CLUSTER.OF LEGENDS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 13, 23 December 1911, Page 9

CLUSTER.OF LEGENDS.

LINKS WITH ALL LANDS. (By Annie Jessie Anderson.) All around tho season of the coming of Christmas there havo sprung legends and beliefs, like blossoms in a gracious clime, which testify with subtility to the depth of tho appeal of the birth of Christ. Hero divinely spiritual symbolism and there sweet human tenderness anil pathos appear, and, blended, ■ they evidence the world's belief that this was both Sou of Man and. Son of God. ■ The Christ-Child. An Irish legend tells that, on Christmas Eve, the Christ-Child wanders out in the darkness and cold, and the peasants still put lighted'candles' in their windows to guido the sacred little feet, that they may not stumble on their way to their homes.- And in Hungary the people go yet further in their tenderness lor the Child, they spread ' feasts 'and leave their doors open that Ho may enter at His will, while throughout Christendom there is a belief that no'evil can touch any child who is born on Christmas Eve. ■■■•■•.• Tho Manger.. Tradition declares that within the stone manger there was another one of wood, and that tho stone cradle in the Chapel of the Nativity is, indeed, the outer manger. Splendid is that humble stone trough now with white marble, softly Tich with costly draperies, and radiant with a.silver star, .which is surrounded by sixteen lamps, ever a-lit. . But yet. more glorious' is; the wooden manger, at Home, hold'to :bo the'veritable manger -in which the'Christ-Child lay. It was Temoved to Borne.in.the seventh century, during the 'Mohammedan.'.invasion, of the Holy Land,, and there it is_ preserved' in a strong brazen chest, from which it is brought, forth on Christmas Days, when it is placed on tho Grand AltaT. It is mounted upon a stand of silver, which is i inlaid with gold and gems, and tho shrine in which it rests' is of, purest rock crystal. In. the days in which this was accomplished, . men, whatsoever may have been their shortcomings in other directions, gave magnificently to the Church Visible. • • .' The Holy Thorn, It is -not. so many centuries ago since there was that Holy Thorn at Glastonbury which blossomed every Christmas, and, so ran tho.legend, had done ever eince St. Joseph of Arimathea, having come as apostle to Britain, and landing at Glastonbury, had stuck his staff of dry hawthorn into the soil, commanding it to put forth leaves and blossoms. This the staff straightway did, . and thereby was tho .king converted to the Christian faith, tho faith.which .nreached life from death. ; . ; .-., _ Tho Holy Thorn of Glastonbury flourished during the centuries until the Civil Wars. During those it was '-uprooted, but several.persons had had trees growing from, cuttings from the -original tree, . and these continued to bloom at the ' Christ-season, just jh their parents, which had grown from bt. Josephs staff, has. bloomed.' And about the-'rniddle ;of the' eighteenth century it was recorded in tho "Gentleman's Magazine" how the famous' Holy Thorn would not deign to. recognise tho New style Calendar, which had then come into force, but would, persist'in blossoming as: of. old onOld Christmas 'Day. In those days the anniversary 'of the. Advent of the Babe had certainly meant raoro to the common people than merely a time for feasting and revelrv, for giving and receiving; it- had. been aW a season for holy observances, for they refused to go to church on New . Christmas -Day, the Holy Thorn not being thenin blossom. &o serious,becameihe.trouble that -the clergy found it,prudent to announce that Old Christmas Day. should also' bo kept eacrod as : bcfore. Only another story of men's weak, superstitious minds? Of the Keeping of cup and the platter? True, they-afe better who evidence some spiritual.weakness-than those who' wallow in the wholly material, and whea ■we cease to bo.-.careful of ..tho.-,.cupi.and the platter, wo.-become not over careful-of their contents.-- •'.--• > .•■-■■ - ;.: Christmas: Bells, There/are.several 1 exceedingly touching legends concerning bells, which are heard ' ringing, frem buried cities and villages at this season; ■ One belongs to a village near Ealeigh, in Nottinghamshire, and the story runs that once, where there is now but a valley, there was a village which, with every trace of life and habitation, had been swallowed by-an earthquake; but ever since, at Christmas, the < bells of .the. buried-church are-heard to nag. as of -old. - •V. ... A similar legend is : told-of Preston, in Lancashire,' and- yet another' and- more moving one comes from the Netherlands. It is said that the city of Been was notonous for, its black and shameless sins, as well &$< renowned for its beauty and magnificence. ..To the Sodom of the Middle Ages came our Saviour on one anniversary of His birth, and went as a beggar from door to door, but not one in all that Christmas-keeping. city, gavo tho Master of the abundance. Sin He saw rampant ou every side, but not a trace of Christmas bounty r and goodwill; and He called to the sea, which, as of old, obeyed His voice, and Been, the city of sin, was buried.deep, clean out of sight, beneath the waves. But ever at Christmas up from beneath the covering waters comes the sweet, calling of church bells buried beneath Been. It is a legend which appears to toll in parable that nothing which ever belonged to tho Christ,' and was dedicated to His service, is ever wholly lost from Him and alienated from service; that ever arid again, something of their inherent beauty and Compelling flweetness rises from the depths throughall scorning ruin'.-.' Legends of Christmas' Eve, ■ Tradition says that the hour of the - Babo's birth was' the hour of midnight' and legend adds that from then until dawn cocks crow. ' In Ireland it is held that whoso looks into a mirror on this evt will see the Devil or Judas Iscnriot looking over his shoulder, surely thought sufficient to drivo the hardiest' soul to a thought of the innocent Babe. Another legend tells that, on Christmas Eve, Judas-Iscariot is released from that hell—"his own place"—and is allowed to return to earth that ho may-cool himself in icy waters. In Cornwall it is believed that at the mystic hour of midnight,, for oae brief moment, tho water in all wells and fountains is turned into wine; while in all parts of Christendom' it has been held that then the cattle kneel in their stalls; In some places it -.was believed' that then the brute creation had.'the gift of human speech, and it is-very possible that this, belief may have arisen from the saying »f Isaiah, "The ox knoweth his owner, ind the ass his master's crib." Also it may be traceable to St. Paul's declaration that "the whole creation grOaneth and travaileth until tho coming of Christ." "The cattle on a thousand hills are His." Miid the Psalmist, as well as are the children of men. Why' may they not bo glad in that Coming, which revealed the Law of Loving Kindness? * .■■ * * * Wild and improbable although such and such' legends appear on their faces, they bear, study, and repay it,' for wo then eco that they are full of subtle spiritual-facts, arid it will be ill for us should the Christmas Day over-dawn on which such flowers of tender faith and wonder shall appear to us no more than dry, curious specimens from the- dead Toots of superstition. '