Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1912-12-21

describe the southwark voyage or his
little vessel past the snow-clad noun
tafns of Labrador and the wooded
shores of Newfoundland. until Vine
land, an indefinite region on the New
England coast, was reached.
Here Lief, who was a Christian, and
the members Of his little band of dar-
ing adventurers spent the winter of
1902 and no doubt on the bleak New
England shore the beautiful feast,
whose God.like spirit has softened and
conquered the world, was celebrated.
The Norwegian visits to Vineland
were continued by Thorwald and Thor
stein, brothers of Lief, who had sue
ceeded to the patriarchal Office and
possessions of his father; and on the
deaths in quick succession of both
! Thorwald and Thorstein the wife OF
the latter, Gudrida, married rich Nor.
wegian named Thorfin and accompa.
MED him and company of his follow.
ers to Vineland, where they lived
three years. Gudrida was a pious
| soul. When her second husband died
she visited Rome, narrated to Pope
| Benedict an account Of her adventures
| in this far western world and with the
| papal blessing returned to Iceland,
where she founded a convent, of which
| she became abbess.
There are no records bearing on the
| Christmas days spent by these hardy
| Norwegians in New England, but i'm
agination can well picture the renewal
in this strange land of the Christmas
| customs of Scandinavia. And thus it
| is entirely legitimate to assume that
! by them the first celebration of the
| day was observed in the new world.
| History, and tradition as well, are
silent after this on new world affairs
until the coming of the Spaniards, fol-
| lowed by the Portuguese, French and
English. BY them the feast of the Ma.
tivity was celebrated, and long before
Plymouth Rock was discovered, to be
made the cornerstone of new civil
ization, hardy fishermen from France
chanted the hymns Of the Catholic
church in the waters of Maine. An
old French chart gives to certain is
lands near the Machias river, east OF
Penobscot. the names Of Isles des Rois
Mages and Havre Mage-Isles of the
Magian kings, and Magian harbor-
in memory of the three wise men, who
followed the mysterious star, to lay
their offerings of gold, of frankincense
and of myrrh before the Babe OF Beth.
lehem.
In stern and puritan New England
Christmas was placed under ban. The
Plymouth colony, indeed did not pass
prohibitive laws, but In 1922 Gov. Brad
ford placed all Christmas games under
interdict and those who afterward
observed the day did SO secretly. But
the Massachusetts, Bay colony, follow
Ing the example of Cromwell's parlia-
ment, which prohibited all observance
of the feast and decreed that "holly
and ivy were badges of sedition," en-
acted law, in 1859, obliging all men
to labor on Christmas day and inflict-
ing fine upon those who observed the
feast. 1t was not until 16S1-more
than 20 years after the passing of the
Cromwell regime and the restoration
of the Stuart dynasty to the throne
that this law, abolishing personal free
dom and liberty of worship, was re-
pealed: and several years after this
the spirit of New England was reflect
ed in letter written by Rev. Joshua
Moody to Rev. Increase Mather. in
which the observance of Christmas
was thus referred to: And the shut
ting up of shops on Christmas day and
driving the master out of school on
Xmas holydaies are very grevous."
Elsewhere throughout the colonies
the feast Of Christmas was observed.
Both New Amsterdam and New York
maintained the old-world customs as
sociated with the day and In the south
the beautiful festival never lost It's
hold upon the hearts Of the English
settlers.
Today there Is no north. no south.
no east, no west. to Christmas cele-
bration in the United States. The
story of the Babe of Bethlehem Is
| written on every heart and every
tongue on Christmas morning repeats
the song the, angels sang over the
, Judean hills: GLORY to God in the