A Righte Merrie Christmasse Part 11

Down with the Rosemary and Bayes, Down with the Mistleto; Instead of Holly, now upraise The greener Box (for show).

The Holly, hitherto did sway; Let Box now domineere; Untill the dancing Easter day, Or Easter's Eve appeare.

The youthfull Box, which now hath grace, Your houses to renew; Grown old, surrender must his place, Unto the crisped Yew.

When Yew is out, then Birch comes in, And many Flowers beside; Both of a fresh and fragrant kinne To honour Whitsuntide.

Green Rushes then, and sweetest Bents, With cooler Oken boughs; Come in for comely ornaments, To readorn the house Thus times do s.h.i.+ft; each thing his turn do's hold; _New things succeed, as former things grow old._

And with Candlemas day ends all festivity connected with Christ-tide.

End now the White-loafe, and the Pye, And let all sports with Christmas dye.

CHAPTER XIII

Legends of the Nativity--The Angels--The Birth--The Cradles--The Ox and a.s.s--Legends of Animals--The Carol of St. Stephen--Christmas Wolves--Dancing for a Twelve-months--Underground Bells--The Fiddler and the Devil.

It would indeed be singular if an event of such importance as the birth, as man, of the Son of G.o.d had not been specially marked out by signs and wonders, and that many legends concerning these should be rife. Naturally He was welcomed by the heavenly host; and Abraham a Sancta Clara, in one of his sermons, gives a vivid description of the wonders that happened on the Nativity. "At the time when G.o.d's Son was born, there came to pa.s.s a great many wonderful circ.u.mstances. First of all, a countless mult.i.tude of angels flew from heaven, and paid their homage to the Celestial Child in various loving hymns, instead of the usual lullabie, sung to babies. Next, the deep snow, which had covered the ground in the same neighbourhood, at once disappeared; and, in its place were to be seen trees covered with a thick foliage of leaves, whilst the earth was decorated with a rich and luxuriant crop of the most beautiful flowers."

This visitation of the angels is represented in nearly every old painting of the Nativity, some, like Botticelli, giving a whole band of angels, others contenting themselves with two or three, sufficient to indicate their presence. Fra Jacopone da Todi sings:

Little angels all around Danced and Carols flung; Making verselets sweet and true, Still of love they sung; Calling saints and sinners too, With love's tender tongue.

Lope de Vega makes Our Lady caution the angels as they come through the palm trees--

Holy angels, and blest, Through these palms as ye sweep, Hold their branches at rest, For my Babe is asleep.

And ye, Bethlehem palm-trees, As stormy winds rush In tempest and fury, Your angry noise hush;--

Move gently, move gently, Restrain your wild sweep; Hold your branches at rest, My Babe is asleep.

Mrs. Jameson[44] says that "one legend relates that Joseph went to seek a midwife, and met a woman coming down from the mountains, with whom he returned to the stable. But, when they entered, it was filled with light greater than the sun at noonday; and, as the light decreased, and they were able to open their eyes, they beheld Mary sitting there with her Infant at her bosom. And the Hebrew woman, being amazed, said: 'Can this be true?' and Mary answered, 'It is true; as there is no child like unto my son, so there is no woman like unto his mother.'"

[Footnote 44: _Legends of the Madonna_, p. 205.]

Le Bon,[45] speaking of the cradle of Jesus, says: "According to tradition, the stone cradle contained one of wood. That of stone still exists at Bethlehem, not in its primitive state, but decorated with white marble, and enriched with magnificent draperies. The wooden one was, in the seventh century, at the time of the Mahometan Invasion in the East, transported to Rome, then become the new Jerusalem, the Bethlehem of a new people. It there reposes in the superb basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where it is guarded by the eternal city with more affection than the Ark of the Covenant, and with more respect than the cottage of Romulus. Centuries have not been able to enfeeble the veneration and the love with which this trophy of the love of G.o.d for his creatures has been surrounded. This cradle, this sacred monument, reposes in a shrine of crystal, mounted on a stand of silver enamelled with gold and precious stones, the splendid offering of Philip IV., King of Spain. This shrine is preserved in a brazen coffer, and is only exposed for veneration--on the grand altar, once a year, on Christmas Day."

[Footnote 45: _Fleurs de Catholicisme_, vol. iii. p. 236.]

The ox and a.s.s are indispensable accessories to a picture of the Nativity, and it is said that their introduction rests on an old tradition mentioned by St. Jerome, and also on a text of prophecy: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the a.s.s his master's crib."[46]

Tradition says that these animals recognised and wors.h.i.+pped their Divine Master.

[Footnote 46: Isaiah i. 3.]

In praesepe ponitur, Sub foeno asinorum, Cognoverunt Dominum, Christum, Regem coelorum.

Et a brutis noscitur, Matris velo tegitur.

So also it is believed in many places that at midnight on Christmas eve all cattle bowed their knees; and Brand gives an instance of this legend, and says "that a Cornish peasant told him in 1790 of his having, with some others, watched several oxen in their stalls on the Eve of old Christmas Day, and that at twelve o'clock, they observed the two oldest oxen fall upon their knees and (as he expressed it in the idiom of the country) make a cruel moan like Christian creatures."

There is another legend which relates how other animals took part in the announcement of the Saviour's coming on earth. Praetorius says:

Vacca _puer natus_ clamabat nocte sub ipsa, Qua Christus pura virgine natus h.o.m.o est; Sed, quia dicenti nunquam bene creditur uni, Addebat facti testis, asellus; _ita_.

Dumque aiebat; _ubi?_ clamoso guttere gallus; _In Betlem, Betlem_, vox geminabat ovis.

Felices nimium pecudes, pecorumque magistri, Qui norunt Dominum concelebrare suum.

Hone describes a curious sheet of carols printed in London in 1701.

"It is headed 'CHRISTUS NATUS EST; _Christ is born_,' with a wood-cut 10 inches high by 8-1/2 inches wide, representing the stable of Bethlehem; Christ in the crib, watched by the Virgin and Joseph; shepherds kneeling, angels attending; a man playing on the bagpipes; a woman with a basket of fruit on her head; a sheep bleating, and an ox lowing on the ground; a raven croaking, and a crow cawing, on the hay rack; a c.o.c.k crowing above them; and angels singing in the sky. The animals have labels from their mouths bearing Latin inscriptions. Down the side of the wood-cut is the following account and explanation:--'A religious man inventing the concerts of both birds and beasts drawn in the picture of our Saviour's birth, doth thus express them: The c.o.c.k croweth, _Christus natus est_--Christ is born. The raven asked _Quando_?--When? The crow replied, _Hac nocte_--this night. The ox crieth out, _Ubi? Ubi?_--Where? Where? The sheep bleateth out _Bethlehem_. A voice from heaven sounded, _Gloria in Excelsis_--Glory be on high!'"

Another pictorial representation of this legend is mentioned by the Rev. Dr. John Mason Neale in _The Unseen World_ (p. 27). An example which, in modern times, would be considered ludicrous, of the manner in which our ancestors made external Nature bear witness to our Lord, occurs in what is called the Prior's Chamber in the small Augustinian house of Shulbrede, in the parish of Linchmere, in Suss.e.x. On the wall is a fresco of the Nativity; and certain animals are made to give their testimony to that event in words which somewhat resemble, or may be supposed to resemble, their natural sounds. A c.o.c.k, in the act of crowing, stands at the top, and a label, issuing from his mouth, bears the words, _Christus natus est_. A duck inquires, _Quando? Quando?_ A raven hoa.r.s.ely answers, _In hac nocte_. A cow asks, _Ubi? Ubi?_ And a lamb bleats out _Bethlehem_.

This idea that beasts were endowed with human speech on Christmas night was very widespread, as the following legend well instances, it being common both to Switzerland and Suabia. One Christmas night, in order to test the truth of this legend, a peasant crept slyly upon that solemn and holy night into the stable, where his oxen were quietly chewing the hay set before them. An instant after the peasant had hidden himself, one of the oxen said to another "We are going to have a hard and heavy task to do this week." "How is that? the harvest is got in and we have drawn home all the winter fuel." "That is so,"

was the reply, "but we shall have to drag a coffin to the churchyard, for our poor master will most certainly die this week." The peasant shrieked, and fell back, senseless, was taken home, and the ox's prophecy was duly fulfilled.

It is also thought that the c.o.c.ks crow all night at Christmas, and Bourne says, anent this belief, that it was about the time of c.o.c.k crowing when our Saviour was born, and the heavenly host had then descended to sing the first Christmas carol to the poor shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem.

Shakespeare mentions this popular tradition in Hamlet, act i. sc.

i.:--

Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

But there is yet another legend of c.o.c.k-crowing which is found in a carol for St. Stephen's Day, temp. Henry VI.:--

Saint Stephen was a clerk In King Herod his hall, And served him of bread and cloth, As ever King befall.

Stephen out of kitchen came With boar his head on hand, He saw a star was fair and bright Over Bethlem stand.

He cast adown the boar his head, And went into the hall.

"I forsake thee, King Herod, And thy works all.

"I forsake thee, King Herod, And thy works all, There is a Child in Bethlem born, Is better than we all."

"What aileth thee, Stephen, What is thee befall?

Lacketh thee either meat or drink, In King Herod his hall?"

"Lacketh me neither meat nor drink, In King Herod his hall; There is a Child in Bethlem born, Is better than we all."

"What aileth thee, Stephen, Art thou wode,[47] or ginnest to brede[48]

Lacketh thee either gold or fee, Or any rich weed?"[49]

"Lacketh me neither gold nor fee, Nor none rich weed, There is a child in Bethlem born Shall help us at our need."

"That is all so sooth, Stephen, All so sooth, I wis, As this capon crow shall, That lyeth here in my dish."