CHRISTMAS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 190, 8 December 1941, Page 6

CHRISTMAS

Christmas is a symposium, u symphony, and a prophecy. No one age, no one people composed it. It is a collaboration of many ages and nations, each adding a touch of beauty and joy. Some of its symbols are older than our era. In ancient Britain, December 25th was Mother's Night, and the beginning of the calendar year. Mistletoe came from the Druids, and lias magical powers. The Jewish Feast of Lights, emblems of the light of truth, blended with festivals of old Rome, when there was giving of presents and special liberties to slaves, and dolls to little girls. The Christmas Tree grew in Germany, along witli other old and sweet customs, like the burning of the Yule log; both symbols of the life everlasting, as Holly was of the Crown of Thorns. To Francis of Assisi, a saint of the order of poets, we owe the origin 1 of Christmas carols. He went singing through the world, followed by echoes of heavenly melody in the Galilee of Italy. Older songs had sung of the majesty of Jesus; Francis sang of His humililj"—homey, cheery, simple songs, jubilant, playful. No wonder they spread from land to land—■ divine folk-songs. St. Nicholas, the boj r Bishop of • the third century, somehow returned to Holland as Sankt Nicolaas, Sankt Ivlaas for short, who, imported by our Dutch settlers, became merry old Santa Claus. So Christmas, which started in the fourth century, was not completed until the middle of the last century. Dickens had much to do with reviving it in Merrie England, from castle to cottage. In America it has become- not merely a home festival, but a civic sacrament, a community rite, albeit marred by too many price-tags and an air of barter and bargain, unworthy of the day. As many peoples joined in creating Christmas, so many peoples must work together to fulfil the day of peace among men of goodwill, of which it prophesies. No nation can do it alone.