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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1988-12-21, Page 34Page 14A—Lneknow Wednesday, December 21, As. we make ready for the ies•tiv itie•s,. we'd hike to wish if oft one and AI a 't utetide of good times and good cheer_ Many tharthi_ D. G. "Dinnie MacDonald Son May Christmas bi? • your time of dreams come true Biuewat.er Agro art Ltd. 195-2!51)15 or West Wawanosh Mutual Insurance Company.- Diteclor. and Ste, Dun, neon T Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus :n Upper Canada .n the 1850s when :ne .e;enr ;f Sant:. Claus a.ua5 Saint \1chj.las.. Father _li.-isrm,,s dill K—' tr- gle began t,) grow u2 pt;pi.::^t,, ,'cn- -.deracle :7L'C'1 aL Qn ,urro irtiet: .".earls )f :ransporaclon. 7..' nils sought solutions to the )ovrd)us ur: acuity of visiting so many wines in su ;port a period of rune Christmas Eve. i1....cwr11I_g to the '_anatitan .7...irtstrnas Book by Carolt.ne i2arver. the zeoate focussed: nn a ruir.ber of possibilities among them that Sans arrived a on - snowshoes, b , crossing the St. Lawrence on a whale, c riding in a sled pulled by reindeer, And fnarty di riding on the back of a giant -sized turkey. As Caroline said: "Ola Dasinsr, Qn Dancer, on Prancer, on Turkey...,' ..it's easy, to understand whey the reindeer thpm,e won wide acceptance and it certainly bas Withstood the test of time.a. Christmas in the u I9th century was more festive than it was 75 years earlier. In 1784. whari United Empire Loyalists 'began settling. the territory that eventual- ly became Ontario. Christmas was likely a somber occasion. Having sought freedom .n Canada from persecution in the United States following the American Revolution. those early pioneers had little of material •. slue. a few 2:othes. almost no food and n- adequate sheiter. They huddled along the shores of the St. Lawrence and Niagara Rivers fighting for survival and no doubt praying for better days ahead. Better days did come. Settlements and settlers prospered. Many more people cavae to snake their homes here and the Christmas traditions we itairM today began to take root. According to Catharine Parr Trail, who arrived in Canada in, 1832 and who wrote The Canadian S'etttiar's•Gt de, people here did not observe the occasion as had • been the custom in England. Sf e wrote: When i first' came to Canadia i was ranch • at the cold indifference which rnaost people snowed in their obser- vance of Christmas Day - with the excep- tion of the few residing English families, the church wasattended. For in those chars, there was no dressing of the houses or churches with evergreens as is fl so, generally the custo ..But wile the natira ity of our Lord was little regard- ed. all its honour and glory was conferred on the New Year's day." The rets Christmas day was celebrated by Angeans, Catholics and • German Lutherans then. Those of Scot- - tidy descent, who were mainly ,Presbyterian... New Year's Day a EesOvaI. That year Cathar• ine set out to decorate the home where she was a guest as she would have done in England. Evergreen boughs were draped over doors and plc- , tare fres and along mantels,, In the absence of holly, Catharine used cranberry boughs. Cranberry bushes were pientrftd in the Upper Canada bogs common to the rmidl-18005 count&yside. Of particular delight to young people was the practice of fashioning a kissing bough From: evergreens, which was hung in a ..pi r_ 1• 0 0.-p 113 •. , onveruent aa,sa e. Under the bough a .idv ,;uid not :efus e a tuss. 'athar'.ne•s Christmas activit.es at fir' t amused H.er ' ost anti tlt)ste5S out. oefore P.7L -Lett ^E' tie :L' t 1 - ,r::Clw 'C a s. ri hristma.:.; ;rves i...,,n4 peen a for to Llt:rr_::ar atstion before the :dea r reau to England curing Queen "v t.;r1.4 s reign. The .R,ot'ai `ir U v sec up trees f )r their own. .2i-alcren and the prac- :ice became popular tnnughout England when an engraving. of the Queen and Prince Albert standing net to a nee was published in The mustrated London News in 1848. Upper Canada's German population in- ' troduced the Christmas tree here and, strengthened by the additional influence of Brutish acceptance of the custom. the Christmas tree began to be used in Canada by mid-century. Tree decorations mcluded garlands of popcorn and cranberries, decorated cookies handmade shapes such as cor- nucopias and driirn5 and small handmade toys, tufts of colored fleece and dried ap- pie slices. The apple slices were tasty treats for the children on Christmas day. Tapered candles completed the tree .iecorations:iowever. these were ° )arefri?1 aiaced and were at 'or ..)nw; `ew minutes at a 7.1r -ie Fire was such :onstant threat that. as a ^autos buckets of water were Kept ear the free Glass decorations Qid dot become popular until the late 18005. Gift -giving entered the celebrations in the middle a ofthe century, but was•usnaI- ly reserved for the children. Practical gifts such as homemade mittens and socks were most common, but occa- sionally, a cornhusk doll or'°a seri 1T whit- tled toy could be found hanging from the branches of the Christmas tree. As con- sumer products. and more money became available, store-bought gifts replaced the homemade ones. Christmas became an official holiday in Canada in 1849. Christmas cards isn-• ported from England gained popularity in the 1860s, and Canadian, printers offered their own on the market in the 1826s. As with all the other traditions, the • feasting we enjoy today evolv; ed over the decades as more food became available and imports were easier to ob- tain. Catharine Farr Trail feasted on goose fattened on the rice beds of ponds and rivers. She wrote that turkeys were found on only old_ cleared farms and that beef was available only when an ox was slaughtered to save it from a ,natural death. By the second half of the century, however, turkey was a popular Christmas repast. Plum pudding, ablaze with burning brandy and mincemeat pie. runts and imported fruits completed the feast. In the isolated parts of the pro- vince none of these delicacies could be easily obtained, except perhaps for a few oranges. After the meal, children and adults would gather in the parlor to play chess. backgammon, whist, and Blindman's Bluff. Ilii Joe and Dean Agnew of Agnew jeweHer, Gift & Children's ltiV >ear e\ f'-is1 ttl+'er vb I�O�E� nor Hamilton Fuels lucknRivy,F' Inc. st s w X ‘t n pbC dtzaitt#t wrrtaer mYnIth 4 orrh bt P eD Vt. FF.P.1.1