The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-12-23
.HATTERAS ISLE
 AGAIN TO HAVE <. 2 CHRISTMASES
Community of ROdanthe
 Still Observes l2th Night

Rodantie, N. C., Dec. 1T. (UP)--
 Christmas comes twice a year to < this tiny, isolated village on the sand-swept island of Hatteras,
 breasting the stormy Atlantic ocean and Its graveyard of ships" { The 300 residents of Rodanthe, { one of four villages on Hatteras, s and the easternmost settlement in < North Carolina, cling to the tradi- stion of their forefatherS and cele- sSbrate the twelfth night" after z the birth of Christ as Christmas. < So, on each Jan. 5 Santa Claus comes to the children of Rodanthe, ss carols are sung, a Christmas pro-
 gram Is held in the village school and there is a big community tree. ss In the past few decades Rodan- T the has become accustomed to Dec. g 25 as Christmas too, so the chil- srdren of the village get double <. celebration and perhaps twice as
 many presents.
 n It's Christmas Double Now ;. Rodanthe now has Christmas 7 and Santa Claus and holidays on 7, 'New Christmas with the rest of the world and then does it all 7 over again 12 days later.
 The children of the vilalge are
 told, in accordance with the cus-
 tom of many generations that on E the twelfth night of the birth Of
 Christ, wise men brought gifts to
 the Babe and that even the cattle
 kneeled in homage to the new
 King. They believe that at mid-
 night every Jan. the cattle meel .. in honor of that anniversary.
 Both the "old" and ''new'
 Christmas celebrations in the out .,uof-the-way villages are primitive by : modern standards. There is a : Christmas tree, but it must be 7 brought from a nearby island by < mail boat because there is only [ one tree left in Rodanthe -
 gnarled oak quite unsuited to dec- orative purposes.
 a Santa Claus, of course, is the
 patron saint of Christmas but in . Rodanthe he has 8 partner-or perhaps 8 competitor - in "Old s Buck, a whimsical superstition ? of "old Christmas" "Old Buck < is a mythical creature with hoofs 5 and horns who will comet punish s those children who have not 2 earned the appreciation of St. Nick. No one on the island remembers
 how "Old Buck" crept into the 1, observance of Christmas, but he
 is Q definite part of the island
 tradition.
 But tradition isn't all-powerful !: with the islanders. Last year, for :. example there were two Santa { Clauses at the old Christmas cele- {! braaion. It happened that two t Santa Claus suits were available l. on the island and the Rodanthi- ! ans saw no reason to let one of :, them go unused.
 : Community of Heroes < The people of Rodanthe are s frugal by the very nature of their !. lives. They are coast-guardsmen
 and wives and children of coast :, guardsmen. There are probably ]. more, medals per person among < the population than at any other .s place in the world, for the men : of Rodanthe spend their lives giv- {. ing aid to ships trapped in the ' treacherous shoals of Cape aHt- z teras.
 ; Few ever leave the 85-mile long !. island that varies in width from 4 several miles to a few hundred !. feetfi and even fewer people from [ the outside ever come in. There {. are a few motor cars on the island, \ but since there are no roads, no s one has a license tag. The cars \ are driven along the beach at low
 tide and over near the sound at high tide.
 Geography and topography are < constantly changing things to the
 people of Hatteras, for the relent- ! less battering of the ocean and the < sand-Shifting wind alters the isl- . and daily. New inlets are cut
 through to the sound and sand ! dunes drift here, there and every- ' where.
 x The islanders are quietly con- i temptuous of the efforts of the ' federal government to halt the ' ravages of water and wind on the : island. The last congress author 2 ized development of the island into : great coastal national park and < engineers now are planting grass : and trees and building fences in 7 an effort to stabilize the Iand- z sscape.
 ' If the island can be anchored : down" the engineers hope to lay "a road and open the island to
 . travellers. But Rodanthians doubt Y that Q road ever will stay in place - They point to Old Hatteras light < house, now abandoned because the Y waves of the ocean are tapping al '- its base. Once, they remind you ,s it stood mile from the water. T That is their answer to the build-
 :. ing of fences and the planting ot ~ orace