SiSig!
Egyptians Made
Elaborate Dolls
For Children
No one knows for sure who made
the first doll, but it can be assumec
the earliest figures were sacred
gods and ancestor images. Thest
doll-like forms were not toys foi
the delight of children, but solemr
religious figures that preserved the
tribe from harm.
Then, somehow, somewhere, s
change took place. Dolls became
a toy for girls and the most popu
lar Christmas toy of them all.
Dolls have been discovered ir
Egyptian tombs and ruins, some
even had real hair; some were
ivory, carved by craftsmen for a
king’s daughter; others were made
of straw by an overworked mother
in a peasant’s hut.
In ancient Greece dolls were
played with and cherished by little
girls until they were ready to be
married. Then (their dolls were
taken to the shrine of a favorite
goddess) and, often with tears,
presented to her. The Roman chil
dren played with dolls, too, but
after the fall of the Empire there
came a long period in which there
is no record of dolls.
Not until the thirteenth century
when dolls were made in Nurem
berg and dressed in the fashions
of the times did little girls again
play with dolls. They were here to
stay.
By and by in Europe, the French
fashion dolls became all the rage,
not for children to play with but as
models from which fine ladies
could pattern their own modish
costumes.
In America, the Indian children
had dolls of their own made of
rawhide and feathers and wood.
Pioneer children had dolls much
like these, and some were made of
braided cornhusks, or nuts, or
corncobs, or rags, and were dearly
loved in spite of their plainness.
Much later, lifelike dolls were
imported from Germany, where
the doll industry had reached
enormous proportions. These dolls
had fine china heads with care
fully painted faces and kid bodies
that were jointed at the arms and
legs. Later there came the
Japanese-made dolls, which were
inexpensive enough for almost any
child to own. Then the American
made dolls began to appear—the
special dolls, the kewpies, billi
kens, Buster Browns, teddy bears,
Patsy dolls and Shirley Temples
and phonograph dolls, with all the
host of others that have followed
and which are still to come. For
dolls always will be part of child
hood and part of Christmases as
long as there are little girls and
boys to play with them, and par
ents and fond kinfolk to buy.
CHRISTMAS FEAST . . . The
toys have been opened and
church services are over. Now,
it’s time for that Christmas feast
and a turkey drumstick.
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CHRISTMAS CHOIR ... Junior
members of a church choir lift
their voices in song during the
annual Christmas candlelight
service. Truly, they represent
the spirit of Christmas.
Quaint Rehearsal
Of Christ's Birth .
Found in Old Carol
“Auld Lang Syne” has become
such an integral part of our mod
ern New Year’s eve that no cele
bration, however gay, would be
complete without it.
The music sheets for those nos
talgic strains simply say "Robert
Burns—Scotch Air,” and Robert
Bums generally is supposed to
have written it after he had set
tled down on a farm and taken
himself a wife, following the
sweeping success in 1778 of the sec
ond edition of his "Poems.” Well
and good, but Auld Lang Syne was
not exclusively a Burns’ product,
nor did he claim it to be.
In a letter to George Thomson, a
publisher, Burns explained:
“It is an old song of olden times,
which has never been in print. I
took it down from an old man’s
singing.”
Modern scholarship has discov
ered that Burns was wrong when
he told Thomson "Auld Lang
Syne” never had been in print.
Its refrain, at least, was printed
obscurely long before Burns heard ,
his "old man singing.”
Further, the original song often
has been credited to Sir Robert
Aytoun (1570-1638). Aytoun was one
of the earliest Scots to use the low
land dialect as a literary medium.
Multitudes of Americans decended
from non-British stock are per
petually mystified by this dialect, j
nor does it seem to make much
sense in the standard English
translation.
Regardless of its original author
and origin, it was Burns who gave
‘‘Auld Lang Syne” its immortality.
And though the bells now welcome
the New Year with joyous peals,
symbolizing mankind’s hope for a
bright future, the nostalgiast of
"Auld Lang Syne” summarizes an ,
adherent reluctance to leave the I
security and friendship of the past,
and embark upon a future which,
however promising, may not be
more pleasant. Thus, it remains a
part of the English speaking herit
age to
"Drink a cup of kindness yet
For Auld Lang Syne.”
- " ' -—
Christmas 'Open House' j
Was Early Saxon Custom j
AT CHRISTMASTIDE. the grea- ]
hall of the Saxon lord wa j
hrown ope., .o peasant and nobl j
alike—all mingling democratically ]
\nd exchanging gifts and heart j
:heer during a great feast and fes • j
ivilies composed of dance an j
•;ong. With a tremendous burst o
touting the Yule Log wa !
lragged into the hall and place j
i irn the ooen fire pit. These demc !
»-atic Chris.mas festivities laste
util the last dying emters of thi !
'>g.
In our south, prior to the Civil
Var the slaves, following this Sax ;
n custom, would soak a log in the S
‘ yoress swamps to extend the -
rt tvipir Christmas freedom. *
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Early Yulefide
Thought Pagan
By Christians
/CHRISTMAS, like any othei
^ blessed institution has had tc
fight its battles. The first grea
enemy of Christmas was the Ro
man empire whose pagan em
perors determined to blot out al
kinds of Christian rites.
Then when Roman Emperor Con
stantine Christianized the empire
other enemies of Christmas arose.
One course of contention was: Is
December 25 really Christmas?
Some said Christ was bom on Jan
uary 6; others held fos March 29
Some set April 21 as His birthday.
Nobody knew with complete con
fidence just when to celebrate
Christmas. At last, in the fourth
century, Pope Julius I settled the
matter in favor of our present date.
His decision was accepted.
From the first there had been
among Christians a certain hos
tility toward the Christmas festi
val. The celebration of birthdays
in general was considered heathen
ish and something taken over from
the pagans. Nor did the enemies
of Christmas fail to observe that
many pagan customs had crept into
|the feastings of the day. Christmas
and the days of Advent that go be
jfore it occur at the time of the
winter solstice, when the days
cease to grow shorter, and begin
to lengthen—when the sun, hav
ing declined its furthest from
zenith, begins to climb again.
I The period was one of festival
in many parts of the world, and
was held scared by many religions.
Then occurred the Roman Satur
nalia, with its wild excesses, and
(the people of the north, too, had a
, great midwinter feast with days
' of hearty eating and deep drinking.
From the Saturnalia came ban
quetings and dancings and riotings
in masks and the giving of gifts.
Our Christmas dinner and Christ
mas presents and Christmas cards
and the - wearing of Christmas
masks in various parts of the world
date back to the Saturnalia. The
mid-winter feast of the northern
peoples was called Yule, hence our
Yuletide and Yule log. The burn
ing of the Christmas log descends
from northern tree worship. So
does the Christmas tree.
Santa Claus seems to date from
later Christmas times. He is good
St. Nicholas, of course. The hang
ing of stockings comes from the
legend that the saint, among his
other charities, used to provide
doweries for poor girls. The older
form of the Christmas stocking
custom was for poor girls to hang
up stockings in the hope that bene
volent St. Nicholas would place
marriage portions in them.
'Silent Night' Hymn
Is Often Called
Song From Heaven
“Silent Night” is often called the
“Song from Heaven” because the
story of its inspiration and com
position is one of the most beauti
ful Christmas stories in existence.
On December 24, 1818, in the
Austrian village of Hallein, as
Father Joseph Mohr sat reading
his Bible, there was a knock at his
door. It was a peasant woman who
wanted the priest to visit a poor
charcoal-maker’s wife to whom a
child had been born. The parents
had sent her to ask the priest to
come and bless the infant.
Father Mohr was strangely
moved by the visit to the mother.
And that evening as he returned to
his home saw that the dark slopes
of the Alps around the-village were
alight with torches of the moun
taineers on their way to church.
To him it was a Christmas mira
cle.
Later, as he tried to put down
on paper his feeling and experi
ence, the words kept turning into
verse. When dawn came he found
he had written a poem—a beau
tiful and moving poem.
On Christmas Da*' his friend,
Franz Xaver Gruber, music teach
er in the village school, composed
music to fit the verses.
Village children heard the priest
and teacher singing the song and
learned it. From there it spread
throughout the world. Today, it is
regarded as the greatest Christ
mas hymn and wherever there are
men of good will they sing:
"Silent night, holy night—
All is calm, all is bright,
Round you Virgin, Mother and
Child;
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace—
Sleep in heavenly peace.”
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PALMER MACHINERY CO.
PALMER SHEET METAL AND HEATING j
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Bethlehem Rites
Feature March
To Nativity Cave
CHRISTMAS is observed in Beth
v'4 lehem on December 25 by the
Roman Catholics and Protestants,
on January 6, by the Greek Ortho
dox and affiliated churches, and on
January 18 by the Armenians.
All Bethlehem, however, turns
out on December 24 for the arrival
of the Patriarch of Jerusalem—
Cardinal of the Holy Land—who
each year brings an ancient effigy
of the Infant Jesus to Bethleherr)
which he lays in the manger with
in the cave where Christ was born.
Dramatically the procession ap
proaches: heralded by a single
hofseman, his banner streaming
aloft. A corps of native police
mounted upon fiery Arabian horses
follow and then another single
horseman upon a prancing black
steed carrying the cross on high;
the Patriarch in his cardinal and
ermine, mitred bishops, clergy in
embroidered vestments and white
robed acolytes—swinging golden
censers—precede the jeweled pa
vilon of the Holy Child. Magnificent
corteges of government officials,
foreign embassies, bands, religious
organizations follow, and finally,
American made automobiles min
gle with native two-wheeled car
riages.
The procession enters the Church
of the Nativity. The public is not
permitted to witness the actual
placing of the effigy, as that part
of the Church—built above the
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SANTA’S ROLL CALL ... In a
big city Santa needs a platoon
of helpers to make the rounds
Here he checks up in New York
to see if all of his aides are on
hand for the big Christmas Eve
delivery.
Cave of the Nativity—is the
jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox
church.
The grotto-like Cave of the Na
tivity in no way conforms to the
modern conception of a “stable:”
in biblical times, however, shelters
for man and beast were hewn in
to rocky ledges—thus, the Stable
of Bethlehem.
On Christmas Eve, members of
all denominations assemble to sing
carols above the birthplace of the
Holy Child before midnight mass
is solemnized in the Church of the
Nativity.
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THE BUTTE
Al and Peggy Huffman
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May God's richest)
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blessings be upon
you and your dear
ones this Christ
mastime.
II
BUTTE SUPPLY
Dr. Lee McKinley