OCR Text |
Show SOUTH CACHE COURIER. HYRUM, UTAH' UTAH BUDGET Orders to refuse the enlistments of Austrians in the national army have Wigiwi i A The origin of this Christmas ... custom, much in favor among the lovelorn , goes back to dim past and. is lost in (By IDA M. BRUCE Its pretty snowflakes. traditions of the Druids': In Utica Globe.) HEN a young man at a Christmas party leads, with an attempt at nonchalance, some, charming young lady beneath a bough of mistletoe In order to win a mistletoe kiss" he is of the opinion that he is luring the young lady into a situation where, by the decree of an ancient custom, she must forfeit the aforesaid kiss. Frankness compels me to confess that the luring is done by the young lady. For their Christmas parties they secure and suspend the mistletoe and she is indeed a most sedate and rather chilling young person who will not, during the festivities, allow herself to be lured beneath the mistletoe. And ail this Is quite within her rights. It is a custom she inherited from ancestors who dwelt in Britain or Scandinavia, centuries ago. Today the mistletoe and the mistletoe kiss are associated only with Christmas. But, in truth, mistletoe had its significance centuries before the birth in Bethlehem which gave us Christmas. Scandinavians claim that mistletoe customs originated with them, but there is an English legend antedating those of Scandinavia, which tells how the girls of semibarbaric Britain, in the golden age of the Druids, did themselves hang up boughs of mistletoe and lure young men into their em- and had everything swear to do Baldur no harm. Ev- erything animate and Inanimate, the animals and men and fish and birds, the water and earth and rocks and trees, the winds and clouds and rain and snow, all agreed never to harm Baldur. Go forth and weep no more, daughter, said Wodin to Nanna, no harm can now come to your husband, my son, and Nanna went forth happy. After that all the gods used to amuse themselves hurling stones and axes and spears at Baldur and he stood and laughed at them, because neither wood nor petal nor anything could harm him. It was great sport mistletoe In order that any standing for everyone. One day while at this beneath it might be kissed by the sport an old woman asked Nanna why first person who caught her there. they were trying to kill Baldur. Few if any growing things are the Everything has promised never to subject, of as many ancient legends, harm him, she explained. customs and beliefs as the mistletoe. Everything? queried the old wom- The fact that the ancient Celts In their an. druidical religion had two great festiExcept the mistletoe, what can that vals, one in June and the other in Delittle shrub do? Nanna laughed scorn- cember, the latter being equivalent to fully. our Christmas. In both of these great The old woman hurried away. Of festivals the gathering of the mistlecourse it was Lokl in disguise. She toe was a sacred rite. got a twig of mistletoe and hardened Pliny in his Natural History deit by charring the outside before the scribes the ceremony. Speaking of fire, fitted the point to a lance and the Druids worship of the oak, he hurled it at Baldur, whereupon it says: They believe that whatever pierced his heart and he fell dead. grows on these trees is sent from , Dedicated to Love and Affection. heaven and is a sign that the tree has As a peace offering the gods dedi- been chosen by the God himself. The cated the mistletoe to love and affec- mistletoe is very rarely to be met tion and peace just so long as it never with, but when it is found they gather brace. touched Lokis territory, the ground. it with solemn ceremony. This they to this an According legend Chelm, ancient high priest, had a great temple Ever since then the mistletoe has do especially on the sixth day of the in the forest where he taught young grown without roots, far away from moon, because by the sixth day the men to become priests. So popular the ground, and even to this day it is moon has plenty of vigor and has not did this temple become that half the used by suspending it above the floor run half its course. or ground. After the preparations have been young men of the countryside were BritAnd so is both ancient made it for a sacrifice and a feast under that and homes their and people, leaving, ain and Scandinavia lay their claim to the tree they hail it as the universal becoming Druid priests. There was great need of the young mistletoe customs and the origin of healer and bring to the spot two white bulls whose horns have never been men in the camps to hunt and fish and suspending a branch of it beneath A priest, clad In a to plant, and, above all, there were so which youth may kiss. There is little bound before. use was custom in white doubt what climbs but the the tree and with robe, many more maidens than young men left that they decided something must a thousand years before the origin of a golden sickle cuts the mistletoe, be done to reclaim them. The girls Christmas. While the story of the which is caught in a white cloth. Then maidens who lured back to their they sacrifice the victims, praying that sought an ancient witch and asked her camps, and to themselves, the young God may make his own gift to prosper help. upon whom he has Pick yonder mistletoe that grows men who were about to become Druid with those cusour of account bestowed it. good without roots upon the trees, go to priests, gives They believe that a potion prethe edge of the forest round about the tom of kissing beneath the mistletoe tree temple of Chelm and hang it today, to Scandinavia also belongs pared from mistletoe will increase there all around and about the forest. much credit. When those brave and their flocks and that the plant is a looked for- remedy against all poison. Stand in waiting there, well hidden, romantic Scandinavians It was believed to be a remedy for until the young men coming forth from ward to Valhalla as their heaven, and the forest each night to bring food to worshiped the gods Thor and Wodin many ills and this belief Is still to be the temple, are under the mistletoe, on Thors day and Wodins day (which found in many remote places in Euthen step forth. They will clasp you is where we get our Thursday and rope. In Holstein, for example, the cermistletoe is regarded as a healing remand kiss you, whereupon do you scream Wednesday), they used to have their for tain feast gods. great days edy for wounds and in Lncaune, right lustily and the young men shall It became the custom, on observing France, it is always administered by be yours." Thors day, to build great fires. These the native people as an antidote for How the Girls Won Back the Men. The maidens followed this advice were called Juul fires. As everyone poison. They apply the plant to the J is pro- stomach of the patient and give him and hung the mistletoe in festoons knows, the Scandinavian nounced quite like our pronunciation a solution of it to drink as well. The about the edge of the forest. Standithose Gaelic word for mistletoe is an tnll ng under It, the young men felt im- of the letter Y," consequently Yule" fires. as of fires were ioc, which means all healer, and spoken pelled to kiss the maidens who stepped The brighter the fires, the higher this Is probably what the Druids forth to greet them. The maidens, as instructed, screamed lustily and the flames towered through the for- called it In ancient times. In the northeast of Scotland people Chelm and other of the old Druid ests where the Scandinavians used to the to cut withes, of mistletoe at the to honor used to god great pay gather rushed their priests forth, fearing Thor, the greater pleased was Thor, March full moon; these they bent in young men were being murdered. When the good old Druids saw the and so it became necessary to pick circles and kept for a year to cure hecIn tic fevers and other troubles. young men embracing the maidens out the best of wood to burn. Then men would go into the forest some parts of Germany the 'mistletoe they drove them away, for they would have no one among them who had looking for Juul logs, and they soon is especially esteemed as a remedy for learned that the trees upon which the ailments of 'children, who someought to do with women. And so, through the peculiar lnflu much mistletoe clung would give the times wear it hung around the neck once of the mistletoe, the maidens brightest fires. They did not know as an amulet. In Sweden on midsummer eve won back the young men, but the custthe reason for this, and believed that om of hanging up mistletoe was kept it was due to the work of the great is diligently sought after, the up. Later after the introduction of Thor himself who caused the mistlepeople believing it to be possessed of Christianity, the custom was added to toe to grow on those trees without many mystic qualities, and that If a the Christmas festivities. roots solely as a means of letting his sprig of it is attached to the celling of Christmas Festivities. people know which trees were best the dwelling house, the horses stall or cows crib, the trolls or evil spirits From Scandinavian mythology comes for burning in his honor. the weird but met will then be powerless to injure either under whenever so And anyone of the interesting story no man or beast. Branches of the plant origin of mistletoe, that the mistletoe in the great forests, are commonly seen in farmhouses enemies were, how matter they parasite of the forest. One of the best great of these legends is that of and their weapons hanging from the ceiling to protect greetson they dropped Baldur, of Wodin, in the would they the dwellings from all harm, but esdays when those ed each other kindly, nor each other until arms strauge gods are said to have walked take up pecially from fire, and persons afflictagainst sickness think they und talked with the mortals on earth, the sunrise of another day. This was ed with theofffalling of the malady attacks us did all can ward Jupiter and Apollo and Diana their tribute in memory of Thor. them a knife with about and Latonia and the other Luck. by carrying A Fetish of Good gods and handle of mistletoe, a has miswhich goddesses of Olympus. of the to bits take They began Baldur was the Scandinavian god of tletoe into their homes and hang it A Swedish remedy for other comsunshine and summer and was nat- over the doorways, and if any enemies plaints Is to hang a sprig of mistletoe sufferers neck or to make urally beloved by all except Lokl, the came, they could not enter the houses round the on god of hearth fires. his finger a ring made For, while the beneath the mistletoe without becom- him wear People rushed out of doors to see Bal-uu- r so long from the plant. Moreover they fashing friends to the people inside when he brought the summer sun, as From this ion divining rods of mistletoe or of there. remained they 'hey had no use for Lokl until the came the habit of greeting people who four different kinds of wood, one of next winter, consequently Lokl dis- stepped under the mistletoe with an which must be mistletoe. The treasrod on the used Baldur. embrace or a kiss, and at great indoor ure seeker places the Nanna, goddess of the blossoms and feasts the mistletoe was hung up In ground after sundown and when it the f Baldur, dreamed terrible the room and the people greeted each rests directly over theIf treasure a were alive. it as move to of rod the death kisses. of begins ems Baldur, and other with went to the great god Like their Swedish neighbors, many Later this mistletoe hanging at Wodin, her and told him and he was feasts came to be put In use only at German peasants consider the mistlee eatly troubled. But messengers the Christmas feast and from that toe a powerful charm against evil re sent forth throughout the world grew the custom of banging up the . mis-tleto- e pale-berrle- hr-ln-ia- d WHITE CHRISTMAS. chilly, said one of the Just the best kind of weather, eh? asked old King Snow. It makes ray cold heart feel snug and warm. How can your heart feel snug and warm when you say yourself it is cold? asked the snowflakes. Ah, that is what you do not understand, little snowflakes," said old King Snow. You are very young. You do not know all things. But I will5 tell you. To be sure iny heart is cold nice and cold just like the winter should be and my heart is a w inter heart. I sleep and rest all summer except some of my family who go far, far north beyond where people live. 'But my heart can feel snug and warm because the snow can feel snug and warm. Havent you ever seen children bury themselves. with snow? And havent they been warm? That was because of the corners of my heart which are snug and warm. The snow is not so terribly cold Oh, no The snowflakes were in the sky and they wanted - to join a few of their ! been received from Washington. A live specimen of golden eagle, measuring nine feet from tip to tip was recently captured near Logan. Frank Mercury, aged 27, a brake man, had ids arm crushed while coup ling cars at American Fork, amputa tion being necessary. Aeetaline welders, to be rated as Instrument makers, and other skilled workers will be recruited in Salt Lake for the naval aviation section. Curfew sounding at 11 :30 p. m., is to be curtains for all dances of young folk at Manti, according to an ulti matum of the Betterment league. state Ranges along the line are fairly free from rabid coyotes, Thomas Redmond, secretary of the state livestock commission, reported on his- return from a trip of inspection. To stimulate interest among the youngsters, a roll of honor may be drawn and medals awarded to school children making the best showings in Utah-Nevad- a the war savings and thrift stamp cam- paigns. Robert Dwiggans, arrested at Butte and brought back to Salt Lake on the charge of having stolen several thousand dollars worth of goods from a store, has been given an Indetermi- nate sentence. Sugar refiners throughout the state and the intermountain country have received authorization from the United States food administration to increase the price of sugar from $7.25 to $7.35 a hundred pounds. Horse steak, horse chops and all other portions of equine anatomy fit to eat may soon be on sale at Utah butcher shops. The experiment of selling horse meat for food has been tried with success in the east. Horace S. Ensign will leave the secretaryship of the Utah State Fair association on January 1, in connection with a program of curtailment of expense which will be in effect until a few weeks before the opening of fair next fall. Snowflakes Were in the Sky. Mrs. Rachel Gordon has filed suit friends who had gone down to the for $15,000 against Harry Krupp as the result of injuries incurred wUn earth. We love chilly weather, said the Krupp drove his automobile into a first little snowflake. Cant we go crowd of people in the business disdown to the earth? trict of Salt Lake on the night of NoNow pray tell me what do you vember 25. to go down to the earth for? asked old Utahs Celery days were a great King Snow. success. More than 10,000 persons in We want to cover the ground with almost every part of the United States snow and we want to go especially at will enjoy a celery eat that will make this season of the year. Utah a byword for its production in What do you know about seasons? thousands of the different towns in asked old King Snow, as he laughed. the United States. And why do you want to go especialn Warning has been issued by ly at this one? S. McCall of the Salt Lake H. You were dreaming the other eveBritish recruiting mission, declaring ning and you talked In your sleep, that drastic methods would soon be said the snowflakes. of all I did that? asked old King Snow. adopted to force the enlistment tlio of residents Canadian and British Goodness, but that was very careless. Intermountain country. snowAnd you said, continued the an engineer ; William. Pidcock, flakes, that you would certainly have P. P. James Terry and Harry Empey, to have a good sleep for you were gothree the switchmen, latter Gilbert, to grown-upchildren and give the ing were taken into custody at Ogden in a white Christmas this year. connection with the robbery of a box Did I explain what a white Christcar loaded with whisky in the local mas was? asked old King Snow. You yards and Promontory Point. Yes, said the snowflakes. Miss Viola Timmins and Miss Norma said that Christmas was the happiest time of the year and that a very jolly, Long of Salt Lake, who enlisted as kind old man named Santa Claus went yeomen in the navy, are now aboard around and filled stockings which chilShip at the Salt Lake navy recruitdren hung up on mantlepieces and at ing station. They are on the job asthe ends of beds. You said he carried a sisting in the handling of the recent great pack on his back down all the record breaking recruiting business. chimneys and fire escapes, to every The members of the state land board home where there were children. have declared their intentions of takAnd you said, that Santa Claus, ing to enforce the conservation and children all said it of steps grown-up- s This among farmers. machinery looked more like Christmas when there follows the discovery by the board was snow and by a white Christmas that there are farmers in the state they meant plenty of us around the who are allowing machinery to become ground. So cant we go down and see ruined through neglect. the excitement? For we are new this That Utah stockgrowers maintain year to the snow world. the highest standard of health among If youre very good you may go, said old King Snow. And do be good, cattle, horses, sheep and hogs of any, for I want to make the ground white, (state in the union was the report but if youre naughty Ill have to pun- brought back by Dr. R. W. IToggan ish you and not let you fall to the state livestock inspector, on his re, turn from a meeting of the United earth. Sanitary associe So the snowflakes were very, very States Livestock t Lieu-tent- , s good and they all began to fall down and land on the earth, the trees, the houses, the window sills every place imaginable. And they began their trip on the night before Christmas. They met Santa Claus and some pf them danced on his great red coat and sat for a few minutes on his white beard and his white eyebrows. Hello, snowflakes, glad to see you, So youve been said Santa Claus. very good, eh? And King Snow has allowed you to be the honored ones to give us the white Christmas?" The snowflakes danced about am some of them peeped in the windows and saw great, tall trees being trimmed by the jolly old man they had met They saw stockings being filled so full they thought they would burst I How crammed and jammed they were with wonderful things ! And they saw the sleeping children, as they fell down on the sills of the bedroom windows. When the next morning came and amidst all the excitement the children shouted, Oh, Its snowed during the night I s; tion. It is the purpose of the state higlw way commission to organize Cache, county farmers into working forces fori the purpose of hauling gravel and other available road surfacing and re pairing material to places where re pair and construction work is to be done in the spring and coming sum4 mer. Senator Smoot has introduced a blU( granting the Lincoln Highway asso elation a right of way 500 feet wide through Tooele county, beginning nenri the Orr ranch and extending via Broad Hallow pass and Granite mountain td Black Point, and then to the mouth o Overland canyon and ten miles lnte the canyon. How to manage a farm that Is the course in business methods! which will be taught at the Utah AgrM cultural college, beginning January Lj Entrance to the course will be limited' to a maximum of forty farmers from flj county, and these must apply through 4 the county agents. te |