The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-12-19
CELEBRAT|NGDEC.25
YuIetide Festival Once Marked
Return of Sun God.

N~oSerSdnCe OF OSy 10 t,dpiI VI "o'O
Than Twenty Centuries Standing
"YuIe" Means Sun-commu-
|. nifty Christmas Tree.
Celebrating the 25th Of December Is
q habit Of more than twenty centuries
standing. It is q remnant Of that good
nature Of our early ancestors, which
has disappeared to a great extent with
the irritating problems Of civilization.
All the rest of the year, writes Fred
eric j. Haskin, we fight and grab
things away from each other and wear
our nerves to a FRAGILE, 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 u good wishes. At least this
is what we are supposed to do. Many
people do a great deal more in the
way Of community Christmas trees,
visits to the hospitals and baskets for
the poor, and still others regard the
whole thing as absurd and consider alb
stinence from Christmas gifts a sign
Of strength Of character.
Long before the birth Of Christ our
ancestors in northwestern Europe cele-
brated the 25th of December, which
marked the passing Of the winter SOL
stice CT the return Of the sun in the
heavens after conquering the powers
Of darkness. That was the day Of the
sun worshipers. The problem Of the
universe was just beginning to puzzle
and our ancestors figured it out in g.:
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 of the sun was greatly
respected and it was personifed in the;
person of the god Thor. Thor was:
watched with considerable interest,";
| since there was always some doubt as;
to whether he would survive the VIM
ter solstice. Hence the feasting and,
merrymaking when he continued to:
| shine clear and strong In the heavens,
Meaning OF the Word "ule." ::
Besides Thor there were numerous;
gods who lived in the branches Oh
trees. Therefore the people gatheredi
mistletoe boughs and holly branches:
and put them in conspicuous positions?
in their houses, where they might
easily be seen from the outside, in the
hope that some wandering god would
take a fancy to them and take up his.
| residence among the red berries. In
| Germany the early Huns chopped
down the ~evergreens and brought them
indoors for the same purpose. The,
burning of the yule log and the term
yuletide 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 w0rshipers,
the birth of Christ was substituted asi
the cause for celebration and the fes-i
tivities became religious demonstra-'
tons. The people still gormandized,'
trimmed their houses with holly,
branches and gave presents, but the
| 25th Of December usually saw them;
comfortably seated in church. -.
So Christmas has come down to US.
with all these traditions. The German;
Santa Claus legend has improved 1t
considerably for the children, and 1t IS
now known almost entirely as the chill
dren's season.
Community Christmas Tree.
+ Among the finest Christmas institu-
tons today is the community Christ
mas tree, which originated in Madison
square, New York, five years ago and
since then has spread to communities;
all over the United States. The con-
munity "Tree Of Light" is usually.
planted in q central location in the
city, trimmed with balls and nj
a,ents and lighted with electricity
Citizens are organized into committees
to collect donations for the tree and
employ bands of musicians to play
! Christmas carols and hymns. In Bal
timore last year groups Of men and
boys carrying holly-trimmed lanterns.
walked through the streets singing
and greeting each pedestrian with
"Merry Christmas"
While every year there is an increas-,
ing number of persons who decide to: