Newspapers / The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.) / Dec. 25, 1971, edition 1 / Page 13
Part of The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Christmas Symbols ' Have Roots In History The star that you hang on the tip of your tree . . . the mistletoe that Janie fastens hopefully at the doorway, these and other symbols of Christmas have reasons for being. Legends about the Christ mas tree abound The Dru ids are said to have wor shipped trees for them selves thousands of years ago. Gradually the tree took its rightful place among the symbols of worship. fn Scandinavia the people once idolized trees. When they became Christians they made trees part of Christmas festivities. Another legend holds that 'the first Christmas tree was seen in a vision ex perienced by an Elnglish missionary named Winfrid. Later he was called Boni face. It happened about 1,200 years ago when he was going through northern Germany One day he stum bled on a group of non-be lievers huddled at an oak tree. They were preparing Yo sacrifice a little prince. Asulf, to the god Thor. £ scw ISJC Winfrid stopped the cere mony and chopped down the oak As the tree fell, a young fir tree appeared. Winfrid interpreted this as the tree of life, saying it represented Christ. , The custom of decorating Yiornes with green branches actually harks back to the days before Christ's birth. Romans exchanged tree branches for good luck at the start of January. The English copied the custom, associating it with Christ mas. An old English rhyme explained it this way: "Holly and ivy. box and bay, put in the church on Christmas Day. " o jgp >«pr A PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR We pray . . . that strength and courage be given to all who work for a world of good will. .. that the scourges of poverty , disease and callousness will be driven from the earth ... that the spirit of the Season may live among * us t for always. tM iS’eatton, earth, to men of goob mill I he aware of the angels abiding around you Not all the angels are celestial beings, though we honor the heavenly host, especially at Christmas time. Angels are for all times, and for all places. Most of us have a feeling that we have a "personal angel" guarding us. a mediator with the Creator in time of stress. But there are other an gels. For example, when someone speaks rudely to you, and you do not respond with rudeness, an angel has visited you, illuminating your mind and heart with understanding. You realize that this person is troubled, is perhaps fearful, that there is a break of commu nications that would only be widened if you respond in kind. An angel helps to "build bridges" among humankind. When you feel or see beauty, you are host to an gels. And when you create beauty in the midst of dark ness or evil, you belong with the seraphic group itself. When you overcome the fears and doubts that assail all of us so-called "civi lized" beings, if you rise to heights of achievement in spite of forces of lethargy and other self-protecting devices, you are in the com pany of angels. This Christmas try to move thoughts away from self. It is so human to think of "Number One" first. We are all subject to this temptation But this Holy Season we can make an effort to be more loving, j CHRISTMAS% if rVl]>P|| n every corner of the earth, someone InuimA h kee * in 8 tr y st u ith Christmas. Let bells toll their merry welcome , blaze high the lights, sing in mighty chorus the glad , gay sounds —the time-loved carols! Though peace on earth is still only a misty f°$ e ’ T et f or these brief hours let us turn our minds VyA hearts homeward, to Him . . . who can tell . . to work, a miracle! glopy -to--god in—the—highest And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed And this taxing was first made when. Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. To be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child more patient, more under standing. more spiritually intelligent; we can become doers, and not just specta tors. or well-wishers. We can become involved in situations that demand the purposeful activity of all sensitive and thoughtful persons. And so it was that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son. and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds a biding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And. 10. the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were so afraid And the angel said unto them: Fear not; for. be hold, I bring you good tid ings of great joy. which shall be to ail people For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, prais ing God, and saying Glory to God in the high est, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to an other: Let us now go. ever unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. A rid they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it. they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child And all they that heard il wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. sr luke. ch 2 0 Separate 1 lew lj ears CL\vfS\ri round the 1 11'arid Six New Year's days in a year 0 Certainly -- it de pends on where you are at the time Here they are: 1. January 1 2. !n that part of the Oc cident wherein the Greek Orthodox faith prevails Jan, 1 falls upon our Jan. 13. 3. A traditional Chinese New Year’s celebration starts Feb. 8 and lasts to Feb. 13. 4. If you visit the country of Thailand. April 1, .you'd find a great ceremonial fes- the musical tradition of Christmas The musical tradition of Christmas is believed to have begun in 129. when Telesphorus. Bishop of Rome, decreed that "in the holy night of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior, (aID do celebrate public church services and in them sol emnly sing the Angel's Hymn 'M Si n ( e then, literally thousands ol carols have been written by such as Sir Walter Raleigh. Martin Lu ther, Johannes Brahms Francis Scott Key. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Pope Pius IX But Christmas songs weren’t called carols until well into the 13th Century, because, during most of the Middle Ages, puests and monks did ail the singing inside the churches The people were only al lowed to sing and dance out side. making up words and tunes about the birth of Christ. The French word "carole" and the Italian "carola" both mean a ring dance accompanied by singing, and from this comes our word carol. The firs t Am e rican Christmas carol was writ ten by a French Jesuit mis sionary named John de Bre beuf. He composed a song called "Jesus Is Born” for the Huron Indians with whom he worked in the early 1640 s Ify cl cv tivitv underway nothing less, in fact, than New Year’s. 5 In Arab nations, the Mohammedan New Year's is celebrated Sept. 4 The ancient custom of burning the Yule log at Christmas is preserved on many French tables in the Buche de Noel, a rich cake made in the shape of a log and-then covered with chocolate and colorful icing decorations. No F'rench homemaker would dare set a noliday buffet table without a care fully arranged centerpiece of red roses. THE COROLINIAN RALEIGH, N. C, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1971 did the moon-silhouetted face of a 19th century handyman inspire one of most famous poems? " . . His eyes how they twinkled 1 His dimples, how merrv ’ His cheeks were like roses his nose like a cherry' His droll little mouth was drawn up like a how, and the beard of his chin was as white as the snow . . From a famous poem, probably one of the most cherished and well remem bered in all of the English language Written almost 150 years ago b\ Clement Clark Moore, this poem helped create one ot the great le gendary tigures ot all time, the "plump and jolly old elf," Santa Claus < who up to that, time was depicted as rather a gaunt and somber St. Nicholas whose living prototype had been an ob scure ecclesiastic of the Fourth < ’entury ), There is no substantiated version of how Dr Moore got his idea tor this image, so different from most of those prevailing. Tht actual image of San ta Claus, or St. Nicholas as Moore called him in the first version, may have come from the moon-silhou etted face of his handyman. Legend holds that it was on a sleigh ride over the 11ow pac:ked New York streets of 1822 as he and his handyman, Peter, went from the estate to Green wich Village to deliver Christmas presents make me an instrument of Your peace Ol \i y A Where there ;s hatred let me sow love §c 0,7 Where there is injury, pardon iA* Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope A *** J Where there is darkness, light and X 0 Where there is sadness, joy e° o. divine nusteix 2. grant that I may not so much vj T Seek to be consoled as to console Q i o be understood as to understand •• to be loved as lo love, or ,s m 9' vin 9 that we receive, Q L his in pardoning that we are pardoned 0 V.) and it Is in dying that we are born 1 iQ to eternal life 0 Q Christmas is WONDERFUL The famous lines were sot down by Moore .it a writing desk in his home located on a 90-acre tract in a New York Cits area still known as Chelsea, down on the lower Wes- Side where the wholesale flower market now stands I ° i At the time. Moore was a professor ot Oriental lan guages in the General Theo logical Seminary in New York According to tradition, Moore read the poern to his children that Christmas Eve, although it seems more likely that the chil dren were already in bed by the time he finished writing the poem He probably read it the next dav Christmas Day. 1822 But whenever he read it. the poem was an immediate success not oni\ with his own children, but with oth ers. Moore’s "The Night Be fore Christmas" earned him lasting fain e.
The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 25, 1971, edition 1
13
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75