The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1910-12-23

might cause it to diminish and appear to melt
away by carrying 1t off.
Lead, steel and vermin may be crcumvened
If the proper precautions are taken. For the
first wear a shirt spun, woven and sewed by
pure chaste maiden on Christmas day; wear
something sewed with thread spun on Christmas
eve and mo vermin will stick to you
II one be born at sermon time" on Christmas
morning he spirits; burn elder on
Christmas eve and you will have revealed to you
all the witches and sorcerers in the neighbor
hood.
Thieves will find it consoling TO know that IL
they steal anything Christmas without being
caught they 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 an 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 ewes and they will
be effective physc; shake out the tabecloth
over the bare ground under the open sky after
your Christmas dinner and crumbwort will grow
there; hang wash clout 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
ware, for that portends misfortune and adversely
1t is unlucky to give to a neighbor live coal
with which to kindle a fire on Christmas morn
ing; also it is unlucky to carry a 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 Chrsten
dom, but 1t springs from some very ancient
toms The Egyptians regarded the date palm as
an emblem of Immortality and of the starlit fir
mament and at the time Of the winter sostice
decked their houses with its branches II was
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 blood-drenched soil where
two lovers had been killed by violence. During
the Christmas season mysterious lights which
wind could extinguish often seen 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 1t up in the nursery with
its branches covered with lighted candles.
At about the season when we celebrate Christ
the Jews celebrated their Feast of Lights. or
the Feast of Dedication, of which lighted candles
are prominent feature THE Night of Dedca-
tion," Christmas eve is called in Germany, while
the Feast of Lights" is celebrated also in
Greece. at our Christmas time, although Christ
Is dismal time in Greece, being disliked
by that warmth-loyng people because IL is cold
and dreary-aso favorite season 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 its
popularity extended throughout the rest OF the
world.
Christmas cards which may now be had in
every degree OF elaborateness and gorgeousness