feasts
Many foods for Christ
mas feasting have been tra
ditional since early days of
Yule merry-making, al
though roast peacock, the
feature of the feast in medi
aeval England, is rarely, if
ever, seen today!
Mince pie, with its spices
ar.d fruits, is said to sym
bolize the riches of the
East, from which the wise
men came.
Legend says plum pud
ding began when an Eng
lish king and his men were
lost in a forest on Christ
mas Eve. The cook used
foods he had on hand, in
cluding part of a stag,
piums, eggs, flour, to make
3 single dish all could share.
r
Pastor Wrote To
Please Children
“Up on the Housetops” is a
happy Christmas song written
by an Ohio pastor, Benjamin
Hanby, in 1864.
Believing that music was a
part of religion, he held week
ly songfests for children in
New Paris, Ohio. Since he was
short of money, when the chil
dren needed a new song, he
wrote it himself.
The song, which tells the
joys of going “up on the house
tops” and “down through the
chimney with good Saint Nick”
to the “click, click, click” of
reindeer hooves, gained early
popularity.
Its origin, however, was lost
when the Chicago publishing
house of George F. Root, pub
lishers of the song, burned.
Credit for the authorship was
not restored until after Han
by’s death.
1
MAY JOY ABIDE IN YOUR
HOME AT CHRISTMASTIDE
W A SIL L A
COCKTAIL LOUNGE t LIQUOR STORE
JOHN and JEAN POLIS
God grant you at Christmas the
exceeding great joy the shepherds
felt as they beheld the Star.
A. B. A J. MECHANICAL CC.
JOHN WEISENBERGER & AL WITHEY
PI 5-2900
Palmer
Times Have Changed Bui Shepherds
Still Watch Over Sheep At Night
Sheep and sheepherding are
closely linked with the Christ
mas story, and they also serve
as a symbol of the kindness
and loving care that was part
of Christ’s message to man
kind.
When darkness falls on
Christmas Eve, today’s sheep
herder is watching his flocks
by night and, probably, looking
at the stars in the heavens, just
as the shepherds of old did.
There are some differences—
t for instance, the sheep-herder
on the Western ranges of the
U. S. has changed the shep
herd’s robes for levis, and the
flocks he watches are much
| larger, numbering sheep by the
thousands. But the meaning of
shepherd — “to herd, guard,
lead,” says a dictionary defin
ition — hasn’t changed.
Sheep still must be watched
by night, because, for some
reason known only to the
sheep, night is the time they
are most likely to decide to
roam to faraway places. In sud
den storms, the sheepherder,
his 'horse and dog must guide
the flock to shelter.
The ailing sheep or the new
bom lamb are sure of the herd
er’s gentle care, and when part
of the flock has strayed, he
searches with a diligence that
recalls the parable of Jesus:
“What man of you, having a
hundred sheep, if he lose one
of them, doth not leave th<
ninety and nine in the wilder
ness, and go after that which i:
lost, until he finds it?” (Luk<
15:4).
Ttai Was Talk
Atari Yale Toast
“We sent the first Christ
mas card?” is a question fo
which, it seems likely, a com
pletely accurate and satisfac
tory answer may never bt
found. Probably, the earlies
cards were “do-it-yourself
projects—handwritten holiday
greetings on hand-decoratet
notepaper.
Popular claimant for “firs
Christmas card’ honors is thi
Cole-Horsely card, designed ii
Britain in 1843 by John Cal
cott Horsely, an artist, for Si:
Henry Cole, director of the Vic
toria and Albert Museum.
Since the card showed a fam
ily group toasting the holiday
with glasses of wine, the care
supposedly stirred criticism bj
temperance adherents — evei
though the card also depictet
“clothing the needy” and “feed
ing the hungry.” However, an
other story has it that Sir Hen
ry gained his knighthood a:
the result of the acclaim he re
ceived for sending the firsi
Christmas card.
\
m fpr
RAY’S LIQUOR STORE
RAY BYHAM
PALMER
During this Holy Season
commemorating the Birth of
the Child in Bethlehem, may
you find the source of joy,
and hope for peace eternal.
CHRISTMAS GREETINGS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS
PALMER TRANSFER
Carl and Edith Meiers
Yule Candle
Burning Traced
To Irish
i When the first Christmas
■ candles were lighted, is not
known, and yet the custom of
burning candles at the Yuletide
can be traced back centuries.
the way the story goes, the
“Christ Child Candle” was
burned in windows to light
His way if He made an earth
- ly visitation. It was also light
r ed in atonement for the night
■ of His birth, when shelter was
• denied Mary and Joseph in
s Bethlehem.
■ The legend which surrounds
the lighting of candles at
r Christmastime is said to have
1 started in Ireland. There on
Christmas Eve, a large candle
t is burned which could be snuf
f fed out only by someone nam
i ed Mary. As it is reported from
■ the Emerald Isle, “Who knows
• on some Christmas Eve, Jesus,
• Maty and Joseph may come
again; not to Palestine, but to
■ the Holy Isle on the farthest
r edge of Europe.”
1 In ancient days, brightly
’ burning candles were as much
t a part of Christmas as the
i religious significance of the
holy day. And it was in ancient
times when the bayberry can
dle held particular significance,
i It was believed that if the can
dles burned bright and clear
throughout the Christmas sea
son, the coming year was cer
tain to be happy and prosper
ous.
Then too, in Colonial days,
bayberry branches were dipped
in wax and used instead of
candles when animal fat for
the making of candles was in
short supply.
SHOE TREATS
Spanish children, at Epiph
any, expect the Three Kings to
bring them gifts, and they set
out shoes filled with straw or
grain for the horses the Kings
ride.
Santa, 80 Yean Old,
Made In UJ.A.
Claims to the “new look”
come from various quarters of
the globe, Paris and its Dior in
cluded, but the one indis
putable fact emerges from
all claimers of fame for the
naming of the tag, and that is,
Santa Claus was the harbinger
of the .“new look” back in 1882
with a “Made in U.S.A.” label
indelibly stamped on the seat
of his pants.
That doesn’t mean to say
that the spirit of Santa Claus
isn’t a composite one, nor that
his very make-up isn’t a com
bination of many things from
many lands beginning with St.
Nicholas thru the Germanic
Kristkindl and back to ancient
and even pagan times.
But it’s the round-bellied, jo
vial, ruddy faced character
with the flowing white beard
driving his reindeer-drawn
sleigh across the night sky on
Christmas eve, to which refer
ence is made, and this is defin
itely as American as turkey and
apple pie.
It started, however, with
Santa as a severe looking char
acter, tall and grim, and to
boot, he was riding a tall, thin
horse. A far cry from our pres
ent day conception of the old
boy.
Then followed the name, and
the English children borrowed
the Christmas Saint from the
Dutch, but it became a pro
blem for the small-fry as well
as their parents pronouncing
his name, and through trial
and error, many variations
came to pass until the name
Santa Claus was adopted to re
main for all time.
But that was only a change
in the name. The awesome fig
gure remained until Washing
ton Irving put pen to paper
Sdntd §6n4$
9 OUR BEST
%. HOLIDAY
4 ' WISHES
^ TO YOU!
ROY KNAPP
PALMER BODY AND PAINT
my m
u blowing
pod wishes
May the spiritual Light of
Christmas brighten your day.
KETCMUN SPRUCE MILLS
PI 5-3530 Palmer
f
and wrote his “Knickerbocker’s
History of New York.” He tried
his hand at creating a Santa
Claus.
Irving, an early chronicler of
American Colonial days was of
course, influenced by the early
Dutch settlers in New York
and what came out as a re
sult of his efforts was a Santa
Claus that wore a broad-brim
med hat, sported big baggy
breeches and smoked a long
stemmed pipe. Very Dutch.
To top it all off he had his
“Santa” driving a wagon, which
too, was symbolic of the early
Dutch settlers in New York.
Then came the year 1882 and
with it two men who were des
tined to change the entire con
cept of Santa Claus in Ameri
ca, and who were responsible
for the “new look” of the old
gentleman and Christmas that
has swept the world.
Clement Clark Moore, a pro
fessor of divinity at a New
York theology seminary, sat
himself down one day and be
gan a poem that went, ‘Twas
the night before Christmas, and
all through the house, not a
creature was stirring, not even
a mouse; ...” Of course it
was a poem that became fam
ous overnight and has retained
its popularity through the
years. The name of it is, “A
Visit From St. Nicholas” and
is known in every English
speaking nation in the world.
It was Moore who described
Santa Claus as a round-bellied,
twinkly-eyed jolly old man
with rosy cheeks. But that
wasn’t the end of it. He also
added the sleigh and reindeer.
When Thomas Nast, a fam
ous cartoonist for the Hearst
newspapers, read the poem, he
was inspired to illustrate it.
And it was his creation of the
Santa Claus we know today
that took hold of the imagina
tion of the people and was firm
i ly established as the accepted
Santa Claus, potbelly, rosy
cheeks, twinkling eyes, flow
ing white beard, reindeer,
sleigh and all.
Actually, Santa Claus —
U.S.A. version — is only 80
years old, but the “new look”
created in our time has come to
be accepted throughout the
Christian world, and even if
he isn’t the giver of gifts in all
countries, he nevertheless is as
much the symbol of Christmas
as anything else at Yuletide.
Dt warns FI lad
Early Steckiags
St. Nicholas, the early bishop
who was the first Santa Claus,
is also credited with orginat
ing the custom of hanging up
Christmas stockings.
According to legend, he
wished to provide dowries for
the three daughters of a bank
rupt merchant. Since he want
ed the gifts to be anonymous,
he tossed bags of gold down
the merchant’s chimney. Acci
dentally, the gold fell into
stockings the girls had hung by
the fireplace to dry.
Factual handicap is that,
though St. Nicholas lived in the
fourth century, stockings were
not made with feet until the
11th centupr — but the Christ
mas stocking story is still a
happy legend.
OLD-FASHIONED
WARM WISHES <
TO EVERYONE
AT CHRISTMAS
DOWRES
MARKET