Part 46 (2/2)
”'Christmas, Christmas! Christ is born; Saints rejoice and devils mourn.
Christmas, Christmas! Christ was fed On sweet honey, milk, and bread, Just as now our rulers eat Bread and milk, and honey sweet.'
After this the company sing a series of songs addressed to the various members of the family, to the father, to the mother, to the daughters, to the sons; if there chances to be a betrothed couple there, they are sure to be greeted with a special song; the little children, too, are exhorted in song to be good and diligent at school. Of these songs there are an infinite number, and many of them give us curious glimpses into the life, not of to-day, but of ages which have long since pa.s.sed away.
”The following song is addressed to the master of the house, and has doubtless been sung for centuries of Christmases since the old Byzantine days when such things as are mentioned in the song really existed in the houses. This is a word-for-word translation:--
”'We have come to our venerable master; To his lofty house with marble halls.
His walls are decorated with mosaic; With the lathe his doors are turned.
Angels and archangels are around his windows, And in the midst of his house is spread a golden carpet And from the ceiling the golden chandelier sheds light.
It lights the guests as they come and go.
It lights our venerable master.'
On the conclusion of their carols the musicians pause for rest, the cymbal-player throws his cymbal on the floor, and the candle-lighter does the same thing with his tray, and into these the master of the house deposits his gifts to his parish church, and if they are a newly-married couple they tie up presents of food for the musicians in a handkerchief--figs, almonds, &c., which the cymbal-player fastens round his neck or ties to his girdle.
”Before the musicians take their departure the housewife hurries off to her cupboard and produces a tray with the inevitable jam thereon.
Coffee and mastic are served, and the compliments of the season are exchanged. Whilst the candle-lighter is absent looking for another house at which to sing, the musicians sing their farewell, 'We wish health to your family, and health to yourself. We go to join the _pallicari_.'
”In villages where the singing of carols has fallen into disuse the inhabitants are content with the priestly blessing only. To distribute this the priest of each parish starts off on Christmas morning with the candle-lighter and his tray, and an acolyte to wave the censer; he blesses the shops, he sprinkles holy water over the commodities, and then he does the same by the houses; the smell of incense perfumes the air, and the candle-lighter rattles his tray ostentatiously to show what a lot of coppers he has got.”
CHRISTMAS IN A GREEK CHURCH.
”Swan's Journal of a Voyage up the Mediterranean, 1826,” gives the following account of Christmas in a Greek Church:--
”Thursday, January 6th, this being Christmas Day with the Greek Catholics, their 'churches are adorned in the gayest manner. I entered one, in which a sort of raree-show had been set up, illumed with a mult.i.tude of candles: the subject of it was the birth of Christ, who was represented in the background by a little waxen figure wrapped up in embroidery, and reclining upon an embroidered cus.h.i.+on, which rested upon another of pink satin. This was supposed to be the manger where he was born. Behind the image two paper bulls' heads looked unutterable things. On the right was the Virgin Mary, and on the left one of the eastern Magi. Paper clouds, in which the paper heads of numberless cherubs appeared, enveloped the whole; while from a pasteboard cottage stalked a wooden monk, with dogs, and sheep, and camels, goats, lions, and lambs; here walked a maiden upon a stratum of sods and dried earth, and there a shepherd flouris.h.i.+ng aloft his pastoral staff. The construction of these august figures was chiefly Dutch: they were intermixed with china images and miserable daubs on paper. In the centre a real fountain, in miniature, squirted forth water to the ineffable delight of crowds of prostrate wors.h.i.+ppers.”
CHRISTMAS IN ROME.
Hone[97] states that after Christmas Day, during the remainder of December, there is a Presepio, or representation of the manger, in which our Saviour was laid, to be seen in many of the churches at Rome. That of the Ara Coeli is the best worth seeing, which church occupies the site of the temple of Jupiter, and is adorned with some of its beautiful pillars. On entering, we found daylight completely excluded from the church; and until we advanced, we did not perceive the artificial light, which was so managed as to stream in fluctuating rays, from intervening silvery clouds, and shed a radiance over the lovely babe and bending mother, who, in the most graceful att.i.tude, lightly holds up the drapery which half conceals her sleeping infant from the bystanders. He lies in richly embroidered swaddling clothes, and his person, as well as that of his virgin mother, is ornamented with diamonds and other precious stones; for which purpose, we are informed, the princesses and ladies of high rank lend their jewels.
Groups of cattle grazing, peasantry engaged in different occupations, and other objects, enliven the picturesque scenery; every living creature in the group, with eyes directed towards the Presepio, falls prostrate in adoration. In the front of this theatrical representation a little girl, about six or eight years old, stood on a bench, preaching extempore, as it appeared, to the persons who filled the church, with all the gesticulation of a little actress, probably in commemoration of those words of the psalmist, quoted by our blessed Lord--”Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise.” In this manner the Scriptures are _acted_; not ”read, marked, and inwardly digested.” The whole scene had, however, a striking effect, well calculated to work upon the minds of a people whose religion consists so largely in outward show. [From ”A Narrative of Three Years in Italy.”]
[Ill.u.s.tration: CALABRIAN SHEPHERDS PLAYING IN ROME AT CHRISTMAS.
(_From Hone's ”Every-day Book_,” 1826)]
As at the beginning, so in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the church celebrations of Christmas continue to be great Christmas attractions in the Eternal City.
From the description of one who was present at the Christmas celebration of 1883, we quote the following extracts:--
”On Christmas morning, at ten o'clock, when all the world was not only awake, but up and doing, ma.s.s was being said and sung in the princ.i.p.al churches, but the great string of visitors to the Imperial City bent their steps towards St. Peter's to witness the celebration of this the greatest feast in the greatest Christian Church.
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