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Huron Expositor, 2014-12-24, Page 5Wednesday, December 24, 2014 • Huron Expositor 5 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com Have an opinion? The Huron Expositor welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed and accompanied by a phone number for information clarification. It is important to note, letters will not be able to be printed without the author's name attached and should be limited to 500 words. All letters are subject to editing due to possible space restriction. Letters can be dropped off at the office, mailed or emailed: The Huron Expositor 8 Main St. P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, Ont. NOK 1 WO seaforth.news@sunmedia.ca St. James hosts Christmas Mass Students from St. James serenaded the congregation at their annual Christmas Mass Dec. 10. Ava Stirling, Shawna Terpstra and Monica McNichol Whitney South, Huron Expositor Breanna Blake, Rony Kipkirui and Hailey Murch IN THE YEARS AGONE Christmas customers and traditions from the pages of the Huron Expositor, 1989 A love feast continued • An early sect of Germanic Protestants, the Moravians, migrated to America in the 18th Century. In the Old World affectionate generosity was basic to the Moravians, who celebrated a love feast for Christmas with scripture, music and good. • Now, in their new homeland the love feast continued. It is recorded that the Moravians in Bethabara, North Caro- lina, on Christmas Day of 1760 brought a "pretty Christ- mas verse and a gingercake" to their English neighbours. A tiny camel traveller • The Syrian children have no Santa Claus but they have a story about a tiny camel that came on the long trip with the Wise Men. The little camel grew very tired and hun- gry. So it is that on Christmas Eve if you should see bowls of water and grain outside the doors you will know that the children placed them there for this tired little travel- ler. When Christmas morning comes, the good children find gifts but the bad children supposedly get black marks on their wrists. The Christmas banner • Though the Christmas flag is said to be centuries old it is little known to most of us as a part of our celebrating. The Christmas flag colours are of course red and green. A ground of green is inside the ground of red, and a red cross is within the green. It is called the Banner of the Cross. Mexican Merry Christmas • Many Mexicans hold a nine -day Christmas festival called the Posada, meaning inn. • The children will form in groups and march up and down the stairs in their homes, singing hymns and knocking on doors. Each room represents an inn and as the children knock, someone who is inside shouts, "No room at this inn; you cannot enter." The little pilgrims grow tired of knocking on doors but finally someone unexpectedly opens a door and there they see a doll representing Jesus upon the table. Around the infant are toys and greenery surrounds them. • Mexico also has the famous pinata - an earthen pot called an olla filled with small toys, candy, fruit and nuts, much like the type of things children find in their Christ- mas stockings. The olla is hidden inside a paper clown, bull bird, etc...which is gaily decorated with tissue paper, flowers and long ribbons. • A cord is attached to the head of the pinata and fastened to the ceiling. The old as well as the young gather around the pinata singing Christmas carols as they join hands in a circle. Someone is blindfolded; with stick in hand he is turned around and around three times: then, he is told to strike carefully and with much force. • Everyone laughs as the person strikes in the wrong direc- tion. Different people are given a try. Finally the pinata is broken - everyone yells and claps their hands. There is a mad scramble by all to grab candy, gifts and oranges. Christmas fishing IN The fishermen in Newfoundland "fish for the church" during Christmas week. They bring their catch to be sold and the proceeds are to go to the curate of the local parish. • It is also the custom for villagers in outport towns to "chip in" with a great load of wood for the curate. A Christmas brownie • The Instead of Santa Claus the children of Denmark have a Christmas brownie named Nisson. Nisson is a little old man with a long, gray beard whom they are told lives underground. • After the storks leave their nests in the fall, people bring loads of pig -shaded, coarse, brown crockery by boat to Denmark. Each little crockery pig has a slit in his back; the images are bought by the children to drop in their pennies to save until Christmastime, at which time the little pigs are broken. • Candle -making is an annual event during these holidays and is regarded of great importance. • A Danish Christmas is comprised of roast goose, rice and apple fritters. Christmas for the cows • The cows of Norway in former years were fed salt in a cowbell on Christmas Day. This supposedly assured that during the following summer that in the evening the cows would come home from the pastures on their own.