SOME CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1921, Page 12

SOME CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS.

When the Druids gathered the mistletoe from the sacred oak each winter l wo bull- were sacrificed, and the ancient Britons ate beef as a reminder of this sacrifice. This sign; finance has. of course, long smea died out. but beef has always been the Christ me ■ meat of i the Engfi-h. The loin of beef was i 1.-n -h ••■! bv Charles TT a.t a Christmas ' feast because on return’ng from the bit!>( the dish was so gratifying to his palate. Quoth Charles. “'Odd's fish! a noble , j dish! i Ay. noble made by me! By kingly right 1 dub thee knight — ; * Sir Loin henceforward be.” I For .hundreds of years holly has been i used for Chri tmas decoration. It grows !in -almost every country. The choice of ' our Christmas colors, red and green has : no doubt come about from, these colors which nature provides at the Christmas i i season in the holly and po'nr.ettia. ! The ancient Teutons, who were sun I worshippers that the snreading I of a great ■ce w symbolical of the-i sun rising higher and higher in the j lieavens, and the decoration of our j Christmas trees is supposed io he sym- j l-nßr of lb- qm tree. The lights repre-■ sent the flashes of lightning overhead : ih . 01..o 1 ..- ts and balls svmbolise the ' sun. niocn. and stars, while the little animals represent the sacrifices made to ihe sun god. In another endeavor to I give a now meaning to heathenish customs the early Chri-ttans pvt a new i-r -rnrela'.ion upon the tree dself and attached now meanings to its decorations. The fir itself with its lights, represented the Christ who was the beginning of a, new Pfe in the midst of the wintrv darkness of h-a' hendom. the (.-co of life, the light of the world. ‘•Purelv C’hriMian synihoß were Introduced.’the au-. L. th - :'.v 1. r cross and heart, the star of the cast and the ooiden threads, railed Lametta, whi.-h {•(‘present the hair of the Christ Child. Under the bram-hes of (he tree lies the Babe in-a manger, watched over by Mis parents and surrounded by sheep and oxen.