Thursday,
SWEETE
MER
Chocolates
ATTRACTIVELY PACKAGED IN 1, 2 & 3. LBS.
AT
A. S. WATSON & CO., LTD.
THE HONGKONG DISPENSARY
TEL. 20016.
HONGKONG TELEGRAPH
December 21, 1939.
"Prest-O-Life" CHRISTMAS IN FINLAND
Batteries
Automotive Types
Prest-O-Lite
One of the oldest names in Automotive Illatory-and one of the most honoured.
First of all every Prest-0- Lite is a good baltery-the lowest cost Ber mille or month of service.
THE FINEST OF QUALITY BATTERIES
Obtainable at the
TRUDA PANET, A Hongkong lady who spent several years in Finland, tells "Telegraph" readers of Christmas in
the land victimised by Russia.
D
ECEMBER 1 is called "Little Christmas" in Finland and a sort of minor Christmas spirit reigns from that date right through the month, till, when at last the 25th comes, one is tired out by the strain of keeping up, for so long, the festive atmosphere be- coming the season.
Tired out, that is, if one is ́n foreigner. The Finas, like Ger-
Hongkong Hotel mans and Scandinavians, love
BE SURE
Stubbs Rd.
OF THE
Garage
SHOWROOM
The
Phone 27778/9.
Christmas time so much that it is almost impossible for them to feel that it can be overcelebrat- el.
☆
SHOULD snow fall in December in Helsingfors, the charm of the scene of the market place. can only be described by that
Christmas Programmes Hongkong Telegraph.bucknered phrase "like an
From Home
PYE
G.E.C.
Radios
Radios
A SMALL INEXPENSIVE RADIO
MAKES AN IDEAL X'MAS GIFT
Thursday, December 21, 1939. Wyndham St., Hongkong Telephone: 26615
old-fashioned Christmas card."
The harbour ig blotted out by a forest of fir trees that have been brought by sledge and boat to be bought by the towns- people. The stalls are decorated with coloured paper and bunting. under the provisions of the Telecommunl Gay balloons hover overhead. rations ordinance, 1016. Such As S bears the tedication "UP" is received in The sun--though at this time of Hongkong on this date of publication by year it climbs scarcely higher the United 'ress octations, wiza re-
THE press "Special to die Telegraph is ward by the Hongkong Telegraph to
dicate news which je striedky copyright
either wild and forbid republication, thun the roofs of the houses, made more palatable by powdered large parcel skids across the polished its illuminations and decorations are cinnamon. In the dish, however floor, propelled by an unseen hand, stripped off and the family join hands
arzangetreut,
either wholly or in part without previous does not rise till 11 o'clock and large, is one single almond embedded. It is all most simple and enjoyable, and sing songs of farewell walking
The Infant
So the shortest, darkest days of the long Finalsh winter are tided over. After the New Year the days grow
that the coming of Spring, though
S. MOUTRIE & CO., LTD.they have been transfigured by the to use Uscis horns in loslegtorn, and handed over in the croyt purcel Every night that the family spends within our grasp, so to speak, and
YORK BUILDING
CHATER ROAD.
PHONE 20527.
SONGS THAT HAIL CHRISTMAS
rocky or sleigh and troop proudly carol?
Jover their heads.
Interesting Facts About Carols
sets promptly at 3-glitters dur- Whoever is fortunate enough to find Grown ups and children alike ex- round and round the bare branches, ing its short workday, on the that in his helping will be lucky for perience the same thrill and pleasure, rather brown and withered now, Re- snowy roofs and trees.
a whole year after. The last course Next day, Christmas Day, is spent gretfully, the servants remove it to Faces, whipped to red by the cold, consists of special three-cornered jam. In church-going and quiet family be burnt, and then and only then,
torts of pull pastry. NOWADAYS Christmas is for smile out of fur cups and collars. The
gatherings, and it is not until Boxing is the end of the long Christmas sen- most people merely a holiday, sound of traffe Jurs the cors.
noisy cobbles are stilled by mow, No After dinner, toasts and speeches Day, as we call it, that partles are in son in sight.
comes the great moment of opening
full swing. Bot a holy day. The pagan fen-
The inngle of aleigh bells and the the presents. One by one the parcels
* hissing rattle of tyre chalna are the from around the tree are given out tures of the fastival have become only warnings of its presener in the and everyone watches the lucky re- THE Christmas tree still retains its longor with such seeming rapidity predominant; although, to be sure, streets. Car drivers are never, ex- cipient open it. Not till it has been place of honour in the house, still nearly five months ahead, seems their enjoyment is at home is and gazed the winter with their longer spirit of Christmas charity. The the quiet is restful and most pleasant, prolonged for all. Sometimes the nt. Then, on Twelfth Night, it in the hours of sunshine grow pleasanter
door is opened surreptitiously and a centre of the last sad ceremony. All every week. Church has always shown a far-!
✩ seeing sagacity in adapting old pre-VERY family in the town is buy- Christian observances is new and ing its Christmas trees. The finer usages.
Thus the universal poorer people carry theirs away themselves, father carrying the thick- custom of present-giving recalls er end of the trunk, mother and one aspect of the Roman Saturnalia, children, beaming and gleeful, sup
porting
the branches. The pavements a rintons week during which all are n tangle of pedesuluus and boris. social conventions were relaxed and
zontal trees. Richer families hire a
WHO sang the first Christmas In the eighteenth century it became reference was dropped when Mgr. dissolved into
Properly speaking, it was the custom for those men to play Ward, Bishop of Brentwood, proved frivolity. Every off holding an enormous tree upright sung by the angels whose voices complete tunes on their instruments that the carol was sung in English- eltizen then expected to get pre-
Alled the midnight air will music, at Christmas time, and to call at each speaking countries for the first time Arrived at home, the fir tree is set when the shepherds arrived at the house on Christmas morning to collect at the Portuguese Embassy Chapel sents from all his friends, and the in a stand in a favoured corner of the stable where lay the now-born King: money and presents from the people. In South Street, Victoria, London. plutocrat's poor clients give gifts room and then. decorated. Coloured Glory to God in the Highest and on
The year 1820, however, saw the In 1800, when Vincent Novello be- candles, silver tinsel tlny witch-balls,
establishment of the police force by came organist there, he found the they could ill afford-more often bright festoons of paper are draped earth peace to men of goodwill. than not, no doubt, in the hopes of labelled
If, however, as it is belleved, the Peel; thenceforth ordinary individuals carol or hymn (at the lime Christmas it and sweets and tiny presents
played and sang in place of the re-carols were unknown) and ascribed with the nome of the word
carol signified originally being remembered in his will.
recipient are hung on every
twig, dance-song, in which the participants dundant watchmen. This was the it to the seventeenth century John
Rending, of the Chapel Roysi. Hongkong has supported grener foot. Then, for the
Bigger presents are draped round the moved in unison, while a leader sang origin of the Christmas "waits."
two or three the verses and the company joined of Portuguese Origin ously during the past year the days that remain before Christmas in chorus, we must serk later
Eve, the tree is dazed upon. The origin. various organisations that are an candles are lit, other Hghts in the Before the establishment of the "gutgrowth of the wirs on two con-
room arc exfingulehed, and
police force in Englund, watchmen admiring crowd stare at the little or "waits" were employed in every nents, and there is cause
points of lights till their eyes are city to guard property. It was their antisfaction in noting the an-
tired and strained. What hurt looks duty to sound a horn or ring a bell the foreigner received, if she like me, nouncement earlier this week turns away to rest ter eyes too soon! all was we to let the citizens know to be kept in quiet and seclusion, Alt Christmas Duy Itself is a Sabbath the festivities take place on Christ- At the same time, it is no dis-brief visits to one another, carrying mas Eve. All day long people pay loyal or unworthy question to ask little presents and admiring their at this Season of Goodwill whether friends decorated trees. Then be- tween three and five o'clock the Christmas dinner is served on a table decorated with red wooden triple candlesticks.
A WORD
TO
WISE MEN
fur
that
GIVE
HAND
BAGS
WHY NOT?
Give Gloves
That Match !
Our clerk will help you
select the pair that best. match the bag you buy.
Such thoughtfulness will
make your gift completa!
You'll find a bag for her the British War Organisation Fund every need and every now exceeds three lakha,
taste in our great selec- tion. There is every shape in almost every we are not forgetting that charity material including many also begins at home; that in this exquisitely worked bags Colony we have several organisa- for evening's out.
tions, living by hand-to-mouth even
over
☆
*
TO US, it seems a strange meal, but
before the war in China and the
Ike ours, it is founded on old war in Europe drained much of traditions handed down from generu- tion to generation. First comes "lut- their
revenue revenue-a
upon fiske"
tort of lng caught in the summer, dried, and soaked in water whom Lile itself vorily.depènda.
two or three days before cooking. It One such organisation is the is slightly glutinous, and eaten with Society for the Protection of Chil-white sauce, Then a hot delicious dren. We gave publicity to itaam, served with prunes, which bring out its flavour wonderfully, French annual report a few days ago: noted mustard and bolled potatoes. Next that the Income of the families of in a dish of rice, plain, boiled rice; those whom it is supporting is lowering than at any other period In its history: noted further that but for the generosity of AA anonymous contributor, there would have been a heart-breaking deficit or eight hundred
seven
of sonte dollars,
This Society cannot distribute Christmas cheer to the people for whom it eares. It has, indeed, In-
that have been sacrificed in thin) Colony where one of every three infants born dies on the altar of Poverty and malnutrition before it attrins the age of twelve months- sacrificed for wint of the nourish- ing foods the S.P.C. la forced so aparingly to distribute because of lack of funds.
Particularly at this season, when
THE WING ON CO., LTD. sufficient revenue to save the lives we commemorate the birth of an
STORE OPEN UNTIL 9 P.M.
of any but the familles whose in-Infant, we should remember that como averages less than $1.76 per all creature comforts are divine month. It would be impossible to gifts and should be shared with our compula the number of infant lives less fortunate neighbours.
"We should never be permitted to
the S.P.C. has saved with its milk forgot the ancred significance of the and broths during the years of its festival which commemorates the existence. Even more impossible most wonderful avant in the world's Lo compute are the number of lives | history.
well.
As the leading figure of an exten- sive musical cirete, Novello was able ta popularise the tune in London and That most beautiful carol, the to make it known all over Europe and Adeste Fidells, which enjoys Inter-the States. national and deathless popularity, is Many aira emanated from the everywhere called the "Portuguese Portuguese Embassy, yet the Adeste hymn. By analogy with the "Sicllan alone acquired the appellation "Fortu Mariners' Air" It used to be sufficient queso." Why?
The truth is, the composer, Marcus to say that it was the most precious song of the Portuguese sailor. This Antonio, hailed from Portugal. Born In Lisbon in 1702, he completed his upprenticeship In his native city and became a prominent official of the Here he completed his masterpiece, Speranaza, from which the Portuguese national anthem is derived.
GRIN AND BEAR IT
By Lichty Opera of Madzki.
“You don't have to make a sceno-1 only called him "Darling"
becauso. I couldn't remember his naino.
The Adeste, it is thought, was written about 1778. The author's Intimate connection with various Continental Embassies facilitated the dispersion of the hymn among Latin nations cast and west, and via London out the rest of the civilised
Through carols the Christmas spirit adds
to existence, new ecstasy awakes to life the consciousness of every source of delight as in "The Holly and the Ivy":--
B
"The rising of the sun,
And the running of the deer. The playing of the merry organ.. Sweet singing in the choir." The carol dances joyfully through the Christmas stoty, a song of Jubilation, for the tidings are of com- fort, raising hearts spontaneously to heights where sorrows aro. forgotten. How Singing Saved a Town
There in a story told of hów a carol saved the old town of Eldore. It happened on Christmas Eve in days when persecution swept over one- time. Merrie England. Word had been recolved that the fanaticni Puritans were coming to tear down everything that savoured of the holy season.
Children ran weeping to the armas of their mothers, nll but one little jchoir boy who had been so busy (with one thing and another that ho dki not hear the news, or if he (heart, did not comprehend.
As usual, he went to his place in the choir stalls of the old church for the Christmas carols practice, which PLEASE Turn To Page 7.
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