Nyssa Gate City Journal
VOLUME LVI
The Sugar City
THE NYSSA GATE CITY JOURNAL, NYSSA. OREGON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1961
SECOND
SECTION
10 Cents Per Copy
NUMBER 51
Church, Home Devotions Demonstrate
Holy Meaning of Christmas Holiday
Nyssa's Exchange Student Stresses
Love, Joy and Gratitude in Christmas
More than a holiday, Christmas is a holy day. In church
services and private devotions, Christians commemorate a
night of awe and wonder nearly 2,000 years ago, when a Star
shone above a Child bom in a manger, when angels sang
and shepherds watched. Dec. 25—as even the youngest chil
dren know—is the date. And yet, in the first centuries of the
Christian church, there was*---------------------------------------
no celebration of the birth of customs of the winter festivals,
but they linked them to Christ- i
Christ, no Christmas.
There were festivals in the mas instead of to pagan revelry. ’
Decembers of those times, but Where formerly pagan peoples
had looked to mythological gods
they were pagan festivals.
By LEILA ALAMPAY
(Editorial Note: With touch * A girl used to dream of having
ing simplicity, yet with almost a white Christmas. That’s some
poetic grandeur. Miss Alampay thing impossible, because it does
describes her emotions during not snow in her country, and
her first Christmas season in sometimes her friends would
the United States. Judging from laugh at her crazy ideas. She
our reaction, the beauty of ex used to dream of making snow
pression by this 17-year-old ex men and having a snowball fight
change student from the Philip with her friends.
pines will bring a lump to the
One thing more, she wanted a
throat, a tear to the eye. The father! Her father died when she
self-termed "little girl" has a was a baby, and she needed one
command of the written word i badly, because the other kids had
that could well be the envy of one. She prayed to the Little
her many Nyssa friends who Child in the manger to make her
have had more exposure to the • dreams come true. She even tried
English language.)
her best to be a good girl, so that
Celebrate the Sun
Dec. 25 was the date of the Mi-
thraic rites of the birth of the
sun—Mithras, the Persian god of
light. Teutonic tribes in Northern
Europe celebrated the rebirth of
the sun at the winter solstice
with a Yuletide season of feasting
and rejoicing, while the Roman’s
winter festival, the Saturnalia,
was held at about the time that is
now the Christmas season.
How then did Dec. 25 come to
be, not a day of pagan festivals,
but a day dedicated to Christian
devotions?
Some scholars believe that the
Christian church may have set
Dec. 25 as Christ’s birth date in
order that the traditions of winter
festivals might be hallowed by
association with the Nativity.
When the date was established in
the fourth century A. D., other1
dates that were considered in
cluded Jan. 1, March 21, March
29, April 9 and Sept. 29.
Festivals Gain New Meaning
Christmas began to be general
ly celebrated on Dec. 25 in the
fifth century A.D. People con
tinued the familiar merry-making
CHRISTMAS IN 1492
First Christmas in the New
World was celebrated in 1492 by
Christopher Columbus and his
crew, who were dinner guests of
an Indian chief, ruler of the island
of Haiti.
of the sun as source of the rebirth
of light, now they gradually
changed to religious observances
of the Saviour’s birth with its
symbols of faith, hope and life
eternal.
From the winter festivals come
many of the traditions that are |
now part of Christmas. The Ro
man Saturnalia provided a model i
for Christmas feasting, the giving i
of gifts and the burning of can
dles.
Christmas lighting also derives j
from winter solstice rites, where
lights played an important part.
The Teutonic Yule feast contri
buted the customs of the Yule
log and wassail bowl.
Love, joy, gratitude and all
shades of sentiment—these we do
not fail to notice when the Christ
mas holidays come with the early
morning chill, the cold wind, the
pines and the glittering lights.
Whatever feelings there are, we
see them in greater magnitude
against the great significance of
the day of Christ’s birth. Faith
and love embrace the whole hu
man race closer together, and,
along with the wish for peace and
| good will, come the little indivi
dual wishes.
Christmas is the spirit of giv
ing. It is the day people eat more
than what is enough for them and
wish for things they wish to have.
Christmas is a day for dreaming—
dreaming of something that’s un
usual and exciting.
Gifts Gain Deeper Meaning
When winter festivals merged i
with Christmas, customs such as
gift - giving gained a new and
deeper meaning.
Christians felt that they should
celebrate Christ’s birthday with
“gifts” for Him—commemorating
Christmas with a renewal of re
solve to perfect the virtues of
generosity, compassion, peace,
gratitude and reverence. Giving
to the less fortunate became im
portant.
As Christmas became a holy
day, many people began ex
changing presents on other days.
St. Nicholas’ feast day, Dec. 6, or
Epiphany. Jan. 6, for instance. In
some countries these customs still
continue, with Christmas reserv
ed solely for worship.
THE NIGHT CHRIST WAS BORN has been commemorated by
artists throughout the ages. One of the first to show the Christ
Child in a humble manger scene was Renaissance Painter Bernar
dino Luini, whose painting, "Adoration of the Christ Child," is
reproduced above. With the Holy Family is a shepherd, and in
the background other shepherds are shown with their flocks, as
the angels bring glad tidings of the birth of Christ. The painting,
from the Samuel H. Kress collection, is now at the Isaac Delgado
Museum of Art in New Orleans.*____________________ ______________
Santa Claus would fulfill her
wishes for her.
Now, her friends won’t be
laughing at her anymore. Her
dreams have been and will be ful
filled at last! She will miss the
celebration back home, but she is
determined to have a different
Christmas this year. Part of her
dreams have come true, and she’s
expecting more of them to be ful
filled soon.
Love, joy, gratitude and all
shades of sentiment — the air is
full of them. The significance of
Christmas means more to this
little girl. Faith and love embrace
the whole humanity together,
and, along with the wish for peace
and good will, come the little in
dividual wishes; one of them, th«
little girl’s wishes—MY wishes.
NYSSA FURNITURE CO.
'Community Tree'
Feted Years Ago
By PAM ALEXANDER
(Nysaa High Journalism Student)
May the wonder and warm
glow of Christmas give you great
peace and joy with family and friends.
MAULDING CLINIC
Dr. J. J. Sarazin relates that
distributing the presents s^ich as j
candy and nuts from the big
“community tree” on Main street
was a main event of the Christ- [
mas season 25 years ago in Nyssa.
People from surrounding areas
brought their children to sing
carols and join in the festivities.
If the weather allowed, Christ
mas events were held outside.
Horse races, family games and
caroling would constitute the en
tertainment. More of the Christ
mas activities were in the home
than they are today.
Even if Christmas is much more
commercialized now, shopping
started a lot earlier then, since
most of the citizens shopped in
l Boise and Ontario. Most of the
presents were made in the home
and candies and cakes dominated
the gift list.
Large dinner parties with danc
ing at home were held on Christ
mas Eve. Boise also held celebra
tions in the theaters. They also
had festivities in the streets.
'll!hat better time than the
merry Yule tide to express deep
appreciation to our customers
for their loyal patronage
throughout the year . . . We
greet you one and all!
FARMERS FEED & SEED
DWIGHT O. WYCKOFF, Manager
May your home be filled
with boundless happiness.
DR. K. E. KERRY
DR. K. A. DANFORD