gn residents to
be sent to loved ones at home, or to be used in their own observance
of the day, which is usually after the manner of their respective
countries. So shopping is lively from about the first of November
until after the New Year.

The principal streets are full of carriages, the shops are full of the
choicest wares, and it is to be hoped that the pocketbooks are full of
money wherewith to purchase the beautiful articles displayed.

During the _Novena_, or eight days preceding Christmas, in some
provinces shepherds go from house to house inquiring if Christmas is
to be kept there. If it is, they leave a wooden spoon to mark the
place, and later bring their bagpipes or other musical instruments and
play before it, singing one of the sweet Nativity songs, of which the
following is a favorite.

"For ever hallow'd be
The night when Christ was born,
For then the saints did see
The holy star of morn.
So Anastasius and St. Joseph old
They did that blessed sight behold."

_Chorus_: (in which all present join)

"When Father, Son and Holy Ghost unite
That man may saved be."

It is expected that those who have a _presepio_ are ready by this time
to receive guests to pray before it and strolling musicians to sing
before it, for the _presepio_ is the principal feature of an Italian
Christmas. It is made as expensive as its owner can afford, and
sometimes much more so. It is a miniature representation of the
birthplace of Christ, showing the Holy Family--Joseph, Mary, and the
infant Jesus in the manger--or, more frequently, the manger awaiting
the infant. This is a doll that is brought in later, around that each
person in the room may pray before it, and is then solemnly deposited
in the manger. There are angels, and other figures several inches
high, carved in wood--usually sycamore,--prettily colored and
introduced to please the owner's taste; the whole is artistically
arranged to represent the scene at Bethlehem which the season
commemorates. When the festivities cease the _presepio_ is taken apart
and carefully stored away for use another year.

During the Novena, children go about reciting Christmas pieces,
receiving money from those who gather around them to listen, and later
they spend their earnings in buying eels or some other substantial
delicacy of the season.

The _Ceppo_, or Yule-log, is lighted at two o'clock the day previous
to Christmas, on the