| Show A M ee ar the christmas tite f or X 19 A that W dula dul A yMa 10 aint answers pasana sen i i kwoi aritt rift attale ba BO toa gr yi hiis i is ies agats rAtS a W wassail bob a bunch of holly or other evergreens ever greens on a pole docked decked with ribbons and hung with oranges and apples appleb and sometimes bearing a pair of dolls was carried about in yorkshire at christmas nearly a century ago and until 1830 the besant ws was escorted by a procession with music at shaftesbury lt it being a tree shaped framework covered with ribbons flowers and peacock feathers on which were hung jewels coins and other articles of value loaned by the local gentry hutchins hutchens history of dorset states in 1803 that the decorations of this besant 11 or byzant hy zant or bezon as it was variously called were sometimes worth as much as 1500 these and kindred customs prevailing in the england of a century ago are am generally re regarded gardea by archaeologists as survivals of tree worship which seems to ave b ve existed everywhere germany probably received the tree from scandinavia where the ancient legend tells of drasil the ash which binds together heaven earth and bell its branches spreading over the whole world and reaching above the sky its roots running in three dl I 1 I 1 THE WASSAIL BOB 11 erections lons ions one to the asa gods in heaven M one to the frost giants and the third to the underworld under world in the far east Japa japanese neso sacred books written a dozen centuries ago relate how the gods pulled up by the roots on an the mountain kager the bair saka tree on the branches of which they hung jewels a mirror and blue and white peace offerings to the shining goddess bodd n of the heavens the hindmo Parl Pari jata and kaha yielded all the objects of the desires of gods and mortals and so too did the iranian the tree of all the seeds at cremation ceremonies in buddhist slam a framework te representing presenting a tree to 0 o which are tied limes and nut mut shells containing money and lottery tic tickets kept occupies a prominent place and after the rites these faulta www fr ulta which are called karap hruS are scrambled for or by the crowd in upper india the scavenger cast caff carry in pr professions processions process ions in honor of their sod cod jwj a bamboo framework deck ed with ith bright colored colore clotha and pea cack chodl and bunches of deser IV ornament and which vew lexi I 1 offerings 1 l to the aad jr of jael wu aw daie which V am or 7 joy prof how MAW ui bols bole is the central spot of the earth while its traits fruits obviously the stars are of brilliant crystal and reach into the liquid vast the pine of cybele and attis attia is still to be seen ceen on the ancient bas baa hung with hello bells a reed flute a wheel and other objects and there are sacred birds among the branches and a ra ran 0 0 FROM A and a bull standing beneath ready foz fox sa sacrifice crince pictures and other votive objects object were attached to the laurel of apollo summing up all the evidence it certainly seems that the christ christmas tret tre hung with gifts has descended to us ui from the times when decorated trees ladon laden with offerings were worshiped as representatives of the ab abstract universe tree whose trunk was the cosmic axis whose roots were in the underworld under world and whose branches lifted jilt aloft into the skies bore up the th heavenly hosts the custom of decorating the church es s with greenery at christmas had its lt origin an a pagan ceremony th great feast of saturn wai was held in december when the worshipers hung th temple with such green things as the could find and and the christiana adoptee adopted the same game method to celebrate the birth of the savior giving it an emblematic turn by referring to the righteous oui branch and justifying it from isaiah 55 18 13 the glory of lebanon shall come unto thee the fir tree the pint pin tree and the box together to beautify beau the place of my sanctuary the holly or holy tree is called christs thorn in germany and scandinavia din di from its use in church decora tiona and its putting forth its berrier at christmas time |
