1889.] 4-^1 [Moouey. 



described by a writer iu the Gentleman' s Magazine, in which one of the 

 characters, known as Rub abub, enters, saying : 



Here comes I, Old Rub, Bub, Bub, Bub ; 

 Upon my shoulders I carries a club, 

 And in my hand a" frying jmn. 

 So am I not a valiant man ? * 



The Christmas Holidats, New Year and Twelfth-night. 



The Christmas holidays ar supposed to include the whole season from 

 Christmas eve to Twelfth-night, and may properly be treated together, 

 with the exception of Saint Stephen's day, which has already been noticed. 

 The holiday season therefore lasts nearly two weeks, the principal days 

 being Christmas, December 25 ; New Year, January 1 ; and Twelfth- 

 night, January 6. In England and in some countries on the continent, 

 the season was formerlj'^ considerd to begin at Hallow e'en and extended 

 to Candlemas, February 2, thus embracing a period of three months. 



With regard to the origin of these winter holidays, it may be stated that, 

 like nearly every other festival in the modern calendar, they ar simply 

 heathen festivals which the church, being unable to suppress, found it 

 necessary to tolerate and finally to invest with a Christian significance. 

 This festival season was common to all the prominent nations of an- 

 tiquity, even as far as Persia. In Rome the period was devoted to the 

 Saturnalia, Sigillaria and Compitalia, the first of which lasted several days, 

 and was celebrated in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The 

 feasting and gayety, the evergreen decorations, the fantastic processions of 

 the mummers, and the custom of giving and receiving presents at this 

 season, hav all come down to us unchanged from the ancient pagan festi- 

 val of two thousand years ago. The Compitalia or plowman's feast, 

 which closed the festivities in pre-Christian Rome, stil survives in the 

 Plow Monday of England, following immediately after Twelfth-night. 

 The custom of secretly putting presents into stockings belongs properly 

 to the feast of Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus), December 6, and is supposed 

 to be typical of that saint's practice of secret almsgiving. The transfer of 

 the custom from the lesser to the greater holiday was natural and easy. 

 In Ireland, as in other countries of Europe, the children hang up their 

 stockings on Christmas eve to receiv the gifts which they ar told Santa 

 Claus puts into them during the night, climbing down the chimney for 

 the purpose. The Christmas tree is not a feature of the Irish observance. 

 Presents ar also exchanged among the older ones, and on meeting at the 

 chapel in the morning each seeks to make tlie first claim upon his neigh- 

 bor by shouting, " My Christmas box on you !" at the same time wishing 

 the customary "Merry Christmas and happy New Year." Presents ar 

 also made on New Year, altho not to the same extent. 



The ancient Germans and Scandinavians had, at this season, a festival 



* W. S. (1811), in Pop. Sup., 82. 



