CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1343, 5 January 1915, Page 4

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS.

HOW THEY ORIGINATED. Christmas Day not on the 25th of December would not seem Christmas at all ■ yet in the early centruies of Christianity January 7 was Christmas Day. The Eastern Church did not come into line with the Western, which had adopted December 25 for over 400 years. And even now the Armenian Church keeps Christmas Day in January, on the day when the rest of Christendom is keeping a different festival, that of the Epiphany. The popular Christmas pudding is. comparatively speaking, quite new. It is simply the successor, improved out of knowledge by many extra ingredients, of “ plum duff,” which a sailorman made from dough and raisins, on Christmas Day on board ship, as an experiment in cookery. It was liked, and from being the sailors' favourite pudding for Christmas Day, it spread to the shore, and rapidly became very popular. Many and various are the explanations given as to the beginning of the Christmas box. It seems to have had its rise in the early days of Christianity in Rome. Boxes made of pottery, were placed near the alter at Christmas time, and in these boxes the people placed money gifts, which were afterwards distributed among the apprentices. The custom spread and reached England, and under varying conditions it has been kept up. The day on which the gifts were made became known as Boxing Day, and though the boxes have ceased the name remains. The Christmas card and tree originally were both “ made in Germany,” and their origin hardly needs stating.