OCR Text |
Show Page Four THE SPRINGVILLE (UTAH) HERALD December 19, i963 Date of first Christmas mystery and feasting in honor of happiest of all days. 1 It's thought that a bay . will never be struck by J1 ening because it once sheik the Holy family during 6(1 storm. a celebrating Christmas about the same time as the Roman holiday, Saturnalia, and the European Winter Solstice, the impact of the pagans' festival would be lessened. Also, a very early Christmas tradition recorded by St. Chry-sosto-m and other writers, held that Christ's Birthday was De-cember 25. And, December was the time of many winter festivities in all civilized lands. Even now not everyone cele-brates Christmas on the same day. At one time and another, the festivities have been held in January, March, April, May, October and November. And almost every month has been "proven" by some scholar to be the month of the great event. Today, many people cele-brate His Birth on December 6 and January 6. And other days in December and January are "Christmas" in some places. But no matter when Christ-mas is celebrated it is always, everywhere, a time of rejoicing Imagine celebrating Christ-mas in August! Christmas might well have been in that month, for many scholars estimate that the true date of Christ's Birth falls late in August or in early Septem-ber. The exact month, day and even the year of Christ's Birth has been disputed for centur-ies. It will probably never be known because the Bible offers few clues, ancient manuscripts differ, and calendars have been changed too often. The setting of the Day as December 25 was not even made until 354 A. D. The date was decided by the Church, then under Pope Junius I. Why Dec. 25th? It is not known for sure why December 25th was chosen as the day but it is thought that Christian leaders hoped that by Christmas music sets yule flavor around the world Centuries before Christ's Birth when Bethlehem shep-herds heard angels sing, "Glory to God in the highest," Christ-mas music had been per-formed! Psalms about the Messiah's Nativity were composed many generations before by David, a shepherd boy of Bethlehem (who later became the second king of the Jewish nation). About Christ we find David singing "Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips" (Psalm 45:2) reminding us of the Christmas hymn "Fairest Lord Jeusu." A favorite modern carol "The Little Drummer Boy" (telling of a poor boy who had no gift to give the Child Jesus ex,cept a solo on his drum) re-calls to us David, the poor who shouted out hap-pily, "Unto Thee will I sing with the harp, O Thou Holy One of Israel!" (Psalm 71:22). David also gave us a pre-view of the well-know- n "We Three Kings" when he sang, "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring pres-ents: the kings of Sheba and Saba shall offer gifts!" (Psalm 72:10). These psalms and other can-ticles from the Old Testament which tell in prophecy of events concerning the Birthday of Jesus Christ can be consid-ered Christmas music in a very real sense! Once a group of kindergar-ten children went right to the heart of the Season's spirit in a Nativity Play. For the last scene, the children were to sing a song around the Man-ger and they burst forth with a rousing, "Happy Birthday to You; Happy Birthday to You; Happy Birthday, dear Jesus, Happy Birthday to You"! For His Birthday Party there have been composed magnificient Christmas sym-phonies, instrumentals and choral music of all kinds, but the form of music with which we're most familiar is the car-ol. Some songs thought to be carols are really hymns or pi-ous ballads, but it's easy to tell the difference. Though all have a religious story to tell, a carol does so in a festive and even mirthful way. It is a song that .could be "danced to." Hum the old favorite "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen," and see if you don't have a hard time keeping your feet from tapping out the rhythm ! At Christmas we look for-ward to gift-givin- g, to the cheerful gathering of loved ones, to the good food and fun associated with the Feast . . . and most of all to the deep spiritual significance of the Birth of Christ. All these wonderful things are summed up in the music we hear and sing at Christmas. Why, without music, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas! The number of mince pies you taste at Christmas indi-cates the number of happy months you'll have OJVIS YOUt' UDOET 4 Expert Eye Care J J J J S S I , by Dr. G. H. Heindselman optometrist QUICK SERVICE FOR LENSE REPLACEMENTS OR EYE EXAMINATIONS Diamonds Gifts Jewelry Watches Heindselman Optical & Jewelry Co. 124 West Center Provo, Utah h4vS9 a Merry Christmas to Everyone Here's hoping that you and yours will know every happiness of this season. Duke Jewelry 220 South Main 489-422- 1 h , i $ t - f A i ' Pmm mm fHO ' ' , ' i f &&htfm( In v-- HlJt --m f .Am r - 1! f ll' ''iJilvltPV. fi'f 'ml i oi CHRIS I MAS E 1 To love one another as a brother... to 1 U jj I i have good will among men ... to bring peace to 1 "9" t every heart this is the Spirit of Christmas. We pray that it f I j( will enter your home at this Holy season giving to you and Ji I your loved ones the greatest happiness. SPRINGVILLE CITY I PAUL M. HAYMOND, Mayor V j OMAR HANSEN FRANK MEMORY TAYLOR REYNOLDS ( 1 M. D. PEAY CALVIN PACKARD J- - k v K Councilmen I ' J ll P AND CITY EMPLOYEES I .1 Jy This sincere h tt-- R'X wish we heartily XHr extend to you, our many iya frienk and customers. City Rexall Drug Prescription Service 489-40- 7 " YtAM mi 6 YEARS OLD spsr we moan! Kentucky' I OSS Finest Bourbon ISSf for over 150 Years! kzzz$zz Also Avaibble Bottled in Bond 1 . -- i j DISTILLED AND BOTTLED BY ti V I J WATERFILL AND FRAZIER DISTILLERY CO. -'- "! Proof BAR0ST0WN, NELSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY PROGRAM GUIDE ENCORE ON KEYY 1450 on your Dial 6:30 p.m. Sun. thru Frl. Sun., Dec. 22 "Christmas Con-certo" Concerto Grosso in G Minor, Corelli; "Winter" from "The Four Seasons" (Vivaldi) Mon., Dec. 23 Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff) Tues., Dec. 24 "Amahl and the Night Visitors" (Menotti) Wed., Dec. 25 Highlights from "The Messiah" (Handel) Thurs., Dec. 26 Les Patineurs "The Skaters" (Meyerbeer) The Nutcracker Suite (Tchai-kovsky) Fri., .Dec. 27 Clarinet Con-certo (Copland) Peer Gynt Suites (Grieg) Sun., Dec. 29 Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin (Wagner) Ro-meo and Juliet Fantasy Over-ture (Tchaikovsky) Mon., Dec. 30, The Musical Of-fering (Five works) (Bach) Tues., Dec. 31 Dance of the Hours (Ponchielli; Concerto for orchestra (Bartok) Sponsored by WAKEFIELD'S, INC. "Classical Record Headquarters for Central Utah" 78 North University Ave., Provo Make it a merry musical Christmas Music can be as much a part of the Christmas spirit as a Christmas tree, and no home need have a "silent celebra-tion" this year. In fact, while trimming the ree or just enjoy-ing it, music will help set the holiday mood. One will find on visiting a favorite record shop that record offerings are more diverse for this Christmas sea-son than ever before. Whether you like Bing Cros-by's old stand-b- y of "White Christmas" or prefer the more rollicking sing-a-lon- of "Ru-dolph the Red Nosed Rein-deer," you'll find your enjoy-ment will be thoroughly more complete if your phonograph is in good playing condition. Make sure your needle and pick-u- p are mechanically ac-curate and correctly adjusted. To prevent damage and undue wear, the stylus (needle) must be tracking at just the right angle and the pick-u- p and tone arm should be exactly the right weight. Have your needle changed periodically. You should use a diamond needle as it lasts 10 to 30 times longer than cheaper needles. It gives up to 1,000 hours of playing time as against 40 hours for a sap-phire. But even a diamond needle wears out and it is wise to have it checked after about 600 hours of playing. It is dangerous to go much beyond 600 hours without at least hav-ing the needle scrutinized mi-croscopically by your dealer. Abrasions injurious to your records, but not apparent to your ears, may be revealed un-der the microscope. Clean dust and dirt off rec-ords with a slightly damp or chemically treated cheese cloth. Apply cloth in a gentle circu-lar motion over the surface from the outer grooves Inward to the center. For a free booklet on phono-graph care and suggestions for starting a basic record library write to the Phonola Division, Waters Conley Company, De-partment HH, 645 No. Michi-gan Avenue, Chicago 11, 111. |