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Wa^Ailiog Aod Ifofie, Mammid&Meme tv I t for the yw IfM. nearly * cmtfuir W ft itfuot, ft «n considered • mm later. coct £4.116 at 01 luck. The bread left at It via These muqnM. or disguising*, the Mtt day take* up u< saved to wore participated is bjr Ul« ladle* ud light the BMt gear's to*. Witte tha gentlemen of the court; la fact, we toft continued Morn tug there wan lad James' queen, Ana* of Denmark, drinking. eaUn« and tailing of stmafts appearing with her Ivory akin black- tales. Even tha lowly awntlaw had ened to represent a negress from the a yule log on their hearth of a Klicer. The yonag Prince Char lea. Christmas era. and, white gsaeratty afterward the Ill-fated King Charles 1-, tha biasing fire waa considered suf- also took part in these Christmas tea- ficient for t!laminating purpeeea ta tlvlttes. as did also the Princess Eliza- the halls of the great caadtos ware beth and Prince Henry. burned aa wall. On Christmas era The Twelfth Night Revels. the walla and carol aingera played Twelfth Night was the usanl time under windows until the generosity of for these Christmas xertl* at. White- the householders waa a routed. hall, and. In fact, had been for cen- On Christmas day. in tha morning, turies st the English coart. Although all went to church, dressed in their Henry VIII. Is credited with haring beat. The vicar preached the beat adopted the old Italian custom, as sermon of tba year, aad tha choir, early aa Edward Ill.’s time we heard from long practice, led the singing of ludl, or plays, exhibited at court In with Christmas spirit. This service the Christmas holidays. In 1348. when the day. Heaceforth the day was Edward kept his Christmas st his cas- given up to featlvltlea. aDd tle at Guildford, the dresses for the In thoae days, even aa In these, Is* With (rood Cheer1 Revelry, Lordly maskers consisted of buckram tun- eating and drinking* were the princi- ics of various colors, masks 6f differ- pal means of enjoyment. Christmas aod ent similitudes, namely, faces of wom- in England seemed to have been de- Wa^ailiog ifofie, MammiD&Meme en and mei, heads o! angels, 'made signed to suit palate* and to test ca- of silver.'* and mantles embroidered pacities. The requisites for good Yale Fejtival. < with heads of dragons, peacocks and Christmas fare were plenty of good Epglapd observed tbeJoyoq) swans. It is not known that the en- drink, a biasing Are In the hall, pod- tertainment consisted of anything be- ding, mustard with a sirloin of beef, yond the most primitive kind of pan- shred or minced plea, goose, capon, tomime and posturing, and It Is very turkey, cheese, apple* and nnts, to doubtful If they even suggested the say nothing of carols to which this drama aa we know It great procession of edibles led. TheJLord of Misrule No court entertainments In Eng- To the Victorian Era. land that had (tone before equaled In A growing body of the people in magnificence the masques written by these days took no part In the merri- Johnson and designed by Inigo Jot.es, ment of Christmastlde; In fact, their which made the holidays an annual long-drawn faces, sour looking all the pleasure to James I. and his queen. year, were almost unbearable at the King James, notwithstanding the fact season of Joy. Alarmed at the goings- his name Is Inseparably linked with on at court, mortified at the licen- the choicest English version. of the tiousness of the ruling clam, they Bible, was given to luxurious pleas- vowed worldly Joy waa a detestable ures; and his young queen, Anne, had thing. Life to them waa a stern ex- the reputation of being a most grace- istence. Kven In Elizabeth's time ful dancer at a time when (lancing these Puritans had begun their pro- was regarded as one of the fine arts. teats against Christmas celebrations, Christmas Masques at Whitehall. and against royal pageantries, and In King James loved pleasure and the time of James I. their voice grew Queen Anne nearly made a bankrupt so loud that they were caricatured of him to pay her Jewelers. She loved In some of the masques at court progresses, as they were called, and They continued, these stern old in one of her royal visits to Bristol roundheads, to grow In numbar and spent $150,000 on a costly presenta- In power, and, baring made an end or tion of a masque. From this It may King Charles I. In a moat effectual be Imagined that the Christmas manner, put their Iran on-everything masques held at Whitehall, where that England loved moat, including the king then lived, must have cost an Christmas. enormous outlay. In fact. It Is known Under the Commonwealth they that one cost $22,000. Ben Jonson stopped the decoration of churches wrote twenty-nine masques for his at Christmas, and sent a crier about king, most of them being produced at I/ondon with a proclamation to the Christmas. effect that "Christmas day and all In the times of the Stuarts Christ- other superstitious festivals should mas was not only observed at court, be put down and that a market should but those old customs which were be kept upon Christmas day.” Per- ancient even then were followed sons who Insisted upon attending " throughout England, wherever there chnrch on Christmas day were Imms- Tear Home l Oik Father Chmtizzdd was a castle or house of well-to-do (iiately arrested. As for the Lord of Christmas festivities were Misrule and Father Christmas fellows to people. they distinctions not be to employing "mean. Illiterate “The History of Dan- might apparent by the poorer people; in fact, were banished, and the Parliament by were not in these enjoyed to the were over act, who cunning iel," which seems beholders, signs hung it was intended that they should get its own act crossed Christmas off the bearing matters." and for lengthening out the have been Intended these crude pieces of scenery much entertainment from them, but it calendar. For ten lbng years Eng- the names of the performances by introducing apocry- for Christmas present- places represented. was the rich who footed the bill, and land. so closely allied with the ob- matters. When it was known Like most of the the phal ation. mystery plays, they were usually very cheerful about servance of Christmas, was throttled* that this action on the part of the “The of St. story is told and numerous * I Image briefly too. but Christmas was only in exile; he “undertakers" of the had it, anthems are for the Mystery 'JkYfoito pvt fortkmrilfelidf Nicholas” shows more interpolated season returned with the royal family when made the performance last from 8 The Christmas usually be- ««• benefit of the choristers. Iso festival of the whole is so real dramatic aow-ra and lasted until the Restoration was-accomplished. year or 9 o’clock in the morning until 6 gan on Dec. 16 ^an. honored as and Btruction than-these early productions Wakefield shepherds’ Play. of Old Customs. merally Christmas, o’clock in the tho trial will 6, although in Elizabeth's day the sea- The Passing Toward the end of the the boys afternoon, r reason of its observance do, for, while lta plot la not play last tor The of the last of the general usually to have been a son bad been known to full six days George* a Innocents arisen from the appear perfectly „ust ter© has Into it so many cus- complicated, there Is undoubtedly (the having saw the of time-bbn> crept proceeding. By these tactics also the weeks or until Shrove Tuesday, her- I departure many as fol- into the choir; Herod’s >ms and that it Is almost plot. In brief, the story Is dead) go a ored Christmas customs in practices Mystery was made to continue for aiding the coming of Dent, put stop England, an im- throne is then taken by an actor, who ut any one’s ability to catalogue lows: An actor, representing to the merrymakings. and the arrival of some new ones. The bids over six months, to the demoraliza- of St. Nicholas stands in a shrine represents Archelaus; an angel of first tern. There is no other festival, per- age of the and business The Lord of Misrule. singing of carols was one the return from tion Church in- so and so ever as and discovers half a dozen robbers, the Holy Family to the ips, old, yet new, terests of the town. Anciently Christmas observances in- to go. and later In century thei ils one no other In the who have Btolen a treasure box which Egypt, and then the precentor begins a few: Is; day long Under the Stuarts. cluded the reign of the lx>rd of Mis- waits disappeared, although and so the tar so looked forward to had been hidden in the shrine for safe the “Te Deum,” perform- of James now and then annoy Lon- wistfully Christmas masques, mere excuses rule or the Abbot Unreason. stragglers fth of but a barbarian. The latter ance ends. anticipations happiness; keeping by for and ladles of the court [, according to tradition, having on doners In the Christmaa season, until the finest comic touches to gentlemen has like else, returns, finding his treasure Some of a tells them to move on. changed everything and, to attire themselves In fantastic, gor- one occasion hid his crown under the bobby old id is a very different day from what gone, bewails his loss, and, whipping be found in these religious plays There were Some of the old etchings geous or bizarre costumes, were long abbot’s hood.
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