Evening star. [volume], January 01, 1933, Page 3, Image 41

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
IT'S ALWAYS A BIG, JOLLY-GOOD PARTY
The Ancient Custom of Saluting the NewYear Has
Ever 13een the Occasion for Merriment—and Often
for Headaches. And There's Just a Possibility That
the 1933 Celebration Will Be America's Last Under
the Rule of Prohibition.
A
MERICA'S celebration of the birth
day of the year 1933 may eventual
ly prove to have been the last salute
to the New Year in which the suit
caec played a prominent part.
New Year eve parties trace their
ancestry back a long way. But since 1920,
when prohibition went into effect, they have
been of a special kind In the United States, and
the suitcase has been a part of them.
The reason? Because a great many people
who did their celebrating in hotels and restaur
ants adopted the habit of bringing suitcases
with contraband contents. People who cele
brated at home—the thirsty ones, at any rate—
placed a lot of reliance on dapper bootleggers
who lugged suitcases just before the party
began.
But it is barely possible that the dawn ot
1934 may find the suitcase unnecessary. At
least, that is the view taken by many who want
to see the eighteenth amendment repealed.
Whether it does or not. though, the fact re
mains that New Year celebrations have almost
always been very much of a kind. And be
cause traditionally the flowing bow! has played
its part in the observance, it was inevitable
that any disrespect which might exist for pro
hibition laws would crop out on this day of all
days.
k iUSIC, dancing, laughter, gay shouts and—
' prohibition or not—a little something to
drink have usually marked such meetings.
People have always wanted to gather together
eomewhere, wish the dying year godspeed, and
hope that the new one may be a bit luckier
and happier for everybody concerned.
A century ago, for instance, in the days wûen
old New York was really little but not so very
old, the New Year call was in its heyday.
On the afternoon of the first day in the year,
II .
» v.mr-r I
The suitcase has been a feature of New
hotel (lining rooms during prohibition .
- JV*
Year celebrations in restaurants and
. . Will this year see the last of it?
people piled Into sleighs and cutters, witn
plenty of robes and foot-warmers to keep tne
chill off, aijfl made the rounds of their friends*
bouses all about the city.
Blazing log flres made living rooms warm ana
inviting: and there was sure to be a big bowl
of eggnog on the side table for all guests to
sample. Usually there would be things to eat,
too, roast wild turkey, ham boiled in cider, a
baked pig with a rosy apple in Its mouth—
things like that.
But you would have to go back a lot farther
than one century to get at the origin of New
Year celebrations. It is recorded that it was
on the end of the old year that Cain and Abel
offered a sacrificial lamb and fruits up to God.
The ancient Roman's, long before Caesar's day,
made a holiday of the beginning of the year,
celebrating with a great feast. The old Druids
of England gathered mistletoe on the day and
held elaborate ceremonies.
King Henry III, it is said, extorted New Year
gifts from his subjects, with each member of
the court and the nobility required to approacn
his presence with some substantial little re
membrance. Queen Elizabeth continued the
custom, and is said to have supported her en
tire wardrobe in this manner.
In the reign of King James I pins were favor
ite New Year gifts. They often cost a good
deal of money, relatively speaking, and occa
sionally money was given instead of pins; and
from this custom arose the expression "pin
money."
New Year observances in France used to
ι eclipse even those of Christmas. One of the
entertaining features of the Parisian celebra
tion used to be that there was always a flurry
on the part of actresses to kiss firemen. It was
believed that the first aftress who kissed a fire
man in the new year wouM have luck for the
next 12 months.
AMONG the Japanese. New Year celebra
tions have been even more elaborate than
among occidental nations. The traditional Jap
anese New Year festival lasts for 14 days.
Men and boys fly gaudily decorated kites,
girls put on their best clothes and play games,
dancers and musicians go from house to house;
people visit, thel» friends and exchange Uttle
gifts, such as jars of fruit preserves, fans, em
broidery and the like. Extensive religious cere
monies are held In the temples and homes.
In China the celebration is even more pro
longed. It commonly lasts for a month.
Houses are decorated with gayly printed paper,
vast supplies of firecrackers are set off, millions
of paper lanterns are hung In the streets, where
hawkers have established booths to peddle can
dies and sugared cakes. There are weeks ot
feasting and, for the upper classes, an elaborate
ritual of ceremonial calls and visits.
It was in England and Scotland that the
famous New Year custom of the Wassail Bowl
originated.
Wassail was originally a Saxon phrase, "wass
hael," meaning "to your health." The Was
sail Bowl stood on a table in the mail) hall of
the home. Recipes for mixing its ingredients
vary, but one of the oldest is as follows:
"Simmer a small quantity of the following
spices in a teacupful of water, viz.—cardamums,
cloves, nutmeg, mace, ginger, cinnamon ana
coriander. When done, put the spices to two,
four or six bottles of port, sherry or madeira,
with one pound and a half of fine loaf sugar
(pounded) to four bottles, and set all on the
fire in a clean, bright saucepan; meanwhile,
have the yolks of 12 and the whites of six eggs
well whisked up in it.
"Then, when the spiced and sugared wine is
a little warm, take out one teacupful; and so
on for three or four cups; after which, when It
boils, add the whole of the remainder, pouring
it In gradually, and stirring it briskly all the
time, so as to froth It.
ι H\ Κ Λ , ΓΜΛ*Μ
11 "THE moment a fine froth is obtained, toes
in 12 fine, soft, roasted apples and sene
it up hot."
With this steaming bowl sitting on the table
awaiting the pleasure of all callers, it can be
seen that New Year could become a very fes
tive occasion, indeed.
This sketch by H. H. Flere represents the old-time custom of walking upstair»
backward on New Year eve, taking one step to each stroke of midnight. If you
got up without a misstep it was an omen of good fortune.
A companion custom In Scotland used to be
called "the hot pint."
The hot pint consisted of a kettle lull or
warm ale, prepared just about as the wine in
the Wassail Bowl was prepared, and strength
ened by "an iniusion of spirits."
With this kettle in hand, a family would go
out to call on all its friends, and at each house
all hands would dip into the kettle—fortifying
themselves, meanwhile with roasted buns,
cheese, cold meats, and what-not. If two sucn
parties met on the street they would stop ana
each would drink from the other's kettle. Then
they would go on their way again.
In Scotland, also, much attention was paid
to the "first foot."
It was believed that much depended on the
first foot to croes your threshold on New Year
day. If it was that of some Intimate friend, It
was a good omen; if you were a young man,
for instance, and a beautiful girl was the first
to enter the house, it probably meant that you
would marry her before the year was over.
It was common for young men to go about
the town at midnight, knocking on the girls'
doors, in the hope that they might provide a
romantically auspicious "first foot" for tneir
sweethearts and might receive, In exchange, a
New Year kiss or two.
NEW YEAR customs in America underwent
comparatively little change until 1020,
when the first prohibition New Year was ob
served. The eighteenth amendment did not
go Into effect until the middle of January,
1920, but the war-time prohibition law was al
ready In force, and for the first time the cele
brants found themselves unable to make legal
public purchase of liquor.
Under that law it was perfectly legal for a
hotel or restaurant to serve liquor at its dining
room table—provided the liquor had been
brought there by the guests So the suitcase,
mentioned above as a prime feature of New
Year celebrations under prohibition, first came
into its own at the 1920 celebration.
On that occasion so many suitcases full ol
liquor were sent to Reisenweber's restaurant,
in New York, that 12 private detectives had to
be hired to guard them. Fully 3,000 people at
tended the party at that restaurant.
In fact, the celebration all over New Yorlc
was a gay one that year. People seemed to
realize liquor would be a lot harder to get
thereafter, and apparently they set out to
have one final fling. Cover charges at the
smart restaurants ranged for $7 to $15 a place,
and most of the theaters charged $5 a seat.
There was a greater demand for private dining
rooms that night than ever before in New
York history.
Road Money on Hand
THE Federal Government still has about
$29,000,000 which is to be advanced to the
various States out of an emergency fund to be
used in the construction of Federal aid high
ways during the rest of this fiscal year which
ends on June 30.
The total advanced by the Federal Govern
ment for this work was $120,000,000, which sum
is being administered through the Department
of Agriculture.
The appropriation for this work, however,
does not mean that the Federal Government
Is to pay the coet of the work, for provision
is made for deduction in 10 annual install
ments from the regular Federal aid fund until
the Treasury is reimbursed for the advances
made to meet the unemployment emergency.
Peanut Growers Aided
EVEN the lowly peanut is finding its way into
the Treasury of the United States. The Crop
Production Loan Office has been empowered to
make advances to peanut growers who find
themselves unable financially to harvest their
crops. The peanuts are used as collateral for
the loan. The nuts are placed in the ware
house of a co-operative association, which is
empowered to sell them and pay to the raiser
the difference between the sale price and the
amount of the loan minus also a small per
centage for carrying and handling charges.
ONE shipper who mixed canned frozen eggs
which were partly decomposed with good
eggs lost a $100,000 shipment as a result. In
spectors of the Federal Food and Drug Ad
ministration discovered the eggs in New York
City. Examination disclosed that the good eggs
and the bad were so mixed In the 20 carloads
that separation was almost impossible, so th ·
entire shipment was seized. Altogether there
were 23,000 30-pound cans in the shipment. -
Shipment
How they celebrated New Year ei'p in old England . . . front a famous old-time
cartoon by George Cruikshank.