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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-12-24, Page 23Comm .Entertainment •Features 'Religion *Family •More SECTION GODERICH SIG I, -STAR, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1986—PAGE lA 0 srwi ^ Y a3 �S` ^ ^ G:3 is7 c s s r 9 d s tsYrrs s s 5 mvosm; s +s &t c9rsoal= Ts Y574 141:i s iZsY5V3t1 The tradition it U. �' lashing lights. Sparkling tinsel ii7and icicles. Dozens of glisten- ing ornaments made of glass, 74 plastic, wood or porcelain. Its hard v. to image that the Christmas tree had a humble beginning. K: Yet, it is said the tradition was p born when Martin Luther, while 0, walking through the forest on ? Christmas Eve, was struck by the W. beauty of the winter sky lighted by ii thousands of stars. Inspired, he cut down a tiny ', evergreen and set it up in his home i? for his children. He trimmed the tree i1 with lighted candles to make an im- iz age of the starry heavens from which Christ had come on Christmas night. 0. In spite of its simplicity, a little tree is a thing of wonderment and beauty, says a Christmas ideas 'h magazine. Not a twig on such a tree - should be left without a shining light. ., Fortunately, modern technology '' provides today's tree decorators �? with safer lighting equipment than ;i the candles of the 16th century. To avoid fire, the magazine warns not to use candles on your tree; substitute electric lights instead. A pagan practice of decorating branches with fruit and flowers was translated into the Christian paradise tree. The tree was first shown to churchgoers as a symbol of ` Christ, the Tree of Life. i A common substitute for the evergreen tree in Germany was the pyramid; a wooden structure adorn- ed with green branches, apples, nuts and lights. Pyramid trees were popular 0 among the bourgeoisie and were t1? kept from one Christmas to another. As North America expanded its boundaries during the 19th century, the Christmas tree custom traveled ,'' westward with pioneers. Far from r' the well-established cities where sophisticated ornaments were jj available, tree decorating was a make -do affair. Whatever was available was used. Nuts, pinecones, precious sticks of 14 cinnamon or dried apples strung intc 0. small wreaths, figures of animals in j and people cut from cookie dough and popcorn balls festooned with 3 ,„ cranberries were all added to the mix of tree traditions. In 17th -century Sweden, small pines divested of their bark and is iJ mas tr e greens were placed outside doors at Christmastime. Like the German pyramid, they were kept from year W to year and brought out for the holi- day celebrations. With the coming of the German tradition of trees inside the home, 71 the stripped pine tree was brought indoors and decorated with cookies and paper ornaments Out on the prairie where evergreens were scarce, the stripped V pine tree became a handmade stick tree. Northern European immigrants. brought the custom of remembering rt the winter birds. Bits of suet, fruit and bread were hung from? evergreen trees for the birds' Christmas dinner. Also, the finest sheaves of grain, selected at harvest ,; time, were perched on tall poles. It was believed that if many birds came to share the feast, a year,of hope and an abundant crop would follow. In England, the Christmas tree was not well known until the 1840s, when Queen Victoria and. Prince Albert popularized it. The English happily adopted the p vJ Queen's tree for their homes. When mass-produced color lithograph greeting cards were developed in the Iz 1880s, people hung them on Christmas trees with their customary ornaments. Christmas trees in the 1980s are r, likely to be as individual as the families who decorate them. i1. Whether store-bought or hand- made, contemporary ornaments reflect a growing urge among people to own keepsakes, collectors' or- naments to unpack and enjoy every tc Christmas. Today's ornaments offer t,; insight into the passion for the season, with traditionar angels and bells dangling side by side with Ted- dy bears, hobby horses, Paddington Bear and Snoopy and Woodstock. Some ornaments actually move, light up or change scenes before your eyes. A decorated tree is a tender way ,tp� remember holiday Wings of com fort and cheer. -No matter if yours is decked out in brand new ornaments or has a traditional twist, it can in- V1 spire your loved ones just as the evergreen inspired Martin Luther w that Christmas Eve centuries ago Cards send greetings around the world he first Christrnas card was the result of one man's busy 4!, i). 'schedule. Nearly 150 years ago, London businessman Henry Cole didn't get his customary Christmas letters written in time. So he hit upon an idea that would let him say "Merry Christmas" quickly to his friends, relatives and business associates. He asked an artist friend, John Calcott Horsley, to help by designing a picture that could be sent in place of letters. Horsley created a three-part holi- day card. The middle section showed f it members at a Christmas • celebration, raising their wine glasses in a toast. The sides depicted two of the oldest Christmas tradi- tions — feeding the hungry and giv- ing clothes to the poor. "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You" was the message on Horsley's drawing, which became the first Christmas card. That is still the ni3st popular greeting on Christmas cards today. A thousand copies of the card were printed and Cole mailed them in time for Christmas. Only a dozen of the cards exist today. Others liked Cole's idea and started sending Christmas cards, too. Soon corn anies in England started manufacturing Christmas cards that used pictures of children, flowers, birds, animals, fairies, land- scapes and even fish and reptiles. The card -sending custom spread to the United States. Louis Prang, a young German printmaker who had come to the United States, began printing colorful cards in his Boston factory. He used many religious pic- tures, including a manger scene showing the birth of Christ. - By 1881, Prang was printing up to 5 million cards a year. He had con- tests and offered prizes as high as Wc% $4,000 to artists who designed the abest cards.' begun making cards. Today, Americans exchange more than two 71 billion Christmas cards each year. While most of these card -senders are adults, the newest wrinkle in U Christmas greetings this year is children's Christmas cards. Now T kids across the country can send Christmas cards imprinted with smiling reindeer, Snoopy and ambl- ing snowmen to school friends and 0 family. By 1910, other companies had aiuy lila � i yap � s W roc sMVai x 9'5431."M MDZMS xMEZ6551KMEs s xisaS9:4Z 14zm srsx sr s xr c m Christmas was simple Airnn old-fashioned Christmas — what wonderful memories and • ages that expression evokes. In the days before Christmas, Mother would be busy at the old wood stove, baking special breads, pies, cakes and sugar cookies, or making maple sugar candy. Sister would be helping mother in the kit- chen, while brother kept the wood box filled with wood. Dad would go into the woods and drop down the Christmas tree, bring- ing it home triumphantly on a sled. The tree was placed in the parlor, with real candles decorating it, as well as. strings of popcorn and cranberries that had been strung by the children. Popcorn balls wrapped in tinfoil, and paper cones filled with homemade candy also decorated the tree. The Christmas season actually began much earlier in the old days for most gifts were handmade and so had to be worked on months in ad- vance. The boys often made wooden objects, while the girls might em- broider handkerchiefs or aprons. Mother, of course, kept her needles busy as she knit or crocheted garments for the whole family. Dad would whittle whistles or animals, or make a hobby horse or wooden doll. On Christmas Eve, at the old coun- try church, the tree was the biggest you'd ever seen, ablaze with candles. Nearby someone held a 10 -foot pole that had a wet sponge tied on the end, should a fire start. The bells would ring out over the countryside, bringing families in their sleighs or bobsleds, eager to worship the new-born king. What a delightful, jingling sound the bells on the horses would make, as they trot- ted through the snowy countryside. The bobsled or sleigh would be filled with hay, and the youngsters would snuggle under lap robes and gaze at the stars above, or hop on one of the heavy runners for an exciting ride. A Christmas play would be per- formed at the church by the children, and afterwards Santa would make an appearance rewar- ding the youngsters with .goodies. After hanging their stockings over the fireplace on Christmas Eve, the children would go to bed, happy with anticipation. They slept in big, fluffy beds, with feather ticks and feather comforters. If it was an especially cold night, mother would wrap a hot iron in flannel to warm their feet. On Christmas morning, the youngsters would dash downstair's to find their stockings filled with nuts, apples, peppermint canes, hard rib- bon candy, tin horns and a real orange in the toe of each stocking! After'Christmas dinner, the youngters would go sledding or skating. Later, by the lamplight, the family might gather around the organ and sing carols, or perhaps dad would read a favorite scripture passage or a poem. Christmas of long ago was a sim- ple, unhurried, and happy time. The Christmas stocking was the dream of every child :E) ecades ago, a heavy -laden Christmas stocking was the dream of every pioneer child. Christmas Eve was a sleepless night, and he or she counted the hours until it was finally time to get up andsee what Santa had brought. It was a good, Christmas if there were a few oranges, maple candy, a handmade wool scarf for cold prairie mornings and maybe a tiny store- bought doll piled into the stock. In the 1980s, Santa has proved to be more generous. With dozens of wrapped gifts under the tree it's easy for the Christmas stocking to be overlooked. Yet, the hanging of stockings is a tradition worth conti- nuing. Dangling stockings add a festive touch to the home during the days before Christmas and remind everyone of the approaching holiday. If you're helping Santa with stock- ing stuffing this year, you can put the stocking back in the limelight by packing it with gifts for the owner's favorite hobbies, sports and pastimes. The Yule log has become a treasured Christmas tradition was cold, ran out and gatheredlash wood --the only wood that burns freely when green — and soon made a fine blaze. But whatever the wood for the log, maids weren't allowed to touch it with dirty hands and children couldn't sit on it. In medieval England, such great respect was paid to it, or what it stood for, that people who passed as the log was being hauled to some house touched their hats to it. he Yule log one a central feature of Christmas custom, is ittle more than a memory in most parts of the world. Not just any kind of wood would do. Oak logs served in the north of England and birch in Scotland. In Cornwall and Devon it was ash, because, according to tradition, the first Christmas fire was lit in the Bethlehem stable by a shepherd boy who, seeing that the Holy Family a4ZYSTI s+i h YSAIMMs s11^Z4SM3 Vc sr4ac IMMSM x si.. ��i�S�T����w.c35zi9,^�L�sM�^ 9�ti.�:s�.x3�4.'�t�i5�3C�s3'� r t Merrily we go Wassailling Christmas is the season of sound: lilting carols rising from under snow- capped window sills; bells ringing as wreathed front doors fling open to welcome close friends and distant relatives; the smashing of glass as well - wrapped packages marked "Fragile" and "Handle With Care" are dropped down the chutes at the post office. 'Tis a season of smells, as well, Christmas is. Hot nulled wine wafting its cinnamon scent through the kitchen; a trace of smoke escaping from the fireplace, touching everything ,with an aged -in -oak flavor; the obligatory cards and progress reports from local politi- cians that give off the odor of a high- grade animal by-product. My own family Christmas is steeped in tradition. Yet different. My sister Joan always picks up a hit- chhiker on her way down from Toronto, and we spend the two or three precious days of family bliss avoiding a stranger who last worked when Robarts was Premier and who has a disfunctioning glandular imbalance. In the spirit of the season, he receives roughly 30 .er cent of all the gifts previously destine for the three surviving male members of our clan. My mother is quite a giver. Mo 's gifts are generous, but there's always thinly veiled message wrapped up in the tissue paper. She dearly loves her grand- son David, but the kid is an eater. World class. He drools on 'country flutings when you drive by a herd of cattle. Last Christmas she gave him a nuclear powered fork. Every year my mother ' gives my brother-in-law Dave a box of batteries with a note that reads: "They make things work!" But in the 11 years she's been giving them, they haven't made my brother-in-law work. As she ages, Mom's subtleness wears thin. Last year she .gave.my.sisters, Gail. and Joan, artist's sketches of themselves as they would have looked today if they'd been born boys. And waiting for me under all the bows and magic tape was a $50 certified cheque stapled to the course application to "Learn Modern Chiropractic Techni- ques at Home in Only Six Weeks," and a Christmas greeting: "The real bucks are in bad backs!" About four years ago, when her gift giving was only scented with subtlety, Mom gave her granddaughter a beautiful mahogany hope chest. The passing of three husbandless years saw Whitney open the same beautiful hope chest last Christmas, and out crawled the hit- chhiker Joan had picked up. The veneer on Mom and the hope chest is wearing transparent. We of the Thomas/Burns family, an in- lawed union sealed by a double -ring ceremony and a single -shot Winchester, do not so much holiday or make merry at Christmas time - we Wassail. Wassailing, if you've never experienc- ed it, is difficult to describe. Wassailing is a family festivity that falls somewhere between college wrestling and ice sail- ing. It's not so much "partying" as it is "pit dancing" and' instead of really re- joicing we celebrate rejecting - Newton's Laws of Relativity. As I said, it's difficult to describe. It's good clean family fun and, as such, on the brink of extinction. The highlight of our three-day Wassail, happens at exactly midnight on Christmas Eve. We ceremoniously take four written wishes each of us has recorded and burn them in the middle of the living room floor. Each then seals the Wassail by tossing back a glass of F'ino sherry and casting the glasses into the fireplace. You can wish for anything. Last year I wished for better postal service and this year Canada Post has said its going to cut off my rural route delivery altogether. The wishes don't necessarily come true but as you can see, somebody does read them. Last year I wished for a sailboat - the. rising tide of Lake Erie turned my coffee table ipto a catamaran. Last year I wished for peace on earth, goodwill toward men. This year four more wars broke out in the world and some guy vandalized my car at the Niagara Falls train station. It's not that I'm losing faith in the Wassail, it's just that I think I'm due. The Wassail happens at midnight. Ten minutes before midnight somebody goes to the neighbor's house on the left of us and borrows the wine glasses. Then about two minutes before the Wassailing hour we crash the party in the neighbor's house to the right of us and carry out our annual Burning of the Wishes and Smashing of the Glasses Ceremony. You alternate neighbors each year. And so merrily we Wassail along on broken glass and burned up hope. No matter what strange tribal ritual you may practice at this time of year, even if by chance it's Christmas - have a good one. Or as we say at our house: "Wow'em at the Wassail."