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                  MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CHRISTMASTIDE

                                  BY

                           BERTHA F. HERRICK

                            [Illustration]

                             SAN FRANCISCO

                 PRINTED BY THE STANLEY-TAYLOR COMPANY

                                 1901




     The following article originally appeared in one of the
     Christmas editions of the _San Francisco Chronicle_ and is
     now reprinted by permission from that journal.




                  MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CHRISTMASTIDE


    "Lo! now is come our joyful'st feast,
    Let every man be jolly.
    Each room with ivy leaves is drest,
    And every post with holly.
    Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke,
    And Christmas blocks are burning;
    Their ovens they with bak't meats choke,
    And all their spits are turning."

The celebration of Christmas, which was considered by the Puritans to
be idolatrous, has for many centuries been so universal that it may
prove of interest to contrast the rites, ceremonies and quaint beliefs
of foreign lands with those of matter-of-fact America.

Many curious customs live only in tradition; but it is surprising to
find what singular superstitions still exist among credulous classes,
even in the light of the twentieth century.

In certain parts of England the peasantry formerly asserted that, on
the anniversary of the Nativity, oxen knelt in their stalls at
midnight,--the supposed hour of Christ's birth; while in other
localities bees were said to sing in their hives and subterranean
bells to ring a merry peal.

According to legends of ancient Britain cocks crew lustily all night
on December 24th to scare away witches and evil spirits, and in
Bavaria some of the countrymen made frequent and apparently aimless
trips in their sledges to cause the hemp to grow thick and tall.

In many lands there is still expressed the beautiful sentiment that
the gates of heaven stand wide open on Christmas Eve, and that he
whose soul takes flight during its hallowed hours arrives straightway
at the throne of grace.

A time-honored custom in Norway and Sweden is that of fastening a
sheaf of wheat to a long pole on the barn or house-top, for the wild
birds' holiday cheer; and in Holland the young men of the towns
sometimes bear a large silver star through the snowy streets,
collecting alms from pedestrians for the helpless or the aged sick.

Russia has no Santa Claus or Christmas tree, although the festival is
celebrated by church services and by ceremonies similar to those of
our Hallowe'en.

In some of the villages in Wales a Christmas pudding is boiled for
each of the disciples, with the exception of Judas, and in the rural
districts of Scotland bread baked on Christmas Eve is said to
indefinitely retain its freshness.

"The Fatherland" is the home of the Christmas tree, which is thought
to be symbolical of the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil," in
the Garden of Eden; and candles were first used to typify the power of
Christianity over the darkness of paganism, being sometimes arranged
in triangular form to represent the Trinity.

Pines and firs being unattainable in the tropical islands of the
Pacific, the white residents sometimes cut down a fruit tree, such as
an orange or a guava, or actually manufacture a tree from wood,
covering the bare, stiff boughs with clinging vines of evergreen.

In the Holy Land at this season the place of greatest interest is
naturally the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, erected on the
supposed location where Christ was born. It is said to be the oldest
Christian church in existence, having been built more than fifteen
centuries ago by the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine. Repairs
were made later by Edward IV of England; but it is now again fast
falling into decay. The roof was originally composed of cedar of
Lebanon and the walls were studded with precious jewels, while
numerous lamps of silver and gold were suspended from the rafters. The
Greeks, Latins and Armenians now claim joint possession of the
structure, and jealously guard its sacred precincts. Immediately
beneath the nave of the cathedral is a commodious marble chamber,
constructed over the spot where the far-famed stable was said to have
stood and reached by a flight of stone steps, worn smooth by the tread
and kisses of multitudes of worshippers. The manger is represented by
a marble slab a couple of feet in height, decorated with tinsel and
blue satin and marked at the head with a chiseled star, bearing above
it the inscription in Latin, "Here was Jesus Christ born of the Virgin
Mary." At the foot are several altars, on which incense is ever kept
burning