The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-12-30
TIME IGNORED
 CUSTOM WILL
 BE CELEBRATED

nant of that good nature of our early ancestors, which has disappeared to a great extent with the irritating problems of civilization. Ali the rest of the year we fight and grab things away from each other and wear our nerves to frazzle, but at Christ mas we close our commercial ex- changes, eat tremendous quantities of food and send presents and postal cards to our friends and relatives bearing our good wishes. At least this is what we are supposed to do. Many people do great deal more in tthe way of community Christmas trees, visits to the hospitals and bas- kets for the poor, and still others re- gard the whole thing as absurd and consider abstinence from Christmas gifts sign of strength of character.
 Long before the birth of Christ our ancestors in northwestern Europe celebrated the 25th of December. which marked the passing of the win ter solstice or the return Of the sun in the heavens after conquering the powers of darkness. That was the day of the sun worshipers. The prob lem of the universe was just begin ming to puzzle and our ancestors figured 1t out in straightforward manner that was not half bad for supposed savages. All plant life, it was observed, depended on the sun for its existence, and all animal life depended on plant life, so that the power fthe sun was greatly respect ed and it was personified in the per son of the god Thor. Thor was watch ed with considerable interest, since there was always some doubt as to whether he would survive the winter solstice. Hence the feasting and merrymaking when he continued to shine clear and strong in the heav- ems.
 Meaning of the Word "YuIe"
 Besides Thor there were numerous gods who lived in the branches of trees. Therefore the people gathered mistletoe boughs and holly branches and put them in conspicuous posi- tions in their houses, where they might easily be seen from the out side. in the hope that some wander ing god would take fancy to them and take up his residence among the red berries. In Germany the early Huns chopped down the evergreens and prot them indoors for the same purpose. The burning of the yule log and the term yultide are survivals of these early December festivals whose influence is still to be seen today in our own Christmas celebrations. "Yule" means sun.
 With the dawn of Christianity and the conversion of the sun worship pers, the birth of Christ was substi5 tuted as the cause for celebration and the festivities became religious demonstrations. The people still gormandized, trimmed their houses with holly branches and gave pres ents, but the 18th of December usu- ally saw them comfortable seated in church.
 So Christmas has come down to us with all these traditions. The Santa Claus legend has improv- ed it considerably for the children, and it is now known almost entirely as the childlens season.
 Community Christmas Tree
 Among the finest Christmas insti- tutions today is the community Christ mas tree, which originated in Madi- son Square, New York, five years ago and since then has spread to com munities all over the United States. The community "Tree of Light" is usually planted in a central location in the city, trimmed with balls and ornaments and lighted with electric, ity. Citizens are organized into com. mittees to collect donations for the tree and employ bands of musicians to- play Christmas carols and hymns. In Baltimore last year groups of men and boys carrying holly-trimmed lan- terms walked thru the streets singing and greeting each pedestrian with Merry Christmas!"
 While every year there is an in- creasing number of persons who de- eide to "be sensible" and send cards in the place of Christmas presents, the average person lacks the cour. age to face his family empty.handed on that day. But Christmas is a spirit, which you either have or have not. If you haven't it. the holidays are only a bore; on the other hand. if you allow yourself to become en. thusiastic there is really lot of fun to be derived from 1t, even tho you're lonely and away from home. Last year a travelling man who was com pelled to spend Christmas away from his family in a strange city, gather. ed a number of little tenement waifs together, took them into large res taurant and treated them all to a Christmas dinner. "I never had so
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