The commonwealth., 1910-12-22

might it to diminish and appear to melt
away by carrying it off,
Lead, steel and vermin may be circumvented
If the proper precautions taken. For the
first wear A shirt spun, and sewed by
pure chaste maiden Christmas day;
something sewed with thread spun Christmas
eve and mo vermin will stick to YOU
If one be born at sermon time Christmas
morning he spirits; burn elder
Christmas and you will have revealed to you
all the witches and sorcerers in the neighbor-
hood.
Thieves will find it consong 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 r. -:aught in any of your
future thefts
A Christmas day passed without eating any
beans and you will become ass; eat 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 physic; shake out the tablecloth
the bare ground under the open sky after
your Christmas dinner and crumbwort will grow
there; hang wash clout on a hedge on Christ
mas day or 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 smoder, be-
ware, for that portends misfortune and adversely.
1t is unlucky to give to neighbor live coal
with which to kindle fire Christmas morn
ing; also it is unlucky to carry coal any
thing else from the house Christmas morning
until something has first been brought in.
Our Christmas tree, which is a feature of
most public Christmas celebrations, and in
many homes, is comparatively in Christen-
dom, but it springs from some very ancient GUS
toms. The Egyptians regarded the date palm
an emblem of Immortality and of the starlit fir
mament and at the time of the winter solstice
decked their houses with it's branches. 1t
held by them to be "a symbol of life" triumphant
over DEATH and therefore of perennial life in the
renewal of each bounteous year.
A Scandinavian myth speaks of service
tree" sprung from the bood-drenched soil where
two lovers had been killed by violence During
the Christmas season mysterious lights which no
wind could extinguish were often seen flaming
in it's 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 a
starry sky Unable to make them comprehend
satisfactorily, he went into the garden, cut
small fir tree and set it up in the nursery with
it's branches covered with lighted candles
At about the season when celebrate Christ
mas the Jews celebrated their Feast OF Lights or
the Feast of Dedication of which lighted candles
~ monument feature "The Night of Dedica-
ton" Christmas is called In Germany willie
the Feast of Lights" is celebrated also IN
Greece at our Christmas time, although CHRIST
mas is a dismal time in Greece, being .dlsEKed
by that warmth-loving people because 1t is coo
and dreary-also 1avorlte season ioi s 0
goblns to walk abroad.
During the middle ages the Christmas tree
hecame an institution at Strassburg and was ia
mi1iar along the Rhine for 200 years before lts
popularity extended throughout the rest ol the
world.
Christmas cards. which may now be nad Ill
every degree of elaborateness and gorgeoushess
.t nrices from a penny each upward, are compar