Evening star., 1932-12-25
pope julius Ruling Accepted.

But Pope julius approved December
Is. and by the beginning Of the fifth
century all the nations of Christendom
had accepted his ruling This accept
ance was facilitated by the fact that 1t
is the date Of the Winter solstice, the
turning point of the year. when Winter
having reached its apogee, must begin
to decline again toward Spring, when
for unnumbered ages before the Chris
tian era pagan Europe through all its
tribes and nations had been accus-
toned to celebrate its chief festival"
1t had been the aim of the Christian
authorities from the beginning to show
tolerance toward all the more harmless
features Of pagan custom. Many OF the
festivals and ceremonies were taken
over as they stood; others were revised.
But with the Winter solStice festival
the church had a particular difficulty.
1t was intended to preserve only its
forms, not its pagan spirit. But the
latter was an exuberant force. hard to
restrain. So, lin spite Of clerical pro-
tests and papal anathemas. in spite OF
the condemnation of the wise and the
sane. Christmas in the early days fire.
quently reproduced all the worst orgies,
the debaucheries and indecencieS of the
Bacchanalia and the Saturnalia. The
clergy themselves were whirled into the
vortex"
A so-called feast of fools was insti-
tuted to afford an opportunity for the
expression of high spirits that the
folly which is natural to and born with
us might exhale at least once year"
In design a special celebration, it was
hoped that this feast would protect
Christmas from abuse. But in prac-
SnI toy-
degenerated into license" Finally, at
q council at AuXerre the subject came
up for serious consideration. "A Flem-
ish divine rose and declared that the
festival was an excellent thing. :.
There was great applause among his
like minded brethren. Then Gerson.
the most noted theologian of the day,
made counter sensation by retorting
that If all the devils in hell had put
their heads together to devise q feast
that should utterly scandalize Christi
anity, they could not have improved
upon this one"
Wild Revels Eliminated.
Both speakers represented extreme
points Of view, but 1t seems true that
"the wild revels of the Christmas period
in olden times almost stagger belief.
Obscenity, drunkenness, blasphemy-
nothing came amiss License was car
ried to the fullest extent of licentious-
ness"
But quieter times have eliminated the
riot from Christmas. Only rarely is
there any recrudescence Of disorder
such as marked the feast in the Middle
Ages.
It was in England that a proper
Christmas. as children Of today under
stand the term. really originated. In
Anglo-Saxon times there was high
revelry in December After the
Norman conquest court festivities
increased in splendor. Not a single day
of sport became the rule, but three
noVena oven began December Is. and the
conclusion came at Twelfth Night,
January 6. "All this period was de-
voted to holiday making" 1t was a
Democratic occasion, and all classes
took part Hospitality was unbounded.
AN English country gentleman Of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries held
open house With daybreak on Christ
mas morning the tenants and neighbors
thronged into the hall. The ale was
broached. Blackjacks and Cheshire
cheese, with toast and sugar and nut
meg. went plentifully round. The
Hackin, or great sausage, must be
boiled at daybreak and If 1t failed to be
ready two young men took the cook by
the arm and ran her around the markets
place till she was ashamed of her lazi-
ness. The gentlemen went to early
service in the church and returned to
breakfast on Drawn and mustard and
malmsey. Mustard is your great pro-
voker OF q noble thirst. Brawn was a
dish of great antiquity, made from the
flesh of large boars.'
Origin Of Christmas Cards.
The rise Of Puritanism for a while
threatened the very existence Of Christ
mas. Indeed. the feast was one Of the
contributing factors in the development
of the Puritan doctrine. Prynne, in
his "Histrio-Mastix," cried: Into what
a stupendous height of more than pagan
impiety have we not now degenerated!"
Be his rhetoric as 1t may, he had some
reason to complain that the England of
his day could not celebrate Christmas
or any other festival without drinking
roaring, healthing, dicing, carding,
dancing, masques and stage plays . t.
which Turkes and tnfidels would abhor
to practice"
Prynne's conception Of Christmas
crossed to America in the Mayflower
It also motivated the Roundhead Parlia-
ment of 1643 which abolished the OBJ
servance Of saints days and 'the three
grand festivals" CT Christmas, Eater
and Whitcuntide. There was no Christ