The Coolidge examiner., 1933-12-15

SsHE ly 1900 years ago."
DIX True! II 1t had not been for the
olU birth OF Jesus Christ there would be
NM occasion for celebrating December
aSI 25 Christmas day. And II that cee-
q bratlon had been kept to It's original
form, there would be occasion for
writing article such as this.
But the fact is that there has grown up around
the celebration of Christmas a great variety of
customs traditions and practices which we now
regard as essential parts Of that observance even
though they may have departed from its original
meaning. Some OF these have had such gradual
evolution that 1t would be impossible to ascribe
them definitely to any one person. But there are
others which we can trace directly to one or
more indvlduals-hence the theme of men who
helped make Christmas" what it is now in this
article.
Certainly Santa Claus seems to be an essen
tial part of the Christmas celebration. Speak of
him and there rises to mind a picture of plump
elflke little who radates laughter and
good cheer. Why should he be that sort of per
son instead OF the stern, gaunt. rather formd
able figure, solemn and majestic in trailing robes
carrying In hand basket of presents and
in the other a birch rod, as an awful warning to
naughty children. such as he was when he was
known as Sinterklass, or the BishopSaint Mich
olas. by the first Dutch settlers In this country?
The answer to that question is the names Of
three wrters-James X. Paulding, Washington
Irving and Or. Clement c. Moore-and an un-
known American artist II Washington Irv-
ing who in his "Knickerbocker's History Of New
York" in 1909 wrote the first description of the
new type of Santa Claus and made Snterklass
or ST. Nicholas, the patron saint of the Dutch
colonists of New Amsterdam, the archetype Of
all of those jOval, many y-breeched long pipe
smoking burghers.
The next writer to paint word portrait of
Santa Claus was Irving's friend and collaboration
James Kirke Paulding, who In his Book of St
Nicholas" first published in 1927, said Santa
Claus was "as gallant little Dutchman as ever
smoked his way through the world pipe fore
most"
But it remained for DR.. Clement Clark Moore
in his poem "a Visit from St. Nicholas" to give
a more definite word portrait of st. Nicholas and
pretty definitely establish in the mind of the
public what Santa Claus looked like
How much Moore drew upon Irving and Paud-
ing for his description is not known but there
is a curious paralleliSm in some Of his words
and some of theirs, although Moore, himself 40
years later said that "a porty, rubicund Dutch
man living in the neighborhood of his fathers
country seat Chelsea" near New York city sug
gested to him the idea of making st. Nicholas the
Then in 1889 a book called "The Poets of
America" edited by John Reese, was published
II contained Moores poem and the illustration
for that was picture of Santa Claus. Repro-
duced abOve) Who the painter or the engraver
was is unknown but it is believed that this was
the first time picture of Santa Claus was ever
printed Thus it was washington Irving James
X Paulding, Clement c. Moore and the unknown
Illustrator of Keeses Poets of America" helped
make Christmas by giving MS our present idea
of the patron saint of the holiday.
What would Christmas be without Christmas
HYMNS and Christmas carols? And what song
has been more often sung on Christmas Eve or
is more beloved than "Silent Night, Holy Night? :?
Ii was on December "a of the year 1918 that Jo-
sef Mohr, assistant pastor of the newly estab-
lished St Nicholas parish church in the little
village of Oberndorf, near Salzburg, Austria,
handed to Franz Gruber, a schoolmaster of Arms
dorf who was organst for the church. poem
with the request that he write for 1t suitable
melody arranged for two solo voices chorus and
guitar accompaniment-the reason for the lat
ter being that the organ in the little church had
broken down.
So Franz Gruber sat down at his grandfathers
desk Immediately, wrote simple melody for the
poem and that night on Christmas Eve, in St
Nicholas parish church for the first time
sung "Stille Nacht. Heilige Nacht"
To the fact that the little organ in Oberndorf
had broken down is due the widespread popu-
larity of the hymn The organ builder. Karl Man
racher of Fugen in Zillertal had been sent for to
make the necessary repairs. He heard the air
and hummed it in his native country, where Il
became very popular in a short time and soon
spread all over the world
Thus it was. too, that Josef Mohr and Franz
M ShriS m