Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

The Solstices being the Times when the Sun returns back again, have their Name from that Circumstance. Hence the Greek Name Tropics, which signifies Return.

'Twas the same amongst the Celts.-They gave the Name of Iul to the Solstices and to the Months which commence at the Solstices, which in like Manner signified Return.

Stiernhielm, skilled in the Languages and Antiquities of the North, informs us, that the antient Inhabitants of Sweden celebrated a Feast which they called Iul, in the Winter Solstice, or Christmass; that this Word means Revolution, Wheel; that the Month of December is called Iul-Month, the Month of Return, and that the Word is written both Hiule and Giule.

The People in the County of Lincoln, in England, still call a Log or Stump which they put into the Fire on Christmass Day, (which was to last for the whole Octave) a Gule-Block, i. e. Block or Log of Iul.

We must not be surprized then if our Month of July, which follows the Summer Solstice, has had its Name from hence. 'Tis true the Romans tell us this Month took its Name from Julius Cæsar; an Etymon that suited well with the Flatteries they heaped on their Emperors, though they had done nothing but altered the Pronunciation of the Word Iul, to make it agree with the Name of Julius,

which they pronounced Iulus, a Name which Ascanius, the Son of Æneas, had also, and which ascended from thence even to the primitive Languages of the East.

The Case had been the same with the Month following.

If these two Months were fixed on to bear the Names of their first and second Emperors, it was principally because their Names already resembled those of Julius and Augustus.

They did it also in Imitation of the Egyptians, who had given to these two Months the Names of their two first Kings, Mesor and Thot.

As the Month of August was the first in the Egyptian Year, the first Day of it was called Gule, which being latinized makes Gula. Our Legendaries, surprized at seeing this Word at the Head of the Month of August, did not overlook but converted it to their own Purpose. They made out of it the Feast of the Daughter of the Tribune Quirinus, cured of some Disorder in her Throat (Gula is Latin for Throat) by kissing the Chains of St. Peter, whose Feast is solemnized on this Day.

Thus far our learned Foreigner, and with such a convincing Parade of Proof, that we must be Sceptics indeed if we doubt any longer of the true Origin of this very remarkable Word.

CHAP.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

Of adorning the Windows at Christmas with Laurel : What the Laurel is an Emblem of: An Objection against this Custom taken off.

ANOTHER Custom observed at this Season, is the adorning of Windows with Bay and Laurel. It is but seldom observed in the North, but in the Southern-Parts, it is very Common, particularly at our Universities; where it is customary to adorn, not only the Common Windows of the Town, and of the Colleges, but also to bedeck the Chapels of the Colleges, with Branches of Laurel.

The Laurel was used among the ancient Romans, as an Emblem of several Things, and in particular, of * Peace, and Joy, and Victory. And I imagine, it has been used at this Season by Christians, as an Emblem of the same Things; as an Emblem of Joy for the Victory gain'd over the Powers of Darkness,

* Laurus & pacifera habetur, quam prætendi inter armatos hostes, quietis sit indicium. Romanis præcipue lætitiæ victoriarumque nuntia. Polyd. Virg. de Rer. Invent. Lib. 3. Cap. 4. P. 164.

and

[ocr errors]

and of that Peace on Earth, that Good-will towards Men, which the Angels sung over the Fields of Bethlehem..

It * has been made use of by the Non Conformists, as an Argument against Ceremonies, that the second Council of Bracara, † Can. 73.forbad Christians "to deck their Houses, with

Bay-Leaves and Green Boughs." But the Council does not mean, that it was wrong in Christians, to make use of these Things, but only" at the same Time with the Pagans, when

66

they observed and solemnized their Paganish "Pastime and Worship. And of this Prohibi

66

tion, they give this Reason in the same "Canon; Omnis hæc observatio paganismi est. All this kind of Custom doth hold of PagaBecause the outward Practice of "Heathenish Rites, perform'd jointly with the Pagans themselves, could not but imply a "Consent in Paganism."

"nism:

66

But at present, there is no hazard of any such Thing. It may be an Emblem of Joy

* The general Defence of the three Articles of the Church of England. D. 107.

† Non liceat iniquas observantias agere Kalendarum, & ociis vacare Gentilibus, neque lauro, neque viriditate arborum cingere domos. Omnis enim hæc observatio Paganismi est. Bracc. Can. 73. Instell.

to

[ocr errors]

to us, without confirming any, in the Practice of Heathenism. The Time, the Place, and the Reasons of the Ceremony, are so widely different; that, tho’ formerly, to have observed it, would unquestionably have been a Sin, it is now become harmless, comely, and decent.

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. XIV.

Stow*, in his Survey of London, tells us, Against the Feast of Christmass, every Man's " House, as also their Parish Churches, were decked “ with Holme, Ivy, Bayes, and whatsoever the • Season of the Year afforded to be Green: The - Conduits and Standards in the Streets, were like“ wise garnished. Among the which, I read, that

66 in

* In the antient Calendar of the Church of Rome, I find the following Observation on Christmass Eve :

Templa exornantur.

“ Churches are decked."
Mr. Gay in his Trivia describes this Custom:

When Rosemary and Bays, the Poet's Crown,
Are bawled in frequent Cries through all the Town;
Then judge the Festival of Christmass near,
Christmass, the joyous Period of the Year!
Now with bright Holly all the Temples strow,

With Laurel green and sacred Misletoe.
There is an Essay in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1765, in which
it is conjectured that the antient Custom of dressing Churches and
Houses at Christmass with Laurel, Bor, Holly, or Ivy, was in
Allusion to many figurative Expressions in the Prophets, relative
to Christ, the Branch of Righteousness, &c. or that it was in Rea •
membrance of the Oratory of wrythen Wands, or Boughs, which

was

« AnteriorContinuar »