KEY TO THE CALENDAR. 



this name was changed into Halig-monath, or 

 holy-month, with reference to the celebration of 

 the nativity on its twenty-fifth day. 



6. St Nicholases Day, Retained in the Church 

 of England calendar. St Nicholas was arch- 

 bishop of Myra, in Greece, 342 A.D. He is re- 

 garded as the patron saint of children and of 

 mariners, probably in consequence of his benev- 

 olent zeal in the protection of orphans and 

 stranded seamen. Churches built near the sea 

 are in many instances dedicated to St Nicholas. 

 He is also said to have shewn much kind interest 

 in the fate of young women, sometimes secretly 

 throwing purses into the chamber-windows of 

 those who lacked dowries. Hence has arisen a 

 custom prevalent over a large part of the Chris- 

 tian world : on his eve, presents are hid in the 

 shoes of those to whom any one wishes to give 

 a pleasing surprise ; and these being found in 

 the morning, are jocularly said to be gifts from 

 St Nicholas. 



St Nicholas is also considered as the tutelar 

 saint of scholars, or clerks, and of robbers. The 

 fraternity of parish clerks have thought themselves 

 entitled by their name to adopt him as their 

 patron. How robbers should have come to be 

 called St Nicholas's clerks, or St Nicholas's 

 knights, it is not easy to see, unless it were from 

 the coincidence of his name with one of the slang 

 appellations of the devil. 



Throughout the middle ages, there was a uni- 

 versal custom of electing a kind of mock-bishop 

 on St Nicholas's Day. A boy, possibly taken 

 from amongst the choristers, was chosen by his 

 associates as bishop, arrayed in suitable vest- 

 ments, and indued with appropriate powers, 

 which he enjoyed for some days. He was even 

 allowed to sing mass and to mount the pulpit 

 and preach. Edward I. on his way to Scotland 

 in 1299, heard vespers by a boy-bishop at the 

 chapel of Heton, near Newcastle. 



8. The Conception of the Blessed Virgin in the 

 Romish and English calendars. 



ii. The fourteen days from this to Christmas- 

 eve were called the Halcyon Days, and supposed 

 to be, in their calm and tranquil character, an 

 exception from the season. The term, which is now 

 a regular adjective in our language, is derived 

 from the bird kingfisher or halcyon, which, from 

 the days of Aristotle at least, has been the sub- 

 ject of a curious superstition. The ancients sup- 

 posed that it built its nest on the ocean, and 

 brought forth its young at the winter solstice. To 

 account for the preservation of the nest and young 

 amidst the severity of the season, they imagined 

 that the bird had a power of lulling the raging 

 of the waves during the period of incubation ; and 

 this power was believed to reside in its song. 



13. St Lucia's Day. Retained in the Church 

 of England calendar. St Lucia was a young lady 

 of Syracuse, who obtained a high character for a 

 devout and charitable life, and died in the year 

 304. The last of the four series of Ember Days 

 commences on the Wednesday following this 

 festival. 



16. O Sapientia. This day is so marked in 

 the Church calendar, probably from an anthem 

 sung on this day in the Romish Church, beginning 

 ' O sapientia quae ex ore altissimi prodidisti,' &c. 



21. St Thomas the Apostle, a festival of the 



English Church. It was customary for women 

 to go a-gooding on St Thomas's Day; that is, 

 they went about begging money, and presenting 

 in return sprigs of palm and bunches of primroses, 

 probably with a view to the decoration of their 

 houses against Christmas. 



25. Christmas-day, observed from an early 

 period as the nativity of our Lord, and celebrated 

 not only by the religious ceremonies from which 

 the name of the day is partly taken, but by popular 

 festivities of the most joyful kind. In England, 

 Christmas is held by the Church as a solemn 

 festival, and distinguished by the complete cessa- 

 tion of business an honour paid to no other day 

 besides Good Friday. But within the last hundred 

 years, the festivities once appropriate to the day 

 have much fallen off. These at one time lasted 

 with more or less brilliancy till Candlemas, and 

 with great spirit till Twelfth-day ; but now a 

 meeting in the evening, little different from a 

 common dinner-party, though sure to be marked 

 by a roast and plum-pudding, and pretty gener- 

 ally followed by a game at cards, is all that dis- 

 tinguishes Christmas in most families. 



In former times, the celebration of Christmas 

 began in the latter part of the previous day 

 Christmas-eve. The house was first decked with 

 holly, ivy, and other evergreens. Candles of an 

 uncommon size were then lighted, under the name 

 of Christmas Candles ; an enormous log, called 

 the Yule Clog, or Christmas Block, was laid upon 

 the fire ; the people sat round, regaling them- 

 selves with beer. In the course of the night, 

 small parties of songsters went about from house 

 to house, or through the streets, singing what were 

 called Christmas Carols simple popular ditties, 

 full of joyful allusions to the great gift from God 

 to man in the Redeemer. A mass was com- 

 menced in the churches at midnight, a custom 

 still kept up in the Catholic Church. 



The carols were more generally sung in the 

 morning of Christmas-day. A contributor to the 

 Gentleman" 's Magazine, in 1811, describing the 

 manner in which Christmas is celebrated in the 

 North Riding of Yorkshire, says: 'About six 

 o'clock on Christmas-day I was awakened by a 

 sweet singing under my window ; surprised at a 

 visit so early and unexpected, I arose, and looking 

 out of the window, I beheld six young women and 

 four men welcoming with sweet music the blessed 

 morn.' It may scarcely be imagined how delight- 

 fully at such a moment would fall upon the half- 

 slumbering ear such strains as the following : 



God rest you, merry gentlemen, 



Let nothing you dismay, 

 For Jesus Christ our Saviour 



Was born upon this day, 

 To save us all from Satan's power, 



When we were gone astray. 



O tidings of comfort and joy, 

 For Jesus Christ our Saviour 

 Was born on Christmas-day. 



In Bethlehem in Jewry 



This blessed babe was born, 



And laid upon a manger 

 Upon this blessed morn ; 



The which his mother Mary 

 Nothing did take in scorn. 

 O tidings, &c. 



