Attempt > Volume 1 and Select writings

THE ATTEMPT
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witness tlie ardour of youth, or other cause unknown to the writer, making us view
the country in such a pretty rose-pink colour, that we are sorry to leave it for loved
Edina, even to write for “ The Attempt,” in whose pages I am sure I had no idea of
moralising about doing so. And older people still than we are have holidays, and
enter with keen zest into their enjoyment. The lawyer has his long vacation—the
banker, merchant, and tradesman have their holiday of different lengths; even the
labourer takes a jaunt with his wife and bairns; and, oh, there are Halcyon Days in
store for all when Father Christmas, whom we expect so soon, pops his hoary head
in our midst. Till he comes, bringing “ the daft days ” with him, we shall talk about
how he was welcomed and kept in the olden time.
Father Christmas, since the first and second centuries, has, by different nations
and sects of people, been welcomed at all times of the year, from its not being known
at what exact season he should make his appearance; hut he has come to us for such
a very long time on the twenty-fifth of December, inaugurating the first of “ the daft
days,” that we should be sorry to see him when he cannot have snow wherein to leave
the prints of his kind old feet, and red-herried holly wherewith to crown his venerable
head. We are particularly glad, at any rate, that he comes at all, as old and young
make a point of seeing everything through rose-coloured spectacles, to celebrate his
return with fun and festivity.
The mode of keeping the Halcyon Days of Father Christmas has differed according
to the manners and customs of different times; but on Christmas Eve, among the first
preparations for the approaching festivities, the mistletoe, holly, and ivy have always
been the favoured evergreens with which the apartments have been decked in his
honour. Since the time of the ancient Britons, the mistletoe has been to us an
indispensable accompaniment of our Christmas festivities. Gathered off the oak by
the chief Druid with a golden knife, and received by the inferior priests below as they
chanted their heathen hymn, it was regarded by our superstitious forefathers as a
preventive against disease, and an all-heal for evil of every description. To the
early Christian the mistletoe was peculiarly interesting, as the only remnant of his
old idolatry, with the use of which the wise policy of Pope Gregory prompted him
not to do away; and its being an interesting link between Christianity and heathenism,
should make us glad that “ its berries white add mirth to Christmas cheer.” As the
holly occupies that place among the trees, when in the nakedness of winter, which is
held by the oak in the full-blown prime of summer,—according to Southey’s lines—
“ When the hare and wintry woods we see,
What then so cheerful as the holly tree ?”