------Issue Number 9. End of Year, 2005 ------
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President: Jan Lier. Publicity Officer: Basil Stafford
Contacts: Cheryl Elmes & Jim Kent, P.O. Box 48, Casterton, Victoria. 3311
Newsletter layout: Alistair Boyle, P.O. Box 186, Casterton, Victoria. 3311
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Meetings: Please see back page for days, dates and times.
Held at the R.S.L rooms, 158, Henty Street, Casterton.
Wishing Everyone a Very Happy Christmas
And a Prosperous New Year
from all the team at the Historical Society
A History of Christmas
The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the Yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals (parades) with floats, carollers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.
Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian celebration of New Year. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god - Marduk. Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days.
The Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god. The traditions called for the king to die at the end of the year and to return with Marduk to battle at his side.
To spare their king, the Mesopotamians used the idea of a "mock" king. A criminal was chosen and dressed in royal clothes. He was given all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration the "mock" king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain, sparing the life of the real king.
The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea. Part of that celebration included the exchanging of places, the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey.
Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As the Winter Solstice approached, with its long cold nights and short days, many people feared the sun would not return. Special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sun.
In Scandinavia during the winter months the sun would disappear for many days. After thirty-five days scouts would be sent to the mountain tops to look for the return of the sun. When the first light was seen the scouts would return with the good news. A great festival would be held, called the Yuletide, and a special feast would be served around a fire burning with the Yule log. Great bonfires would also be lit to celebrate the return of the sun. In some areas people would tie apples to branches of trees to remind themselves that spring and summer would return.
The ancient Greeks held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals to assist their god Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans.
The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits).
The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. Again the masters and slaves would exchange places.
"Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians thought it an abomination to honour the pagan god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.
But as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbade this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.
Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturnalia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.
The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.
The first mention of December 25 as the birth date of Jesus occurred in A.D. 336 in an early Roman calendar. In the late 300's, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. By 1100, Christmas had become the most important religious festival in Europe, and Saint Nicholas was a symbol of gift giving in many European countries. During the 1400's and 1500's, many artists painted scenes of the Nativity, the birth of Jesus.
The popularity of Christmas grew until the Reformation, a religious movement of the 1500's. This movement gave birth to Protestantism. During the Reformation, many Christians began to consider Christmas a pagan celebration because it included nonreligious customs. During the 1600's, because of these feelings, Christmas was outlawed in England and in parts of the English colonies in America. The old customs of feasting and decorating, however, soon reappeared and blended with the more Christian aspects of the celebration.
Gift giving
The custom of giving gifts to relatives and friends on a special day in winter probably began in ancient Rome and northern Europe. In these regions, people gave each other small presents as part of their year-end celebrations.
Other customs
In the 1800's, two more Christmas customs became popular decorating Christmas trees and sending Christmas cards to relatives and friends. Many well known Christmas carols including “Silent Night" and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," were composed during this period. In the United States and other countries, Santa Claus replaced Saint Nicholas as the symbol of gift giving.
The Modern Image of Santa
At the beginning of the 1930s, the burgeoning Coca-Cola Company was still looking for ways to increase sales of their product during winter, then a slow time of year for the soft drink market. They turned to a talented commercial illustrator named Haddon Sundblom, who created a series of memorable drawings that associated the figure of a larger than life; red-and-white garbed Santa Claus with Coca-Cola. Coke's annual advertisements, featuring Sundblom drawn Santas holding bottles of Coca-Cola, drinking Coca-Cola, receiving Coca-Cola as gifts, and especially enjoying Coca-Cola, became a perennial Christmastime feature which helped spur Coca-Cola sales throughout the winter (and produced the bonus effect of appealing quite strongly to children, an important segment of the soft drink market). The success of this advertising campaign has helped fuel the legend that Coca-Cola actually invented the image of the modern Santa Claus decking him out
in a red-and-white suit to promote the company colours or that at the very least, Coca-Cola chose to promote the red-and-white version of Santa Claus over a variety of competing Santa figures in order to establish it as the accepted image of Santa Claus.
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23rd NOVEMBER - End of year society dinner to be held at the Casterton Hotel. 7.30 pm
“THE WAINES MURDER”
By the late Jack Gorman
Taken from, “Tales of Casterton; the Waines Murder and Other Stories”
Part 3.
Thomas George CUE, the Clerk of Petty Sessions at Casterton in 1858 was a most remarkable man, and was looked upon as “The Sir Oracle” of the District. Prior to coming to live at Casterton in 1853, George Cue had had a most adventurous life. As a Naval Officer he had been First Mate to his uncle, Sir James CLARK-ROSS, had made several trips to Australia and even did some exploring of the South Pole.
Many of the earliest citizens of Casterton were poor and illiterate. They could neither read nor write, and many of our earliest documents are marked with a “His” or “Her” cross. To all his neighbours George Cues was counsellor and friend.
At Forest Farm, in its original state, the homestead was made of brick and plaster. It was a lovely property with spectacular views of the amphitheatre hills - it overlooked Casterton - and watering places for horses. Sarah BAKER and Charlotte STEVENS were constant visitors to Forest Farm. One of them, a shepherd’s wife, had done chores such as washing and cleaning up the WAINES’ home. She had also called at HUNT’S hut on the day after their disappearance. To George CUE she allayed her suspicions and fears about the missing HUNTS.
Subsequently, George CUE with the information he was given, got in touch with Mr. FEATHERSTONHAUGH, the Police Magistrate for the district who lived in Hamilton. He also wrote a letter to the Chief Commissioner of Police in Melbourne.
Later, WAINES was arrested by the local Police and lodged in “The Logs” on suspicion of murder. He was arraigned before Mr. JACKSON, J. P. of Sandford, and was discharged as there did not seem to be the slightest grounds for detaining him. Mr. JACKSON was highly indignant at Mr. CUE for having WAINES brought before him on what he considered highly incredulous evidence.
But Mr. CUE’S suspicions were not to be deterred. Constable AHEARN arrived at the Casterton Police station early in November 1858. He had never known HUNT or his wife. He had an advertisement inserted in the Police Gazette, circulating all over the colonies, at various Police Stations, at Penola, South Australia, and Guichen Bay, seeking information of the missing HUNTS but to no avail.
Cocksure from his acquittal in the Justice’s Court, WAINES now had a much more confident air. In June of 1859 he called at the Casterton Police Station, and putting on a very bold front told Constable AHEARN he had heard the government was going to plough up his garden searching for the HUNTS’ bodies. He told them, “If such the case I would like to get it done immediately before putting my crop in, otherwise it will put me to great expense in losing the Spring of the year”.
No proceedings had then commenced, but on the same day as WAINES called at the Police Station, several witnesses had been examined and he could have got wind of this.
In January of that year, a Search Warrant had been executed and a number of articles including jewellery, clothing and a Marriage Certificate belonging to the HUNTS were taken into custody from WAINE’S home.
In the spring of 1959, a swagman out of work, got off the Portland to Casterton Coach at Sandford, and humping his bluey into Casterton enquired from the CHAFFEY’S at the Glenelg Inn, the direction to Forest Farm.
As a swagman - Ticket of Leave men were constantly on the move in the colony - George CHAFFEY took little notice of the man, except to remark to his wife Phillipa, that despite the swagman’s attire, there was something about his muscular build, clean cut face and bronzed arm he liked.
Having made George CUES acquaintance, Charlie BROWNE as he was called was put up for the night at the CHAFFEYS INN. He was reputed to be a single man, a good dancer, and became quite an attraction for the young ladies of the district
What the locals couldn’t understand was why he became so friendly with the WAINES. He was constantly in George WAINES’ company at the Inn, frequently took grog to the WAINES’ selection and had more than his share of the dances at the local Balls. Fishing in the Glenelg became a popular pastime for Charles BROWNE, and he spent a lot of his evenings off casting a line near the Watering Place.
To be continued…….next year
Historical Presentations
TO ABC RADIO HORSHAM
Commencing on the 21st November, 2005, Mondays 6.15 am
The Society has been successful in negotiating with ABC Radio, Horsham, to have Historical Presentations relating to the towns of Harrow, Balmoral, Coleraine and Casterton.
The initial idea was put forward at the Casterton Business and Tourism Association AGM by Cliff Tischler and was originally to only have Casterton present the history of the town.
Following negotiations with Fiona Parker from the ABC Radio Horsham, a proposal was put forward by the Casterton Historical Society to involve other Historical Societies from within the viewing region to present historical presentations relating to their town. This was met favourably with our Society co-ordinating the proposal.
Five Historical Societies were asked to be involved: Balmoral, Coleraine and Casterton took up the challenge, Harrow whilst supportive of the idea was unable to commit and a person has been found to represent this town. The fifth historical society was unable to commit resources.
The groups will rotate on a weekly basis; each group presenting a 7 minute segment related to an historical account of their town.
Tune in to ABC Radio Horsham and hear the history of the towns!!!
ROSTER for 2005
21ST NOVEMBER 2005 / HARROW28TH NOVEMBER 2005 / BALMORAL
5TH DECEMBER 2005 / CASTERTON
12TH DECEMBER 2005 / COLERAINE
ROSTER for 2006