Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 1952)
Heppner Gazette Times, Thursday, December 25, 1952 Page 3 v.. .yy ... "vv'.-... l The peace and ) iY ) - happiness of Christmas belongs h you. L. E. DICK a. id. ASS ' OUR BEST WISHES FOR A '.VERY iHwtg (ElrtBfutaii AIKEN'S PLACE ""vv.l...a:..v .V The gift we cherish most i is the priceless one , ,1 of your friendship. ' .3 HOMSON BROS. 1 j V ' - lit Egyptians Made Elaborate Dolls For Children No one knows for sure who made the first doll, but it can be assumed the earliest figures were sacred gods and ancestor images. These doll-like forms were not toys for the delight of children, but solemn religious figures that preserved the tribe from harm. Then, somehow, somewhere, a change took place. Dolls became a toy for girls and the most popu lar Christmas toy of them all. Dolls have been discovered in Egyptian tombs and ruins, some even had real hair; some were Ivory, carved by craftsmen for a king's daughter; others were made of straw by an overworked mother in a peasant's hut. In ancient Greece dolls were played with and cherished by little girls until they were ready to be married. Then (their dolls were taken to the shrine of a favorite goddess) and, often with tears, presented to her. The Roman chil dren played with dolls, too, but after the fall of the Empire there came a long period in which there is no record of dolls. Not until the thirteenth century when dolls were made in Nurem berg and dressed in the fashions of the times did little girls again play with dolls. They were here to stay. By and by in Europe, the French fashion dolls became all the rage, not for children to play with but as models from which fine ladies could pattern their own modish costumes. In America, the Indian children had dolls of their own made of rawhide and feathers, and wood. Pioneer children had dolls much like these, and some were made of braided cornhusks, or nuts, or corncobs, or rags, and were dearly loved in spite of their plainness. Much later, lifelike dolls were imported from Germany, where the doll industry had reached enormous proportions. These dolls had fine china heads with care fully painted faces and kid bodies that were jointed at the arms and legs. Later there came the Japanese-made dolls, which were inexpensive enough for almost any child to own. Then the American made dolls began to appear the special dolls, the kewpies, billi kens, Buster Browns, teddy bears, Patsy dolls and Shirley Temples and phonograph dolls, with all the host of others that have followed and which are still to come. For dolls always will be part of child hood and part of Christmases as long as there are little girls and boys to play with them, and par ents and fond kinfolk to buy. .V AM. Burial Place of Santa Said to Be in Italy SANTA CLAUS, otherwise St. Nicholas, otherwise the one time bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, is buried in Bari, Italy. His body was stolen from its original tomb in Myra and swiftly borne to Bari by Italian sailors, who thought back in 1087 that a saint's body brought prosperity and good luck to your town. St. Nicholas, who was tortured and imprisoned for his faith during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, found no rest in his first tomb at Myra. Always some expedition was attempting to remove his remains. However, once burled again in Bari, the saint's body was credited with curing 30 people of distemper and performing other miracles. So Bari became a place of pilgrimage, and the legends about St. Nicholas multiplied apace. We owe our notion of Santa Claus as a secret dispenser of gifts to a story that St. Nicholas once saved three girls from a life of prostitu tion by throwing purses of gold through a window in Patara, thus permitting a poverty stricken nobleman to give bis daughters suitable dowries 83 custom de manded. In addition, St. Nicholas was credited with restoring Ufa to some boys who had been slain and dis membered by a wicked Innkeeper of Myra hence the occasional stained glass windows In which the saint is shown beside three lads in a tub. TIME OCT . . . Santa Claus pauses in his Christmas Eve visits sometimes to pick up a hot dog and ice cream cone at an all-night hamburger stand. We hope you 'may be surrounded; by joy and Sfaladneis end filled with the warmth Chriitmat brings to everyone. WILSON'S MEN'S WEAR The Store of Tersonal Service To keep your Christmas a truly merry one, keep these don'ta in mind: DON'T give children dan gerous toys, or toys with sharp points. If they operate with elec tricity, be sure yti supervise their use. DON'T decorate the tree with lighted candles unless It's abso lutely unavoidable. DON'T place the tree near a stove or fireplace. DON'T leave lighted tree un guarded at any time. DON'T use a rickety, unsafe ladder In decorating the tree. DON'T place Christmas can dles near the tree, curtains, paper wreaths or other deco rations. DON'T overlook the opportu nity to make your tree fire resistant. DON'T leave toys exposed where people can trip on them. DON'T allow steps and side walks to become Icy In cold weather. DON'T drive recklessly. Happy llulelide! A bountiful, merry Christmas to one and all. 99S2 j BAKER PLUMBING Cr HEATING 5 .O&r ..CM"" I We Wish You The Best of Everything for the Holidays HATFI ELD'S GROCERY LEXINGTON Early Yuletide Thought Pagan By Christians CHRISTMAS, like any other hlpscori fncitntfrm has Y,A fight its battles. The first great enemy of Christmas was the Ro man empire whose pagan em perors determined to blot out all kinds of Christian rites. Then when Roman Emperor Con stantine Christianized the empire other enemies of Christmas arose. One course of contention was: Is December 25 really Christmas? Some said Christ was born on Jan uary 6; others held for March 29. Some set April 21 as His birthday. Nobody knew with complete con fidence just when to celebrate Christmas. At last, In the fourth century, Pope Julius I settled the matter in favor of our present date. His decision was accepted. From the first there had been among Christians a certain hos tility toward the Christmas festi val. The celebration of birthdays in general was considered heathen ish and something taken over from the pagans. Nor did the enemies of Christmas fail to observe that many pagan customs had crept Into the feastings of the day. Christmas and the days of Advent that go be fore it occur at the time of the winter solstice, when the days cease to grow shorter, and begin to lengthen when the sun, hav ing declined its furthest from zenith, begins to climb again. The period was one of festival in many parts of the .world, and was held scared by many religions. Then occurred the Roman Satur nalia, with its wild excesses, and the people of the north, too, had a great midwinter feast with days of hearty eating and deep drinking. From the Saturnalia came ban quetings and dancings and rlotlngs in masks and the giving of gifts. Our Christmas dinner and Christ mas presents and Christmas cards and the wearing of Christmas masks in various parts of the world date back to the Saturnalia. The mid-winter feast of the northern peoples was called Yule, hence our Yuletide and Yule log. The burn ing of the Christmas log descends from northern tree worship, So does the Christmas tree. Santa Claus seems to date from later Christmas times. He Is good St. Nicholas, of course. The hang ing of stockings comes from the legend that the saint, among his other charities, used to provide doweries for poor girls. The older form of the Christmas stocking custom was for poor girls to hang up stockings in the hope that bene volent St, Nicholas would place marriage portions in them. ' , ' r mm I -J; , I Iff 1 SANTA'S ROLL CALL ... In a big city Santa needs a platoon of helpers to make the rounds Here he checks up In New York to see if all of his aide are on hand for the big Christmas Eve delivery. A HAPPY CliniS?M4S BEST WISHES FOR A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY NORAH'S SHOP I . V : JtSTy Let's help i .vSSanta make this L the merriest Christmas Uli : fi0f all. 19 52 MORROW COUNTY CREAMERY - - .4 ' ! A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL CAL'S TAVERN Hazel and Bob
