THE MICHIGAN DAILY_______
Latvian Yule Traditions Retain
MEDIEVAL DINNERS BEGIN BOAR'S HEAD CUSTOM
Great Feasts Mark Christmas Through History
uperstitions, Pagan
Customs
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paper, and large pepper cookies and are cut in a wide variety of
which have a hole in them so they shapes. Nuts are also traditional,
can be hung on the tree. hazelnuts in particular.
Use Candles, Cotton "There are also many supersti-
"Some people do not put any tions which have come to be con-
food on the tree, but use only the nected with the Christmas sea-
candles and cotton to look like son." Mrs. Vitins said. "If an un-
snow," she continued. "Small chil- married girl wishes to know the
dren are never allowed to see the first name of her future husband,
tree until their parents have dec- she must go outside on Christmas
orated it." night and ask the first man she
"The candles are burned on meets what his first name is and
Christmas Day, just before mid- this will be her answer."
night on New Year's Eve and on "On New Year's Eve a big kettle
the Three King's Day, Jan. 6, full of dried peas is boiled in salt
when they are burned to the very water. These must be eaten before
end. When they are done you must midnight, for they are all the
take down the tree," Mrs. Vitins tears of the old year,'and if they
said. are finished you will not cry in the
On Christmas Eve everyone year to come."
sings carols, and the children
EAT, DRINK-And be merry.
Traditional feasts may be out of
style, still Christmas remains a
holiday symbolized by food.
must all either recite a poem or
sing a song. After that. gifts are
given. The Old Man of Christmas
brings the presents, and he can
bring a bunch of switches for a
naughty child as well as a present.
There are many different foods
connected with Christmas, such as
snukuritis, a pig's head, and pir-
agi, or, bacon buns, which are
made of yeast dough in the shape
of a half-moon and filled with
smoked bacon and onions.
Pork Traditional
There is always fresh white
bread and black bread, cold meats
and sausages as well as pork, the
traditional meat for Christmas.
Pepper cookies are made only at
Christmas time. They contain all
kinds of spices, especially ginger,
Santa's Mail
Try a Highway Holiday
-Three Varieties Offered
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is
reprinted from an article in the Uni-
versity of Texas Daily Texan.)
Tired of school?
Try a Holiday Highway vaca-
tion. They are most popular dur-
ing the Thanksgiving and Christ-
mas holidays, and they come in
varying lengths: hours, weeks,
months, and forever. The longer
you drive and the faster you drive,
the longer will be your vacation.
If you don't try to go too far,
or travel too fast, you will probab-
ly enjoy the most popular of the
three vacations. It lasts only hours
and treats you to an unhurried,
view of the countryside and the1
tions, though, is that they are
difficult to plan. Say, for instance,
you're not at all tired of school
. . you're making straight "A's"
and going with the sweetest thing
on forty acres. You set out to take
vacation number one and sud-
denly, painfully, discover you'll
take two, or three. Somebody may
surprise you.
If you're sure you want Holiday
Highway vacation number 1, bet-
ter take the advice of Allen R.
Hamilton, chief traffic and secur-
ity officer for the University.
"Think about your driving. In-
attention ranks with speed as a
! majioraus of death on the high-
Good food has always been as-!
sociated with Christmas. scame on the scene after its intro- True to the coming American
Fasting and abstinence are the duction from Mexico. enterprising tradition. however,
order of the day before Dec. 25 in The pilgrims found Chrismas the new settlers set about de-
some countries to honor the re- much more modest and simple in veloping a new strain of bird that
ligious significance of the holiday. America than in their homeland.
but a great feast is a universal The wild North American turkey, has since become the juicy, tender,
feature for Christmas day itself. a ready-made Christmas dinner, golden-brown dish that adorns the
In merry old England. glutton- was a dry, tough and rather cheer- traditional American Christmas
ous feasts were held in honor of less morsel. dinner table.
the Yule with one redeeming fea-_e__ _
ture - the poor were generously
treated with huge amounts of meat
distributed among them.
The medieval Christmas dinner
began with the serving of the
traditional "Boar's Head," brought
in in solemn procession by the
chief cook of the castle accom-
panied by several waiters, pagesa THE SIREN EL d0K
and minstrels singing "The Bear's
Head in Hand I Bear."
List Courses I OR DRESS -UP OCCASIONS
Other courses followed in stun-
ning variety.17 a1
The menu for such a dinner in
1560 listed no less than 17 main
dishes including roast boar with
mustard, boiled capon, boiled
haunch beef, roast beef tongue,
roast pig, mince pie, roast goose,
roast swan, roast turkey, venison,
pasty of venison, kid with pudding
in the belly, olive pie and custard,
Potatoes, conspicuously absents ~
from all early bills of fare, were
not introduced into Europe until
1586 and didn't come into general SEa
use until 100 years later.
The biggest glutton of them all,
by far, was a certain baronet of U.
London in 1770 who ordered a
fabulous pie nine feet in cir-
cumference that was so heavy it i
had to be wheeled into the dining THE YOUNG POINT OF VIEW IN SHOLS
hall on a cart by three men.
Modest Dinners Black suede
Although sucn sumptuous feasts Brown suede
were the fashion among Britishwhvn
nobility for centuries, the com- -an
mon people usually had goose,
capon, chicken or bustard, a large
bird formerly native to England.
In 1550 the traditional turkey
tam hild enIt "s important to have a party look from
tain Children, p -
* -I-i-tt head to toe when there's an elegant
versity Hospital occasion afoot. Another flirtatious first
from Life Stride, noted for superb
ading yabe disti bwch they styling. Come in today and see our
children. An annual food box, a full/ine of party shoes. 95
collection of canned goods andf i p h
other foods, will, be donated by
them to a needy family in the Ann
Arbor area. Collegiate Sorosis
members also will donate gifts to
hospital children.
SRinging for Salvation Army
Christmas Buckets, women of Al-
pha Epsilon Pi and Alpha Delta
Pi will continue their annual
Christmas season work.
Women of many of the sorori-
ties on campus are also donating.~"' South MainNO -03
their time and energy todvarious
projects for charities sponsored by
the Women's League.
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otherholiday travelers. You arrive way."'
home, unharried, happy, and
At least the Ann Arbor children Holiday Highway vacation No. Sororities Enter
who each year write to Santa 2 is longer, but accommodations
think there is a Santa Claus, are available in most any town.P ti a TT
thanks tothe Ann Arbor Post The rooms are monotonous though Pents tUni
Office and residents of Ann Arbor. - - . all white. The beds are white
The letters that are written to and the walls are white and the A merry Christmas will be had
Santa each year in hopes of re- room service is by ladies in white by many University hospital pa-
ceiving gifts at Christmas time, dresses, wearing white caps and tients and children in the Ann Ar-
are not placed in the dead letter white shoes. These rooms are ex- bor area through the efforts of sor-
box in Ann Arbor, Postmaster Os- pensive, too . . . up to $17 a day, orities on campus, in conjunction
wald J. Kock reports. These letters European plan. Guests usually with the Panhellenic Association.
are instead given to the many don't give the cost a second Tray favors made by Delta
organizations and local residents thought, though. People who have Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, Al-
who each year call for them at taken this vacation never forget
the Post Office. it. Many of them are never the pha Delta Pi and Sigma Kappa
After the letters are read, Koch same afterwards. of hospital patients on Christmas
continued, they are answered and But it's the third vacation that Day,
the wishes granted as much as must make a real impression. It Phi Mu, Chi Omega and Sigma
possible. Koch said that many of is called "The Great Adventure," Kappa women will sing carols for
the same people take letters year the vacation that lasts forever.-j various hospital groups.
after year. It's package plan, 4 by 6, and it Seniors of Phi Mu will have
He added that he did not know must be fabulous. Nobody has eve thir annual toy cart, for which
how long this practice has been returned from one. tys are collected and repaired
going an, but it has been in effect We can't say, therefore, any- by the women. They are then do-
ated with the Post Office here thing about the accommodations' nated to children in hospital
Some of the letters have already but we understand they vary, de- wards. The sorority is also send-
started coming in, but the bulk of pending on the individual. We do ing Christmas cards for the Mus-
them will not start coming until know the first stop offers no white cular Dystrophy fund.
about ten days before Christmns, walls. They are close and heavy Also donating toys and gifts to
Koch said. Most are taken al- , black, blackIchildren are members of Alpha
though each year some of the The last two Holiday Highway Zeta Delta, who will give a Christ-
several hundred letters aren't an- vacations have certain drawbacks, mas party at Dunbar Center. Al-
swered and are sent to the dead but then, what doesn't? But you pha Gamma Delta will donate to
letter office. should know that your family and the ward for emotionally disturbed
One of the factors which make friends will object to either of children at University Hospital,
the whole project even better, he these. They miss your company, and Alpha Omicron Pi women will
said, is the lack of any prank worry about you, and sometimes entertain in the hospital wards.
letters or of mere curiosity seekers go broke trying to pay the ex- Alpha Delta Pi sorority mem-
which could dampen the spirit of penses. bers plan to host a Christmas party
the affair. The trouble with these vaca- !at Mercywood, where toys, in-
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Play
Santa
to
your
Nurse!
Give her Clinics
for Christmas
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from
MAST
Nurses knoo
and prefer Clinics!
Genuine Goodyear welt
Sizes 3 2 to 11. AAAA t
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