual date of Christ's birth, its
selection by the Western church was
by no means arbitrary. Precisely at
this season of the year occurred
series of Pagan festivals, closely con-
nected with the civil and social life
of the Romans, and from the nature
of their observance, easily capable OF
being spiritualized and made symbolic.
This series eliminated in the festival
of the winter solstice, the birthday
of the new sun about to return once
more towards the earth. In this
feast the transition to the christian
point of view easily presented itself,
and hence it came about that in the
christian cycle of holidays December
18th was set to celebrate the birthday
of Jesus, the Sun of the spiritual
world for the purpose of drawing
away christian people from heather
festivities, and of purifying eventual
ly these heather customs and ideas. |
In the fourth century, through the in
fluence of Chrysostom, it is believed, |
the Eastern church transferred its eel /
ebration to the same date, and the |
day being thus uniformly accepted, |
Christmas became one of the three |
great annual festivals of the church.
For several centuries after the birth
of Jesus Christ, our happiest season,
was to his followers one of heroic
ordeal His birthday was first cele-
brated in the second century, it is
said, by order of Telesphorus, seventh
bishop of Rome, who shortly after
suffered martyrdom, the observance
of the anniversary of Christs nativity
being one of his offenses But
though the initiator of the observance
died, the observance lived - lived
through flame and sword. After two
hundred years, in the reign of Do
cletian, we read of vast number of
christians assembled-of windows and
doors barred by the Pagan emperor's
torches applied to the
crowded building, and the burning
alive of hundreds of worshippers as
sembled to celebrate the birthday of
Christ Six hundred years after
the martyrdom of the man who is re-
ported to have instituted the Christ
mas observance, the man to whom ira
iition assigns the ideas of the Christ
mas tree suffered like fate at the
hands of the Pagan tribes of Ger
many. The legend of st. Boniface
and the first Christmas tree has been
beautifully told. The scene lives be-
fore us; the wintry night, the swelling ;
lillock crowned with the great oak
ree-the Thunder Oak" sacred to
he Pagan god, Thor-the tongues of 1
.uddy flame, the fountain of ruby
sparks from the great fir kindled near {
he altar at its foot, the curved ranks {
If white-clad warriors, women and
children facing the altar, the hoary 1
High Priest and kneeling child-the
victim doomed to die by the blow OF
he hammer, sacrifice to Thor the
Then the coming of Boni-
ace, the blow from the hammer turn
I'd aside by the cross, the rescue of
he boy, the fall of the oak before the
mighty blows of the brave preacher,
he story of Jesus simply told, and
now sin, not human life. is the sacri.
ice he asks And here" said the
preacher as his eyes fell upon young
ir tree standing straight and green
with its top pointing towards the
stars, amid the divided ruins of the
fallen oak, here is the living tree,
with no stain of blood upon it, that
shall be the sign of your new worship.
See how it points towards the sky.
Let us call 1t the tree OF the Christ
child. Take it up and carry it to the
,hieftain's hall, for this is the birth
light of the white Christ You shall
20 no more into the shadows of the
'orest to keep your feasts with secret
ties of shame. You shall keep them
1t home with laughter and song and
ties of love" Thus did the hour of
darkness, the power of winter, of sac
fice and mighty fear, vanish before
he glad radiance of redeeming love,
nd the Pagan oak, whose roots were