The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-12-09

warning peoples in their e~xaltation of sacrifice.
But at Observation-Disclosures, the feast of the
home and of the family-exaltation dies, and only
sorrow, the sorrow or the bereft individual, re-
mains, says the New York Sun.
1t is a very different Christmas Europe Is an
preaching this year from that of two years ago.
lhen the shock and excitement of the beginning
OF the war were still ~tingling. In England the
question of munitions is today of no less I'm
portance to the popular mind than, two years ago,
was the absorbing question of getting a plum
puudlng to every man in the trenches. There was
still talk of the kaiser's dining in Paris, and dis
cussions as to which ruler should lead the ti-
umphant allies in procession through Inter den
Linden.
victory seemed a much simpler matter then
than 1t does today. Everyone admitted then that
victory would be bought only with sorrow and
sacrifice. Now everyone knows, with the hard
knowledge OF experience, that victory will be
bought only with sorrow heaped on sorrow and
sacrifice heaped on sacrifice. 1t is this knowledge
borne in on every home. however exalted or how
ever humble, that makes the Christmas celebra-
ton of 1916 in Europe a solemn sacrament of
sorrow.
VI all the warning peoples Christmas means
the most to the Germans and on none will the
sacrifice of the traditional customs of the day
fall so heavily. There is no blood and iron in
the German Christmas. There is instead a ten
der and appealing sentiment that is typical of
all that is best in the German character. The
whole world is indebted to Germany for the
Christmas tree and for many of the most delight
full of the Christmas stories and customs that
Americans have adopted rs their own. The Ger
man Christmas is a day for the home, the family
ana the children, with its every custom endeared
by generations of tradition.
The real German Christmas celebration occurs
on Christmas eve. About four o'clock the dinner
is served, an elaborate and hearty feast, consist.
ing of a long series of traditional dishes, all eaten
In n state of wild excitement Durino thic r,aoI
the Kristkind makes its appearance. This figure
is a curious product Of sentiment and imagina-
ton, a queer combination of the Holy Child, the
good fairy and our own Santa Claus. 1t is rep
resented in the country district by a half-grown
child made up as an angel, who goes from door
to door calling for the good children, giving sweet
meats at one house and begging them at the next.
After dinner comes the great moment when the
doors are opened into the Christmas room where
the lighted tree has the place of honor. The tree
is always placed near a window so that every
passer-by can see and share it. A walk through
the deserted residence streets of any German
town at this hour on Christmas eve leaves a MEM
DRY of Christmas cheer and spirit that can never
be forgotten.
By nine o'clock the family is ready to eat again,
a light supper including still more of the tradI-
tiOnal Christmas dishes. Every one, rich or poor,
has Nuremberg ginger cake, its shiny brown sur
face decorated with almonds and raisins. and
with the word "Weihnachten' and the year
worked out in pink and white f~rosting. Stolen,
a sort of plum cake, and many sweet biscuits
of various shapes and sizes. are all indispensable
parts of this feast.
But this year, with a shortage of fats in her
food supply so severe as to demand serious at
tention on the part of the government, there is in
Germany no butter or milk for the Christmas
cakes, no tallow or wax for the Christmas can
dies. To many people this little homely deprlva-
ton will bring n realization Of the seventies of
war more vivid and more compelling than even
the sight Of the fast-growing graveyards. With
two million new graves In the land, with dire ne
cessity robbing her dearest holiday of it's dearest
symbols, no triumphs of arms can make this Christ
mas of 1916 anything but a sad and sorrowful
feast In the homes of the German empire.
In Austria the Christmas celebrations are as
varied as the races and religions that make up