From the December 27, 1935 edition of the Vineyard Gazette:

Christmas day saw the first observance of on the Vineyard of the Jewish feast of lights, or Chanukah. About forty Jewish residents of the Vineyard gathered for the occasion at the home of Judal Brickman in Vineyard Haven.

This Jewish holiday, which corresponds in point of time with Christmas, commemorates an ancient victory of the Jews at Jerusalem against the Greeks who sought to extinguish their religion. The name of the holiday is that of the family whose seven sons led the Jewish resistance and ultimate triumph. Thus the day is symbolized by the seven branched candelabra.

The observance on the Vineyard is part the outgrowth of instruction given to Island young people by a teach who has been coming here from the mainland. The lessons so given have been arranged through a group of young Jewish people whose president is Annie Cronig. The other officers are: Ruth Cronig, vice president; Rose Brickman, treasurer; Sam Issokson, secretary.

The Chanukah observance saw the carrying of a symbolic pageant in which seven children lighted candles, representing the candelabra.

Oak Bluffs was Christmas Tree Town this week. All towns had more or less public trees, and various organizations remembered the children who might fail to receive a visit from Santa Claus, but Oak Bluffs had no less than five altogether, and there were still other distributions of gifts where no trees were used. The Governor Mayhew Legion Post held its tree and presented gifts to children, the Moose sent gifts, and the Antlers had their big public tree, and sent out baskets of food besides. The Methodist and Baptist churches observed Christmas in their usual manner, and then on Christmas night the community tree at Hartford Park was the scene of celebration, when the town officials representatives of various organizations and a small army of people assembled in the open. The tall evergreen was gay with colored lights and decorations, and around this tree the gathering stood while Rev. O. E. Deniston offered prayer. Follwed then carol singing by the gathering, led by Mrs. J. W. Woodard, chairman of the committee on arrangements, and other appropriate exercises.

So it was, predominately at least, a white Christmas. We have not had many of them in recent years. The effort of nature to approximate the pictures of Christmas cars and the traditions inscribed in books met with a varied response. Almost everyone seemed to like it, and the decorative aspects of the landscape matched the gay lights displayed in shops and homes.

When the snow falls, there is something about its universal white diligence which both challenges and invites; for snow will always be close to the heart of New England winter, and New England winter is a brave thing, no matter how obsolete all forms of hardship are or ought to be.

Yesterday the snow came sifting down, quite without fury, and the changes it accomplished in a brief time were amazing. Most Islanders arose when the ground was still as it had been on Christmas day; then the snowflakes appeared, a few significant handfuls in the air, and then the whole atmosphere was suffused with gently slanting snow. A brief hour more, and snow was everywhere supreme, covering walks and streets, sweeping in powdery gusts from roofs, and taking charge of cars parked by the curb.

In cities it is different, but in the country every falling snow has a period during which it is an idyll.

It would be needless cruelty to insist that the New Year is not new at all, but simply a continuation of the old; and that the new leaf we all turn over with ceremony and, usually, with some inner resolutions, is almost as much a part of the past as it is of the present and future. No matter who many shadow lines we may establish for ourselves, the crossing of them will remain pretty much a form, a gesture. But not always, perhaps, an empty form. Even a shadow line of our own devising may have significance and be worth all the attention we devote to it.

Things would be better arranged if changes came according to even years. Depressions should end promptly on Dec. 31st, and better times should start on the first day of January. All old burdens should expire likewise, and all fresh and desirable things should come brimming in like a tide at the flood as a new year appears on the calendar. Of course nothing of this sort happens; but the real dividend for the human race which survives in our sense of what should happen, is that we tend to impose our own New Year ideal about the stream of events. If it works at all, we are that much better off; so the pattern does serve a purpose, and there is really a meaning in the wish for a happy New Year.

On Jan. 1 we shall all have a priceless sense of having rid ourselves of the past. The calendar which makes us slaves now makes us free, for a day. Bright is the New Year, and gay the season. May the day be long, and anticipations boundless.

Compiled by Hilary Wall
library@mvgazette.com