| Show N t I 1 v V r 0 TEEMED 09 pa TWO AM 0 0 MW I 1 ak r e OEM victory may come and victory may go but no future arlum triumphs ephs phs or defeats can ever soften tor for europe the memory of this dark christmas christinas of 1916 the saddest she has ever known pride la in the present and faith in the future sustain everyone of the warring peoples in their exaltation of sacrifice but at carlst christmas mas christmas the feast of the home and of the family exaltation dies and only sorrow the sorrow of the bereft individual remains says the new york sun I 1 it la Is a very different christmas europe Is approaching pro aching this year from that of two years ago then the shock and excitement of the beginning of the war were still tingling in england the question of munitions Is today of no less importance ji to tho the popular mind than two years ago ans the absorbing question of getting a plum pudding to everyman every man in the trenches there was etall talk of the kal keisers kalmers sers dining in parts paris and discussions cus lons as to which ruler should lead tile the trl tri mahant allies in procession through unter den binden YIn linden den 4 victory seemed a much simpler mattir matter then than it does today everyone admitted then that victory would be bought only with sorrow and sacrifice now everyone knows with the hard bard knowledge of experience that victory will be bought only with sorrow heaped on sorrow and sacrifice heaped on sacrifice it is this knowledge borne in on every home however exalted or however humble that makes the christmas eel celebration ebra of 1910 1010 in europe a solemn sacrament of sorrow of all the warring peoples christmas means the most to the germans and on none will the sacrifice of the traditional customs of the day fall all so heavily there Is no blood and iron in the german christinas there is instead a tender arid and appealing sentiment that is typical of all that Is best in the german character the whole world Is indebted to germany for the christmas tree and for many anny of the most delightful of the christmas and customs that americans have adopted ns their own the gernian german Christi christmas fias is a day for the hume bume the family und and the children with its every custom endeared by generations of tradition the real german christmas celebration occurs on christmas eve about four the dinner lb served an elaborate and hearty feast consisting of a long series of traditional dishes nil all enten eaten in d a state of wild excrement during this meal the he Krist kind makes ats 1 ts appearance this figure is a curious product of sentiment and lin imagination agina a queer combination of gf the holy child the nood good fairy arid and our own santa claus itis it is represented in the country district by a half grown hild made up ip ns as nn an angel who goes goel from floor door to door calling for the good children giving sweet meats at one house annl begging them at tile the next after dinner comes the great moment when the doors are opened into the christmas room where the th e lighted trae tree has fins the place of lionor honor the tree Is 19 always placed near a window so that every passerby passer by can see anti and share it A walk through the deserted residence streets of any german town at this hour on christmas eve leaves a memory of christmas cheer and spirit that can never be forgotten by nine the family Is ready to eat again a n light supper including still more of tile the traditional christmas dishes every one rich or poor lias has nuremberg ginger cake its shiny brown surface decorated with almonds and raisins and with the word and the year worked out in pink and white frostl frosting ng stol stollen len a n sort of plum cake and many sweet biscuits of various shapes and sizes are all indispensable parts of this illis feast but this year with a shortage of fats in her food supply so severe as to demand serious attention on the part of the government there la Is in C germany ermany no nd butter or milk for the christmas cakes no nd tallow or wax was for the christmas candles candies to many people this little homely tion will bring a realization of tho the severities of war more vivid and more compelling than even the sight of the fast growing graveyards with two million news new graves in the land with dire necessity robbing her dearest ho holiday liday of its dearest symbols tin no triumphs of arms can maket tila christmas of 1810 1016 anything but a sad ana and sorrowful east in ae tle homes of the german empire in aus ausit alibi in the christmas celebrations are as furled wi na the races and religions that make up that great loosely knit empire where the greek church prevails recalls the celebration occurs a fortnight later than ours that la Is on january 7 it Is accompanied compa nied by feasting and by various local customs the of bohemia and moravia have curious christmas usages in which superstition has entirely triumphed over religious significance this is the great day of the year when the peasant appeases all the invisible world of spirits on the afternoon of christmas even eve the whole lio marches in solemn procession to the stables and cow houses carrying currying bread salt and beans these are offered to the animals i with certain hallowed words and great is the dismay it if any cow or chicken is indifferent to the offering returning to the house the parents all their unmarried daughters with water sweetened with honey thus insuring them honest good temp tempered ered husbands the entire family then the n sip ot of a strong native liquor distilled from plums A small quantity of this Is then poured on the floor to conciliate such other spirits as may have been overlooked everyone then falls on the christmas feast without ceremony but this year war has reached out to the remote I 1 districts and blighted even such simple christmas celebrations as this the men of the fa families milles are all gone only the very young and the very old remain there will be no blessing of the kine this year for there are no h alne ine to bless all have long since gone to supply the army there will le be no christmas feasting for food was long a ago 1 0 r reduced 1 to the smallest guantt ty that will sus sustain tl 1 life and every dayi every village the list of tile the widowed and CP grows longer and longer vienna Is known as ri c gay lighthearted light hearted city its christmas observance Is ordinarily a happy combination of religious ceremony and teutonic good cheer but tills this year the brilliant midnight masses will be attended by black binch robed mourners and there will be no good cheer in vienna the christmas celebration in all the countries where the greek orthodox ox church prevails are much the same As the holiday itself Is preceded by a severe fast the christmas feast takes on a highly important character cliar acter tn in many parts of russia especially in the cities the gift hung bung christmas tree lias has been borrowed from the germans while a pudding of rice and raisins Is the feature of the christmas eve feast from this feast has now been taken its crowning glory the vodka bottle in only one other part of europe has the heel of war pressed so hard bard as in russian poland in only one other place has the land been so utterly devastated by fierce and continued fighting in only one other place will the season of pence peace and good will be such a bitter mockery as aa to the hunted and starving poles and tills this Is in serbia poor brave beaten serbin serbia with its whole population an entire people fugitive before hated and terribly feared invaders during three years serbia has been swept by three wars tho the present ona one so relentless and so overwhelming as literally to wipe out the ordinary relationship of the people to life they have ceased to have homes they have ceased to possess Ss property they must burrow in the earth for shelter ind forage for thelt theli uncertain food like wild animals with her army making trial ing ji a heroic and aad desperate struggle with her people dying doing with their spirit yet unbroken the birthday of the prince of peace will not be celebrated this year in serbia f the sorrows of belgium this year as compared with last ardmore are more of the tha spirit than of the flesh the voice of christmas of peace and good will does not speak very loud to a captive people with its array army terribly decimated its beloved king RII all but driven out of his own country with its dally daily life subject to the scrutiny and the control of a stern captor there Is no room in belgium for any of the old lighthearted light hearted christmas spirit ahat used to show itself in crowded churches for midnight masses and gay all night supper parties belgium waits as all europe watis waits tor for the end of the war walts waits with faith and hope and a n determination as grim as it must be silent happily the physical condition of the stricken peo people peoples pleis ta better than last year there Is not the frightful confusion the separation of families tile the pitiful terror tind and want that went with the flight before tho the invaders all relief measures ure are belgium glunt is no happier this year than last but she Is less cold arid and hungry if the tha belgian people ever again have a united christmas they will find themselves with many new holiday ideas A tree twinkled in every place that housed a german last year find and though the belgians will not allow their christmas to be yet the trees appealed to them mightily car certainly the christmas tree will be much more common henceforth in belgium whether tho the germans sty stay there or not thourl thousands of refugees waiting in england until their country Is redeemed will bring back with them many ideas of the english holiday until the marriage of queen victoria to the prince consort christmas in england was chiefly a day of churchgoing of merrymaking and of mighty feasting the prince brought with him from his german home the customs of the christmas tree and of gift giving the latter has baa never become as firmly firm ay In trenched in england as it Is here but a lighted tree loaded with decorations and presents is established as a part of every english celebration christmas decorations of holly and mist mistletoe leto el the ceremony of the yule tule log and many of the traditional dit ional lonal christmas dishes notably the plum pudding are all owed to english custom 0 but it I 1 a sadder kadder and wiser england that approaches pro a aes aches christmas this year hundreds of thon sands of young englishmen I 1 have died to make her so today every londoner has hag had a graphic lesson in what a powerful and resourceful enemy can do even in a right little tight little island As a further object lesson england will pay for the raisins for her plum puddings something like per cent more than she did last year the war with turkey has done that to her england has had other black Christ christmases mases but they were farther away from home the christmas of 1890 1809 in south africa was one that she does not like to recall while the terrible christmas of 1854 the christmas of the crimean war when as a writer of bf the day put it thanks to general muddle things are arc about as bad as they can be was always a bitter memory to that generation the year 1910 1916 has not been a good year for england and she knows it the knowledge has shattered her complacency and has strengthened her determination but she is not happy about it and her chilstrand Chils Chris trans trivis celebration will be bea a chastened chasteney chast ened feast christmas in the latin countries has always been more of a religious festival than a home celebration in italy it Is more customary to exchange presents at new years than at christmas lighted trees ore are frequently seen but they are the luxury of the prosperous and not the habit of the people the day before christmas Is more of an occasion than the day itself in the cities of southern italy booths are erected in certain streets as before easter for the sale of odds and ends and sweetmeats sweet meats wheeled traffic Is barred and the people promenade slowly up and down exchanging greetings midnight mass Is said in all the churches in the churches tao too are exposed the famous cribs or oi representing scenes of the birth and infancy of jesus the beginning of this custom Is ascribed to st r F francis of assist christmas Chiist mas eve Is the great feast of the season in france in tile the provinces it is celebrated with pro cc ces in the streets which were originally religious in character but which have become profaned by the gayety gaiety of the maskers in normandy 1 and in provence there are elaborate puppet shows of scenes in the life of the infant christ all the street gaiety gayety terminates after mass in feasts in all the homes hoines in paris there are christmas booths set up in many mandof of the boulevards this year they will be devoted to the thestle sale of comforts for the soldiers paris knows better than anyone just how black a wartime christmas can be she has never forgotten the christmas of 1870 for ninety eight days the germans had battered at the city eve every ry sortie had failed miserably the final bombardment was inevitable on christmas eve bowmen men froze to death in the trenches just outside the city better it seems than any of the other nations did france realize from the beginning what diat this present war would mean and realizing she consecrated herself utterly she has made every sacrifice great and small even to giving up the crusty rolls and light white bread that tereas the breath in her nostrils when a frenchman Pre richman every french man eats without co complaint mp faint a grayish bread made of a mixture of wheat and rice and entirely lacking in golden crust he hb has indeed an exalted spirit pari it Is a small thing perhaps but it Is enormously y significant last christmas was a solemn festival in france A million gifts gifts of wool were sent to the men in the trenches E every very soldier had bad a glass of champagne ul there was no merrymaking masses were scald at open air altars erected back odthe of the battle jl nes in the 0 old churan at thann in alsace a FreA cli christmas was celebrated for the first time in fora forty four years but it was a celebration of prayer not of rejoicing this year at least midnight masses will be said in the churches churche of paris but afterward there will be no gayety gaiety in the streets as ad informer in former oTmer years n no 9 dancing rots and harlequins harle barle quins leading leadin gibe the maskers no brilliant round of restaurant raut suppers the beloved revel llon of the Parl parisian so paris on christmas eve evewell will go home through darkened streets with a prayer in hebeart he her heart for all those who anve died for france franca and for all those who most yet die |
