Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 44 · column 2 of 5 · from the scan, no model involved
The great cycle
It would be a grand disservice to history t«id truth to say “Christmas” without also saying “pagan.”
The contemporary Christian winter holiday is the result of a compromise between Christian missionaries with new ideas and European tribes steeped in pagan beliefs. Struggling to bridge a daunting communication barrier, the missionaries often chose to take existing pagan festivals and tack on a Christian connotation rather than fight for an entirely different holiday.
The winter festival already celebrated by tribal people around the known world had a new twist: the birth of Christ.
A similar metamorphosis attached Mardi Gras to Lent, changing New Orleans forever.
The blatant pagan elements of the Christmas festival did not get through history unnoticed. Oliver Cromwell, playing the ultimate 17th-century Grinch,
86.5%