Our Past Is Present December 22, 2017

December 22, 2017

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Christmas at country churches in the early 1900’s was truly a religious experience as Ellen Peterson relates in “A Kansas’s Enterprise” a tale about Swedish families who settled in this part of the state.

            “My how exciting it was to arise at 4:00 AM on Christmas Day, dress in our best and hurry out to the carriage for the ride to church for a Jul-otta Service.  This service is a tradition in Sweden and takes place at 5 or 6 AM in a church lighted with candles.  The ride to Jul-otta was such a delight and was often made through snow.  We enjoyed counting the lights we would see twinkling in homes here and there along the route.

            However, it was the program on Christmas night that was the climax to a happy day.  The children would assemble, generally sporting new shoes and perhaps a new woolen dress or a serge suit.  They would tingle with excitement as they gathered at the church in anticipation of saying their recitations.  The church was always packed for the Christmas program, which began with the singing of the lovely Christmas hymns and followed by the children’s program.  Sometimes the children would stumble and forget their lines, but they always felt a wave of relief when their performance had ended.  They looked forward to the tree lighting and the distribution of sacks of candy following the program.

            Ellen Peterson believed the deep impressions, which those early Christmas programs made on the mind of youngsters who attended influenced the thinking of the community as a whole.  The children knew why they were celebrating Christmas.  All of the recitations, dialogues and songs centered around that grand theme – the birth of the Savior.  Santa Claus was left completely out of the thinking and he was not even permitted to hand out the presents or treats.  They believed in Santa Claus at home, but he played no part in the church services.

            And...that is today’s story from the Geary County Historical Society.