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Show ORIGIN IN PAGAN RITES Many Old Christmas Customs Have Been Handed Down From Ancient Times. I ! It is interesting to note that many of the Christmai customs which have I endeared themselves to the people j scattered all over the world have their origin in many cases among those ancient men and women who j worshiped strange gods before they (heard the message of peace brought io them by the early Christian fath- era. The holly, the mistletoe, the wassail bowl, the Yule log, and the Christmas tree are remnants of old customs that have become amalgamated amalga-mated and modified into the usage of modern civilization. The Druids of Great Britain, whom the Romans discovered there when they conquered the Celts, were a priesthood ruling the people by cruel witchcraft They worshiped the oak, the mistletoe, and the holly. Their altars on their feast days were decorated deco-rated with tb branches of white end red berries When the early Christian fathers came over to Britain they found that it was easier to amalgamate the feast days of the pagans with their own customs and teachings than It was to eradicate them from the minds of the people who, like ail men and women, loved their recreation days. The Christian missionaries merely changed the name of the feast of the-winter the-winter solstice to that of Christmas, and so the people paid tribute In the old way to the new God. which, to their simple minds, was quite compatible. compat-ible. National Monthly. |