Christmas Night

“ No other holiday has so rich an heritage of old customs and observances as Christmas. The Yule Log has from time immemorial been haled to the open fire-place on Christmas Eve, and lighted with the embers of its predecessor to sanctify the roof-tree and protect it against those evil spirits over whom the season is in everyway a triumph. Then the wassail bowl full of swimming roasted apples, goes its merry round. Then the gift-shadowing Christmas tree sheds its divine brilliance down the path of the coming year; or stockings are hung for Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) to fill during the night. ”

“ Bright lights gleam from the parlor windows, and shouts of mirth and laughter ring out upon the night.
All is joy and brightness and festivity within those palace-homes. The snow-flakes fall idly against the window-panes. They cannot chill the hearts within, nor place a bar upon their enjoyment; for this is Christmas Eve, long awaited, at length arrived. [207] Christmas Eve, around which so many youthful anticipations cluster, has enjoyments peculiarly its own, over which the elements, however boisterous, have no control. ”

“ This is the night, when from the Orient to the Occident is heard the ringing of bells, and a cry of joy re-echoes throughout the world, while lights are shining like a diamond girdle around the terrestrial globe. In our church, also, it is as bright as day, and only through the windows stares the black night. Each person has brought a bit of candle, or even a whole taper, for on Christmas eve everyone must be armed with his faith and his light. The people crowd about the little manger, which to-day has been erected in place of the confessional. ”

“ And so the service remitted us all to our own homes, to what roast-beef and plum-pudding slender means permitted, to gatherings around cheerful fires, to half-pleasant, half-sad remembrances of the dead and the absent.
From sermon I have returned like the others, and it is my purpose to hold Christmas alone. I have no one with me at table, and my own thoughts must be my Christmas guests. Sitting here, it is pleasant to think how much kindly feeling exists this present night in England. By imagination I can taste of every table, pledge every toast, silently join in every roar of merriment. ”

“ We had a genuine fire-place in our kitchen, big enough to contain an enormous back-log, and broad enough for eight or ten people to form "a circle wide" before it and enjoy the genial warmth.
The last process before going to bed was to suspend our stockings in the chimney jambs; and then we dreamed of Santa Claus, or if we awoke in the night, we listened for the jingling of his sleigh-bells. At the peep of day we were aroused by the voice of my good grandfather, who planted himself in the stairway and shouted in a stentorian tone, "I wish you all a Merry Christmas!" ”

“ The vacant evening, the remembrances of the childish joys of Christmas, the starry heaven, looking down from overhead, which magically illuminates all dark wishes of man, like flowers in the night,—these and the silence surcharged and burdened his forlorn soul, and he pressed the only hand which human kind at this moment extended to him. ”

“ I must say, in order not to give them more praise than they deserve, that what they liked best about Christmas was the midnight Mass,—a sorry enjoyment for you city-bred people, who are fond of your comforts. But what is a sleepless night to a peasant? Even when they had to plod along through the mud or the snow, not an old man, not a woman hesitated. ”

“ On the whole the “new-fangled Christmas” has many points that show an improvement over the old-fashioned Christmas while in all essentials the two remain one and the same.
Some humble members of Father Christmas’ family still surviving to a small extent in London are the “waits” or wandering musicians who play dismal tunes under the windows of the well-to-do in the hopes of obtaining a few pennies.
These are direct descendants from the “jongleurs” or minstrels who in the Middle Ages celebrated the birth of Christ on Christmas night with song and dance.
[183-184]
The Christmas Waits. ”

“ They had a glass of champagne to revive themselves, then finished the night by all joining in the following:
Christmas Anthem.
Christmas has come! let affection and folly,
Run through the land from the North to the South,
Hang up the mistletoe, nail up the holly,
Frolic and fun be the talk of each mouth,
For each one to flirt, and to drink, and to eat;
Aged and Young, come! now, this is the Season,
All have enjoyment — my prick "sees no reason,"
Why Christmas should pass, and he not have a treat.
Ruddy his tip, as the bright Holly merry!
Round are his balls, as the Pudding so gay ”

“ I have sent children to Heaven on Christmas Eve—it must be quite a busy time for St. Peter, Christmas morning, so many good children die on Christmas Eve. It has always been a popular night with them.—I have revivified dead lovers and brought them back well and jolly, just in time to sit down to the Christmas dinner. I am not ashamed of having done these things. At the time I thought them good. I once loved currant wine and girls with towzley hair. One’s views change as one grows older. I have discussed Christmas as a religious festival. ”

“ At this festive season the grown people, after feasting on their best fare, amuse themselves by dancing, blind-man's buff, questions and commands, and the relating or hearing legendary tales. The children make and paint circular crosses; expect Christmas-boxes from their friends as a reward for the exhibition of their proficiency in writing in what are called Christmas pieces. A large candle is lighted on Christmas night, laid on a table, and suffered to burn out. ”

“ was the night before Christmas, when all through the house ”

“ We hope our readers will sing to the wassail-bowl this Christmas-tide.
We find that in some parts of Ireland and in Germany, and probably in districts of England, too, Christmas Eve is treated as a night of omens, and that practices exist for gathering its auguries having a resemblance to those of our northern neighbors at Halloween. Many beautiful, and some solemn superstitions belong to this night and the following [279] morning. ”

“ On Christmas Eve the little stars
Dance in their places in the sky;
Ah! I would go and trip with them
If I could only climb as high.
On Christmas Eve the little stars
Sing merry carols all night long;
But O! I am so far away
I cannot even hear their song.
On Christmas Eve the little stars
Sparkle, and dance, and sing till dawn;
And I am singing too, because
To-morrow will be Christmas Morn. Charlotte Druitt Cole
[Pg 25]
A CHRISTMAS PRAYER
Loving looks the large-eyed cow,
Loving stares the long-eared ass
At Heaven’s glory in the grass! ”

“ Christmas, it must be remembered was not then a single day of sport. It had the preliminary novena which began December 16, and it ended on January 6, or Twelfth Night. All this period was devoted to holiday making.
It was a democratic festival. All classes mixed in its merry-makings. Hospitality was universal. An English country gentleman of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries held open house. With daybreak on Christmas morning the tenants and neighbors thronged into the hall. ”

“ Since that he must be old Christmas's guest;
Nay, the poor shall not want, but have for relief
Plum-pudding, goose, capon, minc'd-pies, and roast beef."
And so on, through a variety of joyous and substantial anticipations, from which the writer draws [48] an inference, which we think is most satisfactorily made out:—
"Then well may we welcome old Christmas to town,
Who brings us good cheer, and good liquor so brown;
To pass the cold winter away with delight,
We feast it all day, and we frolick all night." ”

“ And that night by our fire, while Cheevers was up in the attic, trying to stop up the hole in the roof, with another old tarpaulin—which afterwards led to Mr. Rumsey getting a lodger for the dreadful place, and throwed Them Two altogether on our hands—I did my best to tell ’em, in my own ignorant way, the story of the first Christmas Eve as ever was, when the bright star stood over Bethlehem and the heralding angels sang 15of peace on earth, an’ good will to all men. ”

“ With Christmas Eve commences a regular series of 'festivities and merry makings.' Night after night, if you want the farmer or his family, you must look for them anywhere but at home; and in the different houses that you pass at one, two, or three in the morning, should you happen to be out so late, you will find candles and fires still unextinguished. At Christmas, every farmer gives two 'feasts,' one called 't' ould foaks neet,' which is for those who are married, and the other 't' young foaks neet,' for those who are single. ”

“ Before we go to bed we put the great candle decked with ribbons in the window so that our welcome may shine out for the Christ Child, should he wander that way. On Christmas morning, of course, we all go to church, and then we come home to the best dinner, and all the young people dance and make merry far into the night.
Hans (to Gretchen) : Think of a Christmas Eve without a tree or St. ”

“ Well may children and the poor keep a merry Christmas. They bring to God the gifts which please him best,—purity, faith and love. O, night, well called in Spain "The Good Night," blither than the carnival and holy as Holy Week itself!
From Holy Night, by Fernan Caballero. Translated
by Katharine Lee Bates
Christmas in Rome
WHAT is the meaning of our English Christmas? What makes it seem so truly Northern, national, and homely, that we do not like to keep the feast upon [Pg 219] a foreign shore? ”

“ Father calls me William, sister calls me Will,
Mother calls me Willie, but the fellers call me Bill!
Mighty glad I ain't a girl—ruther be a boy,
Without them sashes, curls, an' things that's worn by Fauntleroy!
Love to chawnk green apples an' go swimmin' in the lake—
Hate to take the castor-ile they give for belly-ache!
'Most all the time the whole year round, there ain't no flies on me,
But jest 'fore Christmas, I'm as good as I kin be! ”

“ Tomasso (seated on floor at C.) . Tomorrow comes the great, grand festival of Christmas, is it not, Paddy Mike?
Paddy Mike (seated near him, nods his head) . Sure and it is. This is the holy Christmas Eve.
Meeny (seated down L., knitting stocking) . The night of the day behind Christmas is always Christmas Eve, ain't it? (Nods head.) Sure it is.
Schwillie. Und tomorrow we gets lots of Christmas presents always, me und Klinker; don't we, Klinker?
Klinker. Sure we do. Leedle horses and pictures und candy und other things also; don't we, Schwillie Willie Winkum?
Hulda. ”

“ But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night." ”

“ 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; ”

“ Long shafts of light from the bare, uncurtained windows of the old church lay across the snow, as the cracked bell jangled through the crisp air its Christmas greeting. The jingle of sleigh-bells, the creaking of the runners, merry voices, bits of song, gay laughter, united in a Christmas carol redolent with Christmas spirit—Peace on earth, good will to men. ”

“ Poetry, however, clings with cherishing fondness about the rural game and holiday revel, from which it has derived so many of its themes,—as the ivy winds its rich foliage about the Gothic arch and mouldering tower, gratefully repaying their support by clasping together their tottering remains, and, as it were, embalming them in verdure.
Of all the old festivals, however, that of Christmas awakens the strongest and most heartfelt associations. There is a tone of solemn and sacred feeling that blends with our conviviality, and lifts the spirit to a state of hallowed and elevated enjoyment. ”

“ It always is Christmas Eve, in a ghost story,
Christmas Eve is the ghosts' great gala night. ”

“ Looking back across the years, they saw in that dark and ungarnished manger only a shrinking woman, a brooding man, and a child born to sorrow. The philomaths of the eighteenth century, looking back, saw nothing at all. It is not the least of the glories of the Victorian era that it rediscovered Christmas. It is not the least of the mistakes of the Victorian era that it supposed Christmas to be a feast. ”

“ Of all the pleasant sights that the angels of God, looking from their high homes, saw on earth that Christmas Eve, perhaps not one was dearer in their eyes than the spectacle here described,—the two sturdy men standing with their hands clasped in solemn pledge of the reformation of the one, and the helping sympathy of the other, above that Christmas-box in the cabin in the woods. ”

“ In the midst of her sport the girl caught a glimpse of my face at the window, and, colouring up, ran off with an air of roguish affected confusion.
The Christmas Dinner Lo, now is come the joyful'st feast! Let every man be jolly, Eache roome with yvie leaves is drest, And every post with holly. Now all our neighbours' chimneys smoke, And Christmas blocks are burning; Their ovens they with bak't meats choke, And all their spits are turning. Without the door let sorrow lie, And if, for cold, it hap to die, We'll bury't in a Christmas pye, And evermore be merry. ”

“ The bellman goes round at midnight ringing his bell, and rattling off a stanza or two, for the gratuity which he confidently anticipates; while watchmen, firemen, rate-collectors, postmen, chimney-sweeps, street scavengers, the errand-boys of your baker, butcher, poultry merchant, and green-grocer, even to the hired singers in the churches all expect their Christmas-box. ”