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Newspaper
Anaconda Standard
Location
Anaconda, Montana, United States of America
Date
Dec 10, 1916
Page
1
Historical note on waits or night watch minstrels dating to 1490 in Exeter. The term covered court pages and later town musicians who guarded streets, sang, and collected board wage. Rymer records describe nightly duties from Christmas to Shrove Thursday, including lighting, feasting, and tolls for guards and musicians.
The piece recounts historic Christmas customs from Europe, noting elaborate plays in Rouen with prophets and characters like Moses David and Virgil, and the Norsely folk tale of the ass. It contrasts Puritan bans on merriment with England’s lavish Yuletide rites and the Yule log tradition. It also lists folk beliefs tied to Christmas Eve and day regarding omens, remedies, and superstitions.
The piece traces Christmas from its origins as a late term for Christ’s mass to varied ancient and medieval practices. It notes Epiphany links, dates proposed for Christ’s birth, and how celebrations faced periods of fasting and suppression in England 1644 before revival after the Restoration. It ends with verses from an early seventeenth century poem.
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