Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

10 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

The Departed Glories of Christmas,

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

The Departed Glories of Christmas, THEN AND NOW. r By Zinco."] The world is getting tired of Christmas .the game is played out. The old look on it as an anniversary of sad memories, or an extra pull on their pockets; the young as holiday time licence, tips, good feeding, and jollity. That's what the Christian Memorial Day is to most. On Christmas Eve our fore- fathers were wont to light up huge oandles called Christmas candles, and lay a log of wood upon the fire called a Yule-log or Christmas-blook to illuminate the home and turn night into day—a custom we might at this season revive with advantage, inas- much as we here in this goodly London town have not seen the face of the sun for quite a fortnight. Fog, gloom, at times drizzle of rain, and then bitter East winds this has been our portion. In the country we hear of sunshine, and bright, breezy seasonable weather, but these are not for Joe. *» That blazing Yule-log sounds tempting. The logs were great trees, sawn asunder, and a task it was to light them. That accomplished, however,it was eq ually difficult to put them out. In the North of England the custom survives, but a large coal is set apart in some places for the purpose. Lights belong to all festive ocoasions, and Christmas has always been a festive time. Alas how shorn of it glory now. Many of the old customs were unseemly, and there is nothing to regret in their disuse. It is a time of feasting still, and an hour of rendezvous. At Windsor her gracious Majesty heads her table, fronted by the time- old viands on her splendid sideboard, groaning under silver and gold-a baron of beef, a German pie, and a boar's head. Goflto PLENISHING FOR THE DAY, I In palace and hall in the olden time the tables were all spread from the first to the last with sirloins of beef, mince pies, plum porridge, capons, turkeys, geese, and plum- puddings; and he who would might enter and fare well. The boar's head used to be wrestled for, The Christmas pie survive in all its glory. In Ireland it contains a huge goose, which, deprived of its bones, re- ceeives as a companion a turkey only second to itself in size, then a goodly capon, next a duck, followed by a pheasant, next a grouse, next a wild duck, then a woodoock, and lastly a snipe. All these birds being boneless and highly spiced and slowly baked, form one homogeneus mass whieh is cut in slioes. It in, of course, covered with a raised crust, and a mighty handsome dish it is. Some add a great piece of ham let in in layers. The Royal baron of beef to be placed on the Queen's table on Christmas Day will be cut from a Devon fed on the Prinoe Consort's Show Farm at Windsor. It will weigh over 3001b., will be roasted at the castle, and for- warded to Osborne with the boar's head and woodcock pie from Germany. The mistletoe, like many Christmas things, is a distinct heathen relic. With our early ancestors the catting of the mistletoe was a ceremony of great solemnity. The people went forth in procession, the bards leading the way with music and song, canticles and hymns. A herald preceded three druids with the necessary implements, and the chief of the Druids was attended by the great body of the people in the rear. Mounting the oak and outting the mistletoe with a golden siokle, he presented it to the other Druids, who re- ceived it with every token of respect, and on the first day of the New Year distributed it among the people as a sacred and holy plant, exclaiming, "The mistletoe for the New Year 1" A bunoh was hung up in the kitchen or servants' hall with the charm attached to it that the maid who was not kissed under it at Christmas would not be married that year. This custom is all alive still.

CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE, ---I

[No title]

Walnuts for Wisdom Teeth.

A GHASTLY PUN.

After They Found Out,

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THE CONFESSION OF BILL NYE.

ABOUT CHRISTMAS..

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