Christmastide.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3406, 23 December 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

Christmastide.

NEW ZEALAND CUSTOMS

It is well known that old traditions die hard, and in New Zealand we in many things cling to customs that are hot at all appropriate to our climatic environment. Our children _ accept with innocent trust the omnipotent Father Christmas, whoso mystic figure has boon handed down through generations of fairy-lore clad in his green or red fur-tipped robe, his head crowned with scarlet-berried holly, and his jovial round face radiant with benevolence. Wo follow much the same methods as in England in regard to our feasting, and with the thermometer at ever so much in the shade most of .us eat our Christmas dinner served up piping hot, and wonder afterwards why wo are dyspeptic. But as the years roll by we find an increasing tendency to celebrate the anniversary, of an event so momentous to Christian nations in a manner more in consonance with’New Zealand temperament and surroundings. As in England, we observe Christmas Day with all . due revercnco but when that duty is ended the feeling intrudes upon ns irresistibly', that' a. hot. stuffy house is no place for festivity and enjoyment. While in old England nature appears in a canopy of white, and often a dully wind seams to cut to the bone, and the paramount desire is to be warmly clad and cosilv housed, we in tms gienu southern land of warmth and brightness bnd it impossible to ignore the calf from without, To the residents on our sea-girt shores the healthgiving breeze invites us with a strength that brooks no refusal, and on mountain and piaui scores of miles away from the congested cities, the perfume of flowers and trees summon country people to leave home for a time and enjoy nature in its most pleasing aspect. To rest beneath the shade of a rock and abandon, oneself to the delights of a family picnic, while watching the “ever restles sea,” , grid listening to the fascinating miisie of the surf, is to the New Zealander an ideal way of spending Christmas, and no doubt in the bush, the. settlers, many of whom have never visited tne seaboard, find ample happiness in camping for the day' in some picturesque valley under the shade of the purin where the scent of the fuschia and the song of the birds bring tranquillity and peace and enable them to forget the hard battle to be resumed on hlie morrow With such incentives to an openair existence it is not remarkable- that on the approach of Christmas the citizens become restless. Those who are fortunate euooght to possess the means take themselves to the country, buu are frequently much troubled at first in fixing their objetcive. Of the New Zealander it has sometimes been said that

Abroad to see wonders t-lie traveller Ami neglects the fine things that he under his nose — but that reproach is rapidly dying out, and with increasing facility and celerity of communication, we recognise that the local tourist need not go beyond his own door, so to speak, m order to recuperate amid scenery as entrancing as anything to be found m. the world. With such attractions as we have imperatively calling to us, it is not a matter of much surprise that Christmas-time our own Dominion prov ides holiday routes for more and moi e of her people.

CHRISTMAS IN OLD ENGLAND. Under our canopy of blue, with- sky, frequently unflecked,by' a single cloud, and the fervid rays of the sun -diffusinrr warmth everywhere, we are apt to think with complaisance of the weather Conditions in England at the present time There the Yuletide customs and the mummery of centuries back are merely a memory, but winter, snow-and-cold, biting winds and depressing fogs have to be iaoed. Men like the lower animals, are supposed to become ened to the climate in which their lot is east but one knows that 1 the wilderness. of London there are thousands; of men, women and children avlio are it the present time huddling together to obtii that warmth about which we in this favored land are apt to (/rumble, and who lack the bare necesfKtf life. Dickens, m his immoral story, “The Chimes, gives _ a panetic illustration of this m bs d«cription of poor old lob> yi Troy) Veck as thus “making vu-h Ins leakj ’ a crooked line ct slushy footprints in the mire; and blowing on his wpi hands, and rubbing them against h other poorly defended from the searching cold by threadbare mufflers eearcmng . Avit h his knees bent i n< j" ki s cane beneath .his arm, still troti -| >, And ohl what a time it was be T’ u+tie Meg brought him his dinner Si so roused the indig- . • ti, e sleek gentleman at whose SolSftVdSeSninded Trotty ■n lie’isak IS of S S I> wli U -to3o and others of fairly large means Christmas in Eng--I'iiid is the season for the mterchang rf visits and Chvistmastide greetings. del uncertain days of coaching are 'tver and the guest, wrapped in warm furs,’ are hurrSd to their destination U vdl or motor car. they SSlibivL with cordiality by the hosto who is waiting to receive them, an© tor the rest of the g 2thlv n- the fleeting hours in innocent re'N’,;. Fbr them the inelonlency of q!; at her has no terrors, and when iPiev take their homeward way, probably in the small hours, and with the enow still falling, ■ they feel that they have celebrated Christmas m true British fashion. CHRISTMAS IN OTHER LANDS. In the Dominion of Canada, the characteristics of an English winter prevail, ..but the residents take the

enjoyment more in the crisp bracing air; * and in the principal cities the sleigh bells give a tuneful accompaniment to the movement of the vehicles as they dash along the streets. The solemnity of Christmas Day is.observed with as much strictness as in England, but when the people are at liberty to abandon themselves to festivity they do it thoroughly in toboganning, lacrosse, and other amusements which have become national. In France the morning of Christmas Day is as sacred as the Sabbath, but after the religious observances are over the people, and especially the Parisians, make high holiday. The streets are crowded with pedestrians, equestrians, and carriage folk, and the boulevards present all the appearance of a fair in which thousands of citizens and their wives or sweethearts gather all the fun and excitement they can manage to secure from the ever-changing throng. In Germany, where the character of the inhabitants is not so volatile as that of the Frenchman, less outward display is shown in the observance of the religions dutje-s appertaining to Christmas, but the feeling' of. reverence is perhaps more profound. Family services are held, and very little in the way of ordinary pleasure is permitted. Until the day is over friends and relatives meet together, and in the evening the windows of the houses blase with lights as a significant contribution to the religious sentiment universally provailing. Throughout Christendom the greatest day in our annals is being celebrated,' and in the words of Longfellow :

I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their olcl familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on e-aytli, good will to men; And thought how, as the day bad come, The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along The unbroken song Of peace on earth, good will to men.