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Show 111 IISMSW I IN THE GERMAN alpine districts an ancient belief is that cattle can speak on Christmas Eve. No one ever hears them, however, and it is considered sinful to try to listen. Another tradition holds that bees can sing on this holy night. SHOOTING OFF GUNS and grenades gre-nades on Christmas Eve to frighten W I I away mischievous U JUP spirits Is an old cus- wrn3 f torn in southern l'tivvv5' Germany. This col- ilff t orful ritual has been 'Icjf forgotten In most ilke communities, but it llllpBSI is still practiced in a few places, like Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian alps. EtW The noisy ceremony dates back to pagan times, when bonfires were kindled to greet the returning sun. On Christmas Eve about ten o'clock members of the Weihnachts-schiessen Weihnachts-schiessen Verein (Christmas Eve shooting society) pack up their rifles, shotguns, revolvers and hand-grenades, hand-grenades, and march to their appointed ap-pointed 'spot in the hills. Then at eleven o'clock they begin firing away into the air, setting oil fireworks fire-works and lighting bonfires. At exactly ex-actly half-past eleven all the banging bang-ing stops, and the men quietly go off to their village churches. BRAZILIAN CHILDREN parade tnrougn me streets at Christmas time dressed colorfully as shepherds, shep-herds, singing carols. This procession proces-sion is called the pastorinhas, or shepherds' parade. It Is customary for children In Brazil to place their shoes In windows win-dows or doors in hopes of Christmas gifts, but In big cities the traditions tradi-tions associated with the North American Santa Claus are coming into favor. Since it is summer In this tropical country In December, Santa Claus with his fur-trimmed clothes, sleigh and reindeer seems a bit incongruous, however. IN COLOMBIA THEY celebrate Christmas Day with VJ iVM a glorious fireworks tvC. 3 display. In almost yyLjMrj every village square ' . YmjSjlWlJ a huSe wooden ef-ffl ef-ffl jatJfliU figy of a cow is l(jfllJR erected. Men in ' ?J7h! fill fire-proof clothing vjjyfM jjJf crawl into the cow, (Qjt! crackers, Roman fTp&jl candles and rock-VK-Extair ets, much to the de-" de-" -k light of the chil dren. This curious custom is called the Vacas Locas, or fiesta of the crazy cows." CHRISTMAS DAY Is a holy day In Italy, and people flock to the numerous nu-merous churches for the real merrymaking mer-rymaking for Italians comes on Christmas Eve, which is much more of a holiday than Christmas Day to them. As the eve of Christmas is a religious vigil on which no meat Is allowed, the feast has to consist con-sist largely of fish. Most Italians choose eel for this banquet. A certain cer-tain large species called capitone is especially popular, though quite expensive. In the Calabrian hill country the shepherds come down from the mountains on Christmas and play bagpipes and flutes before the carpenter car-penter shops in special deference to St. Joseph, the carpenter. At St. Marks church in Naples, dogs are taken along on Christmas morning. The faithful beasts wait outside until their masters have completed their devotions. AFTER THE CHRISTMAS Eve supper, -or Willla, Polish girls lift the f i table cloth and pick up handfuls of the zTyF515! straw that has been placed on the table. t V fjg Any girl who finds NS an unthreshed ear ?V!kP1 of grain will be '(ll married soon and ySaKj J will be prosperous, J&U according to tradl- y, tion. IT IS A PRETTY and humane Christmas custom in Scandinavian countries to hang a sheaf of grain outside the window in some snow covered yard so that the birds may share in the feast. In Sweden and Finland the Christmas Christ-mas tree Is kept standing for some time, usually until January 13, Canute's Day, when the neighborhood neighbor-hood children are invited in to "plunder" it. It Is a matter of great pride to the averaca voun ester to have attended a large number of "plunderlngs." ALMOST UNIVERSAL in South America Is the custom of the family fam-ily supper after Midnight Mass, know as Misa de Gallo. As it is then early on Christmas -Day, the restrictions on eating meat, and on feasting fn general that pre-, vail on Christmas Eve, are over. THE ANIMALS MUST NOT be forgotten at Christ- iSi mas n Norway J5VO- Do and cat get VW-vi sPcclal Christmas lA5L fare, sheaves of 1c jilPpPtl Srain are hung for the birds, and a Ol?" large piece of suet ilillf put on the bird tray $gliP outside the kitchen OyVm wIndow 0n ne whJlllPlp farms cow and horse, sheep and pig and all the other animals get special treatment treat-ment The tradition of hanging sheaves of yellow heavy - headed grain outside the house In midwinter is as old as our history. Thousands of years ago, In the Stone Age, the belief was that the spirit which lived In the earth and made things grow, fled when the grain was cut. The spirit hid, it was thought, in the last remaining stalks, that was why the peasants laid aside the last sheaf and kept it. Midwinters, when the earth was frozen and covered with snow and it was dark almost all day, the Stone Age people hung this sheaf near the place they lived. The spirit hiding in it helped the sun become . strong again, and later it returned to the thawing fields to bring the people a new harvest of blessed grain. |