Indian Territory News (Jenks, Indian Terr.), Vol. 1, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, December 22, 1905 Page: 4 of 4
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’ klnc. most of them betas produced at
Christmas.
The Christmas season oevjaily be-
itan on Dec. 16 and lasted notll .“an.
6, although In Ellxabeth's day the sea-
son bad been known to last for full six
weeks or until Shrove Tuesday, her-
aiding the coming of Lent. imt a stop
to the merrymakings.
Burning of the Yule Log.
On Christmas eve the yule log was
dragged Into the baronial halls In the
country, put In the great gaping fire-
place. and Ignited with the well-saved
remnant of the preceding year's
log. Its duty was to burn all night;
| If It did not. It was considered a sign
of 111 luck. The brand left of It was
the next day taken up and aaved to
light the next year's log While the
log continued burning there was
drinking, eating and telling of strxnga
inlet. Even the lowly sometimes had
a yule log ac their hearth of a
Christmas eve, aag. while generally
the blazing fire was eousldered suf-
ficient for Alum tasting perpseee in
the halls of the great ea»Sto« were
burned aa well. On Christmas eve
the waits and carol si tigers ptayod
under windows until the geneeoEtty of
the householders was aroused.
To the Victorian Era.
A growing body of the people In
these days took no part In the merri-
ment of Chrlstmaatlde; In fact, their
long-drawn faces, 6our looking all the
year, were almost unbearable at .he
season of joy. Alarmed at the goings-
on at court, mortified at the licen-
tiousness of the ruling class, they
vowed worldly joy was a detestable
thing. Life to them was a stern ex-
istence. Even in Elizabeth's time
these Puritans had begun their pro-
tests against Christmas celebrations,
and against royal pageantries, and in
the time of James L their voice grew
so loud that they were caricatured
in some of the masques at court.
They continued, ' these etem old
roundheads, to grow in number and
in power, and, having made ah. end of
King Charles I. In a most effectual
manner, put their ban on everything
that England loved most, Including
Christmas.
Under the Commonwealth they
stopped the decoration of churches
at Christmas, and sent a crier about
London with a proclamation to the
effect that “Christmas day and all
other superstitious festivals should
be put down and that a,market'should
be kept upon Christmas day.” Per-
sons who insisted upon attending
church on Christmas day were imme-
diately arrested. As for the Lord of
• Misrule and Father Christmas they
were banished, and the Parliament by
its own act crossed Christmas off the
calendar. Fpr ten long years Eng-
land, so closely allfed with the ' ob-
servance of Christmas, was, throttled,
but- Christmas was only in exile; .he
returned with the royal family when
the Restoration was accomplished.-
The Passing of Old. Customs.
The days of the last of the Georges
saw the departure of many time-hon-
ored Christmas custonfs in England,
and the arrival of someinew ones.-The
singing of carols was. one.of. the first
•to go. and later in the' century' the
waits disappeared, althbugh a few
stragglers now and them annoy Lon-
doners in the Christmas season, until
a bobby tells them to move on.
Some of the old etchings by Sey-
mour, the first illustrator of Pickwick,
which are reproduced on this page,
give a spirited idea of how old Christ-
mas was observed in England in the
early days of Victoria’s reign, when
the spirit of the season was still alive
and modern ideas had not yet shoved
the old customs aside.
latloa of tbwt. rhetorician* tod gen-
tlemen of the long robe, ax well ax
■•f the abort." They were preceded
by trutr.peters and the mayor'• archers
ted at every eroweway or public
rlace repeated the proclamation In
the King x name. The day fixed for
the performance wax the feaxt of 6t
Stephen. Dee. 26
Under the Stuart*.
Christmas masques. mere excises
for gentlemen and ladiex of the oourt
to attire themselves In fantastic, gor-
geous or bizarre costumes, were long
popular in Italy and In Prance, and
Henry VilL. having paid » *1*11 to the
neighboring realm, imported them
During the reign of Elizabeth
masques, the work of poets, and tn
the form we now know them, came
Into prominence, and the greatest
writer of these pleasant but trivial en-
entertainments was Ben Jonaon, who
wrote about three dozen during the
reigns af’James 1. and Charles I.
These were sumptuous spectacular
entertainments. In which the cele-
brated architect, Inigo Jones, was
employed to devise “the machinery,"
or scenery, which was certainly more
elaboraie In those days than had yet
been attempted upon the professional
stage. While the first Christmas kept
by Henry VIII. cost £i84 19s 7d. for
“disguisings." the masques of James
I. for the year 1G09, nearly a century
later, cost £4,215.
These masques. or disguisings.
were participated in by the ladies and
gentlemen of the Court; In fact, we
find James' queen, Anne of Denmark,
appearing with her ivory skin black-
from the
Prince Charles.
fljp* With (rood Cheer Revelry. Lordly
r Waj;ailiixj =od-.£bfie, MaroDoiDa.Meme
(d EpglaPd objepveciJoyoy Yah Fejtival
ened to represent a negress
Niger. The young
afterward the ill-fated King Charles I.,
also took part in these Christmas ,es-
tlvlties, as did also the Princess Eliza-
beth and Prince Henry.
The Twelfth Night Revels.
Twelfth Night was the usual time
for these Christmas revels at White-
hall, and. in fact, had been for cen-
turies at the English court. Although
Henry VIII. is credited with having
adopted the c!d Italian custom, as
early as Edward III.'s time we heard
of ludi, or plays, exhibited at court in
the Christmas holidays. In 1348, when
Edward kept his Christmas at his cas-
tle at Guildford, the dresses for the
maskers consisted of buckram tun-
ics of various colors, masks of differ-
ent similitudes,'namely, faces of wom-
en and men, heads of angels, “made
of silver,” and mantles embroidered
with.heads of dragons, peacocks and
swans. It is not known that the en-
tertainment consisted of anything be-
yond the most primitive kind of pan-
tomime and posturing, and it is very
doubtful if they even suggested the
drama as we know it.
' No court entertainments in Eng-
land that had gone before equaled in
magnificence the masques written by
Johnson and designed by Inigo Joi.es.
which made the holidays an' annual
pleasure to James I. and his queen.
King James, notwithstanding the fact
his name is inseparably linked with
the choicest English version'; of the
Bible, was given to luxurious pleas-
ures. and his young queen, Anne, nad
the reputation of being a most grace-
ful dancer at a time when dancing
was regarded as one of the fine arts.
Christmas Masques at Whitehall. .
King James loved pleasure and
Queen Anne Dearly made a bankrupt
of him to pay her jewelers. She loved
progresses, as they were called, and
In one of her royal visits to Bristol
spent 3150,000 on a costly presenta-
tion of a masque. From this it may
be imagined that the Christmas
maBques held at Whitehall, where
the king then lived, must have cost an
enormous outlay, in fact, it Is known
'hat one cost 322,000.- Ben Jonson
wrote twenty-nine masques for his
Tfear* Come I OH Father Christmas
of the Son of Man, and to close the
play another angel appears, singing.
"Behold, I bring you good tidings of j
great joy,” etc., “which being finish- ’
ed,” continues what might be called j
the stage directions, “if it was done
at matinB. Darius begin ‘Te Dtum
Laudamus.’ but if at vespers, 'Mag-
nificat Anima Mea Dominum.' ”
“The Slaughter of the Innocents.”
Another early Christmas play has
been found in an old Orleans manu-
script. It has for its subject "The
Slaughter of the Innocents,’ and was
no doubt, frequently played during
the Middle Ages in one or another
French cathedral. In France and on
the continent generally the plays
produced were usually the effort of I
a local learned doctor, although at
times copies of popular dramas were
made for use by neighboring towns. !
In the play just noted (Interfectlo
Puerorum) the part of the innocents
was taken by the choir boys, and the
other characters, including the wom-
en. were represented by monks. In
one part of the church was erected a
manger; in another a throne for ner-
od. A distant corner was supposed to
represent Egypt, and for fear these
distinctions might not be apparen* to
the beholders, signs were hung over
these crude pieces of scenery bearing
the names of the places represented.
Like most of the mystery plays, the
story is briefly told and numerous
anthems are interpolated for uhe
benefit of the choristers.
Wakefield Shepherds’ Play.
Toward the end of the play the boys
(the innocents having arisen from the
dead) go into the choir; Herod's
throne is then taken by an actor, who
represents Archelaus; an angel tids
the Holy Family to return from
Egypt, and then the precentor begins
the “Te Deuin,” and so the perform-
tne plays bad passed out of the
church, and were now acted on the
movable platforms in the public
streets. This frolic Is followed by the
serious scene. An angel appears,
singing the “Gloria, after which he
announces that Christ is born at Beth-
lehem.
So the shepherds go to Eethlehem
and make such presents to the Holy
Child as lie within their powers. One
presents a “bob of cherries, another
a bird and the other a tennis ball.
“Act.ii of the Apostles.”
During the reign of Francis 1. in
France, the presentation of a grand
mystery of the ‘“Acts of the Apos-
tles," given during the Christmas sea-
son, was made the occasion of a spec-
tacular proclamation in Paris. In an
account of this procession around the
different quarters of the French capi-
tal, which is found in a rare little
tract published in Paris in 1541. we
learn that the procession started out
at 8 o'clock on the morning of Dec.
16. attended by “officers of Justice,
plebeians and others having the regu-
Jhe Waits put forttYSerdHe^dy'
No festival of the whole year is so
generally honored as Christmas, and
by reason of its general observance
there has crept Into It so many cus-
toms and practices that it is almost
past any one's ability to catalogue
them. There is no other festival, per-
haps, so old, and yet so ever new. as
this one is; no other day in the long
year so wistfully looked forward to
with anticipations of happiness; but
It has changed like everything else,
and Is a very different day from what
It one* was.
Christmas customs, or rather some
of those adapted to this time of year,
are far more ancient than the festival
Itself. It Is common knowledge that
the mistletoe, for Instance, is a
Christmas fixture, derived from the
Druids, who are also responsible for
the Yule clog or log. The custom of
singing carols formed an Important
part of the day’s celebration under
the Saxon kings, and the mince pies
are believed to have been a remnant
of cakes consumed at the Roman win-
ter sports, always held at this time of
the year. In order to do no violence
to the customs of the people, the
primitive Church selected the time
of the Roman Saturnalia for lts
'Christmas celebration. Almost any
itime of the year might have been sel-
ected, for there is no authority for
I Dec. 25 as the date of Christ’s birth.
In the Middle Ages.
While the yule log was burned
upon the hearth upon Christmas eve,
and maids were kissed under mistle-
toe in the dark ages. Christmas was
still a religious festival. In order to
make it attractive to the people, and
also to Instruct them in the Bible
stories, plays were produced with
erest splendor In many a great cathe-
dral.
As the liturgy of the church was In
Latin, so. too, were the Christmas
plays, but they were easily under-
stood by the people, for even If the
words escaped them the costume and
the action conveyed a deep meaning.
As a rule, there was little literary
merit In the plays, having been writ-
ten with the aoie idea of conveying In-
in collaboration with Jordanus and
| Simon, probably brother monks, two
j were evidently played during the
i Christmas Beason, namely, “The Im-
age of St Nicholas." most likely pro-
j duced on that saint’s day, Dec. 6, and
“The History of Daniel.” which seems
| to have been intended for Christmas
presentation.
“The Image of St. Nicholas" shows
: more real dramatic ability in Its con-
i siruction than these early productions
; usually do. for, while its plot is not
j complicated, there is undoubtedly a
| plot. In brief, the story Is as fol-
| lows: An actor, representing an lm-
I age of St. Nicholas stands in a shrine
' and discovers half a dozen robbers,
who have stolen a treasure box which
' had been hidden In the shrine for safe
keeping by a barbarian. The latter
returns, and, finding his treasure
gone, bewails his loss, and, whipping
the image, demands the return of the
goods. The image then goes to the
I robbers, and telling them that they
| will not thrive with the stolen goods,
j they give up the treasure to its owner.
The latter, out of gratitude, kneels
j to the image and adores it, but the
saint then appears to him and bids
him to worship God alone and praise
only the name of Christ The bar-
barian is then converted and closes
the piece with adoration.
"The History of Daniel.”
“The History of Daniel” Is a piece
in two acts, and was. no doubt pro-
duced with considerable spectacular
effect for the time. In the first act
we ace shown Belshazzar's Feast
and In the second, which deals with
Darius, King of the Medes and Per-
sians. we are shown Daniel denounc-
ed and sent to the den of lions. At
Daniel’s prayer “there shall appear an
angel of the Lord in the den. having a
sword, who shuts the mouth of
the lions.” Darius, finding Daniel
saved, puts the latter’s envious ac-
cusers in his place and leads Daniel
to his throne, ordering the people to
adore the true God. Daniel then de-
livers a Ter si cm in rhyme of the pbro-
phecy (chap. vtL, 13-14) of the coming 1
Who doeth right deeds is wise born,
and who doeth ill deeds vile.—Sir Ed*
win Arnold.
Bringing in the Yale Log
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Indian Territory News (Jenks, Indian Terr.), Vol. 1, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, December 22, 1905, newspaper, December 22, 1905; Jenks, Indian Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc407435/m1/4/: accessed April 23, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.