The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-07
CHRISTMAS IN RUSSIA, SERVIA, BULGARIA,
 CREE AND MONTENEGRO.


 This is Christmas, or the Festival of Nativity, for the vast majority or Russians, as well as for nearly all Serbs, Bulgars, Greeks and Monte negrins, and the belated holiday Wlh be celebrated today by many people
 of those nationalities on this side or the Atlantic. The Greek Orthodox church, which still clings to the old Julian calendar, is the domtnent faith in those countries, and also Tn
 Rounania and among =Asiatic. Chris tians The subjects of the Russian Czar include millions of Jews, Polish Roman Catholics, Finnish Lutherans, Mohamedans and Brahmins, but they constitute but a minor proportion or those who hold allegiance to Mich olas IT., who is not only the Emperor
 of Russia but the head or the ftuS- sian church.
 The Russians, the Servians and the Montenegrins will all have the ardor of their Christmas festivities dampen- ed by war. which has already claimed so any of the stalwart sons of those
 lands and caused the spirit of m o1rrling to brood over thousands of
 homes. The people of Russia and the Balkans are more fataIistic than
 those of western Europe, and death
 does not seem so terrible to them,
 so 1t is likely that in peaceful scenes far removed from the batt1efields
 the Greek church Christmas will be
 celebrated 3toay very much as it has
 always been.
 The Russian and. Balkan troops at
 the front will not be forgotten. for
 the governments of Czar icho1as,
 King Peter and King Nicholas have
 long been engaged in preparations to
 make the holiday as Joyous as possi-
 ble under such 1rumstances for the
 men who are fighting their battles. Liquid refreshments of a violent ma ture, such as the Russian and the Serb have always considered zneces- sary to a proper. observance of the day, will not be provide, but all the Christmas goodies will be supplied, and there will be much feasting and ! nerrymaking in the camps and the trenches.
 Pious Rssians prepare for Christ mas by abstaining from eat and all
 rich food for two orFthree weeks be- l fore the fast On the day before Christmas they engage in a com pIete fast, and for twenty-four hours not a morsel ofsfood nor a drop of n- quid of any kind passes their lips. Of course, the majority do not ad- ! lhere strictly to this Spartan custon, but millions of religious people do
 so. l The Christmas program begins early in the morning with the pealing of the bells calling the faithful sto mass, a ceremonial which. lasts two hours. Many remain in the church. all | night before Christmas. The festtvi- | ties incident to Christmas, including
 banquets, slejghing arties, masquer- ades, fortune-te telling and games of va rious sorts. continue for afweek. Gifts are not exchanged on ChFistmas. but on New Year5s Day, which in Russia
 falls on January 14th according to our Ecalendar.
 The Greeks begin their Christmas with religious service that is pecu- | Iiar1y impressive. Christmas anthems in the Greek tongue resound from all 1.-the churches.s where the men stand and the women kneel throughout the l;servfces. Religious Greeks engage in l a seIni7fas -a;bstainings from certain floods, for forty days before Christ