Show t by ELMO SCOTT WATSON uita all the centuries that have elapsed since the birth ot christ gave to what are now known as the lons of the world the occasion for celebrating one day in each beir in honor of him there hae become associated with that day a host of symbols traditions and customs contributed by the various countries which anve made it more perhaps than any other red letter day on sm an international hollday ve are somewhat prone to place christmas in the same category with the distinctively american of fourth of july memorial day and day without al ways realizing that we are only one of the many peoples who are celebrating it it Is a curious fact to that associated with this christian holiday are symbols and trad alon of pagan origin the date itself wi which Is now universally accepted as the of christ although there Is no exact ahls record to establish that birthday Is derived from many sources all antedating the christian era by miny centuries in fact the his background for eliat dite Is the earliest period in the history of mankind dating a it does from the time when primitive man first began to recognize the phenomena of the changing seasons in 0 o his own life one ol 01 these was the winter solstice on decem her 1 which was observed ath festivity in per sla alna and egypt ii ancient times in gome parts of china they still hold a feist on december 21 without knowing the reason for it the ancient egyptians ate goose the historical precedent for the goose or turkey of the present day for dinner in honor of the winter it Is i curio is coincide nee that the sym hoi for goose in the hieroglyphic Is he tame as the symbol for child so thai there 1 of nn in the alon of the solstice and the christian cele of christmas in honor of the christ child in ancient home the winter solstice was also because when the shortest day of the year was over and the december sun began to its upward cour the romans thrilled to lie promise of coming spring the festival they held was in honor of their god and at that time they prepared a feast which they called ahe saturnalia there were gifts and merrymaking and of true roman magnificence and their temples were decorated with flowers and preen branches undo the reign of he caesara caesars slaves ere liberated d were to allne with their ro asters prisoners were not for their misdeeds and war never wis declared de lared truly it was a time of peace on earth good will to men when the romans invaded britain they brought with them their customs and found that the ele benlon of the saturnalia was somewhat some similar to a celebration held at the same time by the pagan britons those of the druid in these rites the mistletoe which was held sacred y the druies druids was cut from the sacred oak with a golden blikle by the prince of the druies druids I 1 ater when the mistletoe was hung in the fann houpes the young men had the privilege of kissing the girls under it plucking at each kiss a berry from the spray when the berries were all plucked kissing time was over so it evaa from these pagan druies druids that we re calved the mistletoe as a symbol of christmas as we did also the custom of burning the yule log the scandinavians from whom we get some of our customs also had the yule log and burned lule area in he night in honor of thor the thunder god the yule log has survived AS one of the principal features of the modern english observance of I 1 ind around it has grown up a number of traditions or superstitions of its own in northern it Is believed that if a person or a bare footed person cornea into the house while ire log la burning it Is an omen of bad luck they also put away the brand remaining from the yule log very carefully for ww f at laika n in lighting the tule log on nest beirs christmas fire just how all of these customs cime to be asso clites with the christian holiday celebrated in honor of the birth of christ cannot be definitely determined for the merging of customs of differ ent races and nations Is such a gradual one that it Is impossible to isslyn definite dates for the origin of miny traditions the early frowned upon the pagan ceremonies hald at the time of lie winter solstice yet they could not prevent heir invasion of own hilr day in the eirl lest davs of the christian en january C the day christ waa supposed to have been bap was observed v the followers of the new religion and the observance of decem ber 25 as christmas crew out of a sort of coin promas between january 6 and decem 21 the day of the winter solstice and the high hollway of the kigans gradually ohp christian christmas begin to relice the pagan festivals and the holiday of the season began to be observed on december 25 however a part of the creek still observes 6 ignoring december 2 while the russling Russ lins he cause of their adherence to the julian calendar observe christmas some 11 days later than do other peoples although lie first observance of december 25 as christmas has been lost in obscurity it Is said that julian I 1 bishop of rome from to A D established the festival at rome bome time between those two dates and it Is probable pro bible that hv the fifth century the date ans pretta well established throughout lie ald king arthur Is believed to have held the first christmas day festival in britain in the city of york in A D this festival listed for several days and so appealed to his people thai it became an annual custom it ans about this time too that the of the mixture of druid and roman symbols and traditions begin to appear in the christmas celebrations the christians saw with ularm the of what they considered heathenish rites with their own ceremonies hut chev were powerless to check the growth of he alien influences and hie impedance of the es alval gradually grew until occurred an event which seemed to the a just rebua e for the increasing importance of the pagan bradl alons in king alfred ans holding high revelry on christmas dav when he was surprised hv hp danes his army cut to pieces and he himself be came a fugitive in 1221 there was an important christmas cele britlon staged hv st francis of assist in a grotto near in the mountain of itala there was n vigeant at midnight portraying the and thomas of celano who was flan the worshippers wor shippers writes that they saw a smiling babe appear in the arms of t francis a he bent over the manger the report of his miracle spread over the land and B convent was built there to commemorate it ciotto painted n picture of the incident and this celebration and this pi ture did much to give ns our present day ideas of the nativity of carst bv the earla middle ages had become the greatest of the annual festivals and although altho in some countries england the pagan elements of the celebration still existed for the most part the christian element was churches were decorated de orated and plays concerning the nativity were alvn carols were bung in the streets and images of the mriln and christ were carried about from house to house there wac feasting and merrymaking too as well as religious ceremonies in the england of Shake time he christmas festivities were very elaborate lasting until twelfth day and during thi time there was no work of any kind so the merrle christmas of 0 d england became esfan lashed then caroe the period of the puritans whose straight laced ideas gave then a been als taste for christmas festivities especially those in which the pagan elements were most evident so they prevailed upon parliament to prohibit such celebrations and christmas was made a day of fasting and prayer instead of a day of feasting and fu but after the restoration th old cele yai fc brat lons came back somewhat subdued for awhile but eventually rather similar to what they had been before if the merrle of old wim its rule logs mistletoe holly cheery christinas carols christinas carda plum puddings and pies and all of the other elements which combine to make it a season of have served to change the original character chir acter of the ho iday it Is equally true that other countries hive contributed other traditions which help make it a joylin se i son germany has contributed the hrissa n IP tree and martin luther Is said to have been the farst to set up n atiee n that country has contributed alie jolly old santa inns as th symbol of cheerful giving and the of him ing up christmas stockings in he Is to pur his gifts the latter Is an outgrowth of the custom of the dutch children of placing their wo den shoes in the chimney on st eve december 6 when tte spirit of the ino si they called him liter inan clan ande hla and left 1 li gifts for them tills custom of h hinline inline up ts ingals also said to hue in from two customs in aisi arioni U peasantry lere was fl custom whereby i gari discovered brou li n whom slip wal I 1 have for her husband and lie in this custom was come arnt anke mv rax on among the nal claie cli ie placed bonev in alie stocking f rt barriage as B gift for alie kilei although 1 with helni he contributor of sinta nau no a mitter of fact this symbol of christans Is a composite character har acter and under a of name he a legacy from n number of in H annd lie Is SInter klaas or ann in ap Is iri kringle a derivation from krist the christ child and in france he to yoel or pere noel and in itala the children believe hit he nas n rom canlon on hla annual trip a port of mis inta lain 1 whom chev know as I 1 n n of the for fi but it mut not he that one of the christmas custom has been contributed bv ani one country in nearly all of the christmas traditions there are contributions from several nations and berv country claims n feiar in most of them america lie youngest of nil nations has inherited its christmas customs from all of them but it has so we believe improved upon many and contributed one or two of its own the principal one f ourse s the tur key for the turkey Is nil american but as evl dence of the fart that christmas Is truly an international holiday consider these words of conf writer on the history of christmas we eat the goose it may hae changed to a tur key in america as a to the sun they tell us we hang the mistletoe of the druies druids burn the yule log of the nordic holly some authorities say Is our own symbolizing he crown of thorns the christ wore to golgotha the red berries are drops of blood we drink the wassail bowl some of us handed to our lips by the vikings we decorate the sacred oak which by the grace of st Is an evergreen we await the coming of the germanic santa clauf for our gifts and we chant peace on earth good to all men which after all Is the most important |