Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/808

* CHRISTLIEB. no CHRISTMAS PANTOMIMES. to 1SG5; returned to Germany, and in 1808 was made professor of practical theology and university preacher in Bonn. In 1873 he was a delegate to the Evangelical Alliance in Xew York. II is best-known works, translated into Knglish, are: Modern Doubt and Christian Be- lief (-Ith ed., 1879) and Protestant Foreign Mis- sions: Their Present Stale (1880). He pub- lished several books on missions. CHRISTMAS, krls'mas {ME. Cristmas, Cri.stcsnicsfc, Christ's mass). The day on which the nativity of the Saviour is observed. The in- stitution of this festival is attributed by the spurious decretals to Telespborus, who llourislied in the reign of Antoninus Pius (A.n. 138-lGl) ; but this is unhistorical. It is xmknown just when it originated, but surely December 2.') was not generally observed as the day prior to Chry- .sostom's time (Fourth Century) in the Eastern Church, although much earlier in the Western; for there was no imiformity in the period of ob- serving the Nativity among the early churches; some held the festival in the month of May or April, others in January. It is, nevertheless, almost certain that Beeember 25 cannot Iw the nativity of the Saviour, for it is tben the height of the rainy season in Judea, and shepherds could hardly have been watching their flocks by night on the plains. Christmas not only became the parent of many later festivals, such as those of the Virgin, but especially from the Fifth to the Eighth Century gathered round it, as it were, several other fes- tivals, partly old and partly new, so that what may be termed a Christmas cycle sprang up, which surpassed all other groups of Christian holidays in the numifold richness of its festal usages, and furthered, more than any other, the completion of tlie orderly and systematic dis- tribution of Church festivals over the whole year. Xot casually or arliitrarily was the festi- val of the Nativity appointed for December 2.5th. Anumg the causes that cooperated in fixing this period as the proper one, perhaps the most pow- erful was that almost all the heathen nations re- garded the winter solstice as a most important point of tlie year, as the beginning of the re- newed life and activity of the powers of nature, and of the gods, who were originally merely the symbolical personifications of these. In more nortberlj' eoimtries, this fact nmst have made it- self peculiarly palpable; hence the Celts and Germans, from the oldest times, celebrated the season with the greatest festivities. At the winter solstice the Germans held their great Yule feast, in commemoration of the return of the fiery sun-wlieel, and helieved that during the twelve nights reacliing from December 2.5th to January Gth they could trace the per- sonal movements and interferences on earth of their great deities, Odin, Eerchta, etc. Many of the beliefs and usages of the old Germans, and also of the Romans, relating to this matter, passed over from heathenism to Christianity, and have partly sun'ived to the present day. But the Church also sought to combat and banish — and in this it was to a large extent success- ful — the deep-rooted heaiiien feeling, by addins, for the piirifieation of the heathen customs and feasts which it retained, its grandly devised lit- urgy, besides dramatic representations of the birth of Christ and the first events of His life. Hence sprang the so-called 'manger" songs and a multitude of Christmas carols, as well as Christ" mas dramas, which, at certain times and places, degenerateil into farces or fools' feasts (q.v.) Hence, also, originated, at a later period, tJie Christ trees, or Christmas trees, adorned with lights and gifts, the custom of reciprocal pres- ents and of siiecial (Christmas meats and dishes, such as Christmas rolls, cakes, currant loaves, dumplings, etc. Thus Christmas became a uni- versal social festival for young and old, high and low, as no other Christian festival could have become. At one time the festivities were continued until Candlema.s and Twelfth Day. In the Roman Catholic Church each priest celebrates three masses at Christmas, viz. at midnight, at daybreak, and in the morning. The day is also obsei'ved religiously by the An- glican and Lutheran churches. The Scoteh Pres- byterians and English Nonconformists generally rejected all religious observance of the day as a 'human invention' and savoring too much of 'papistry.' It is said that the Puritan found- ers of New England established the Thanksgiving festival as, in some measure, a substitute for Christnuis. At the present time the tendency is strong toward religious observance of the day in all Protestant bodies. CHRISTMAS BOX. A small money gift to persons in an inferior condition on the day after Christmas, which is hence popularly called Box- ing Day. The term and also the custom are essentially English, though the making of pres- ents at this season and at the new year is of great antiquity. A number of interesting par- ticulars concerning the Christmas box will be found in Brand's Popnlar Antiquities (London, 1849). CHRISTMAS CARDS. Pictured souvenirs nppro]iriute to Christinas, which modern fashion has introduced into the social world. The earli- est example of this art is attributed to J. C. Horsley, R.A., who in 1846 made designs of this eliaracter. Subsequently the demand for these tokens has become c-iormous, and at present Christmas cards are often of much artistic merit in both design and coloring. CHRISTMAS CAROL. See C.rol. CHRISTMAS CAROL, TiiK. A Christmas story by Charles Dickens, published in 1843. It narrates the regeneration of the miser Scrooge by the kind offices of 'Marley's Ghost.' The story was published in T>ondon by Chapman &■ Hall, and 1.5,000 copies, bringing the author over £700j 'ere soon sold. CHRISTMAS ISLAND, A small island in the Indian Ocean, in latitude 10° 30' S. and longitude 105° 45' E.. and about 250 miles south of the western end of Java. It has not a very good anchorage, but has been colonized recently from the Cocos Islands, chiefly for the purpose of working valuable beds of phosphate of lime. It is under British control, and administratively belongs to the Straits Settlements. CHRISTMAS ISLAND. A large, low atoll in tlu> Paeilic Ocean, in aliout latitude 2° N. and longitude 157''/;° W. It has a good anchorage, and belongs to the British Government. It was discovered tiy Cnnk, in December, 1777. CHRISTMAS ROSE. See HKT.i.r.noRE. CHRISTMAS PANTOMIMES. Harlequin- ades given at Dnirv Lane and Covcnt Garden