The organ of the Vatican has given sympathetic support to the Fascist ban on Christmas trees. The Government's object is to effect economy, The Papal journal naturally is ready to support an avowedly patriotic _gesture—from the Italian standpoint—sinee it accords with the traditional policy of the Church, Many customs associated with Christmas are of pre-Christian origin, The Christmas tree 1s perhaps less ancient than other symbols of what the Old Norscien called jot (yule)—a feast which Iasted some twelve days and was marked by conviviality rather than solemnity. The Church long. tried to discourage the heathenish practices associated with Christmas, Dut it seldom carried the opposition. to the point of demanding complete acceptance of the ban. In England the mistletoe—a relic of the days of the Drulds—ts not properly in= eluded in the decorations of churches at Christmas time. although it plays a prominont—and frivolous—part in the domestic celebrations of English homes, An ancient Church edict forbade Christians "to deck their. houses with bay leaves and green boughs but the prohibition only applied to the time of the decoration, The Church, in those early days, was desperately anxious to avert any relapse into paganism. It therefore contented itself with applying the ban to the period when pagans held their. festival. In many respects the position of the Church was comparable with that of the present regime which secks, in China, to relegate: old celebrations to the background in favour of national holidays, The Christmas tree—a fir—is of comparatively modern origin and singularly little reference to it appears in English Uterature. Dickens makes mention of it as part of the celebra~ tions at Dingley Dell. With Santa Claus it came from Germany—probably with the Hanoverians—and, being a pretty custom, its elevation, to the central point of family has been widely accepted. quite correctly wvancy to the ligious observance of Christmas. Yet it doos not come under criticism for the same reason which has consistently barred the mistletoe from ecclesiastical ken, Tgnorant sextons in English churches have been known to allow the mistletoe to in-trade with holly, ivy bay leaves and green boughs. There was such mistake on record at Teddington where an indignant parson corrected his sexton's lapse. Yet in the 18th Century Stukeley—an authority on Druidism—recorded the presence of mistletoe in York Cathedral at Christmas time:
This was the most respectable! festival of our Druids, called Yule fide; when mistletoe, which they call All-heal,. was carried in their: hands and laid on their altars, a8! fan emblem of the salutiferour ad: vent of Messiah. 'This mistletoe they cut off the trees with their Upright hatchets of brass, called Celts, put upon ihe ends' of their stars, which they carried in their hands. "Innumerable are these Instruments found all over the Brit ish Tes. The custom is still preserved in the North, and was lately at York: on the Eve of Chi Day they carry Mistletoe to the high Altar of the Cathedral, and proclaim a public and universal liberty, pardon, and freedom to all sorts of" Inferior and even wicked people at the gales of the city, towards the "four quarters of The mistletoe was.compared by Vergil to the golden bough in the infernal regions. It was known to the religious ceremonies of the ancient Greeks and its worship by the Celts and the Goths of North:
Europe was taken to mark the approach of the Sun to the Winter Solstice. The Christian Church— in England at all events—took over the custom of decorating houses and churches with holly, levergteen and the rest, but it firmly frowned on the mistletoe, whatever {the authorities at York may have Jdone. Stow records a terrific gale London on the morning Candelmas Day 1444—three days after Christmas—when at the [Leadenhall in Cornhill, a standard Jof tree fast in the ground nailed full of holme and ivie, for disport of Christmas to the people" was wrecked—by a malignant spirit it was thought.
That "tree" was not of course Christmas tree. but possibly rough wooden cross. Herrick in the 16th century thus discourses of a Devonshire Christmas in his Hesperides:
Come bring with a noise, My merry, merrie boys, The Christmass Log to the fung While my good Dame she Bids ye all be free, And drink to your heart's de-
With the last year's Brand Light the new Block and, For good success in his spond-ing.
four psalterleg play, That sweet Tuck may Come while the Log is tending, Drink now the strong beer, Cut the white loaf here, 'The while the meat is a shredding For the rare mince-ple, 'And the plums stand by 'To fil' the paste that's kneading.
There may be perceived a happy Blending of pagan and Christian rites. The Puritans agreed with the Church in its disapproval of the [Druid traditions but they went even further. An Act of Parliament 1644 forbade any merriment or religious services at Christmas time Jon the ground that it was a heathen festival. The Restoration saw the return of Christmas under the rule lof Charles If, but the Scots adhered to the Puritan ban. Even to-day [Scots save up their Christmas holidays to bring in the New Year properly, if report be believed. Still the Christmas tree, excrescence though it be, and the other delights Jof the season, pagan though their origin was, will probably hold sway Teutonic Christendom. The Latin Inations have never taken the same view of the festival and, more logically and piously, lay stress on Jwhat the celebration' really means: "The Mass of Christ. These differences of opinion matter little, although they have an obvious historical interest. The universal and unanimous thought is that [Christmas is a time when men think Jon peace and goodwill. May that consideration also find acceptance
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.