The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Art, Too, Shows 'Nlumination' To Light Up Christmas Scene By ANNA MANG Illumination. The very word seems to belong to Christmas, the season of light, Liké the star that guided the wise men, Christmas illuminates the spirit of 'man, In an artistic sense, illu- _ mination has another mean- ing that is also linked to Christmas: The decoration of books and manuscripts with colorful illustrations, in- itial letters and borders, "lit" by gold or, occasionally, silver. Like all the arts, the an- cient art of illumination was often employed by man in his efforts to capture some portion of the wonder of Christmas, to retell and to picture the story of the Na- tivity and related events. "The Annunciation," "The Nativity," "The Adoration of - the Magi," "The Flight into Egypt" -- these and other scenes from the well-loved Christmas story appear again and again in the hand-let- tered, individually-illustrat- ed books known as illumin- ated manuscripts. * x 0% - When It Began In the early Christian era, illuminated manuscripts were generally the products of monasteries and cathedral schools, The first examples of illumination appeared, PLUMBING & HEATING sincere thanks, and warmest greetings to your and yours for a Merry Christmas. DUFF ELECTRIC however, centuries before the birth of Christ, The Egyptian "Books of the Dead," manuscripts in- tended for tomb burial to serve as guides for the de- ceased in the afterworld, of- fer examples of gold-lit vign- ettes dating back to 1350 B.C. _ These "books," written on papyrus scrolls, envisioned afterlife as a continuation of life on earth. People and ani- mals "were pictured, along with decorative lettering showing swirls of gold and sometimes silver. * * * To Spread Learning The coming of Christian- ity brought a continuing concern with religious sub- jects as the text for illumin- ated manuscripts. Monaster- ies of Egypt and Syria were early dedicated to the crea- tion of art, the development of crafts, the spread of learn- } ing. ' In the Western world, these. aims gained impetus with the founding of the Benedic- tine monasteries in the sixth century A.D. Artists and craftsmen worked devotedly to preserve sacred texts through their hand-copied, hand-illustrated, elaborate-. ly-bound vellum manu- scripts. From time to time, secular texts -- scientific treatises, for example -- were also cop- BLACKSTOCK CHRISTMAS GREETINGS We're taking this opportunity to say "Hello" and to thank our customers for their patronage. Have a merry Christmas! ied and illustrated. * * * How It Grew Just as the celebration of Christmas gathered together many customs and rituals of earlier holidays, so too the monastery artists drew upon techniques evolved by pre- Christian craftsmen. 'Influence of classic Greek and Roman. style is evident inthe early illuminated man- uscripts of the Christian era. This gradually gave way to the, decorative, abstract By- zantine style. With the approach of the Renaissance, more natural, realistic techniques came in- to use, in illumination as in other forms of art. - * * + Treasured Today In the preparation of illu- minated manuscripts, a mas- ter artist often set the style for copyists and assistants to follow, since-even the deco- ration of an initial letter could be a major project. A single letter might occu- py an entire page, and a complete scene or miniature painting might be contained within the boundaries of, for instance, an initial "C" or "Dp." Some manuscripts, in fact, represent the work not only of more than one artist but of more than one generation of artists. Today, illuminated manu- scripts are treasures of. li- braries and museums, and rightly so, for throughout a thousand years of Christian history, the art of illumina- tion brought an extra dimen- sion of beauty to manu- scripts that are, in them- selves, precious works of art. Sending. Greetings- The custom of exchanging greetings at holiday time is older than Christmas. The custom of the Christmas greeting card, however, is a relatively new one. Christmas cards originat- ed 'about 125 years ago, in England. Despite this re- cent start, printed greetings quickly caught the public fancy and are today one of the most popular forms of Christmas holiday traditions. For Feasting Traditional Christmas treat in Spain is a sweet pas- try called "dulces de almen- dra." The ingredients are sugar, flour, egg white and almonds. PORT PERRY STAR -- CHRISTMAS EDITION -- 13 'Season's Greetings And All Good Wishes For Christmas And The Coming Year. Dr. M. B. Dymond, M.P.P. and Family "May this holiday season be for all our customers a truly blooming one. We thank you for your kind patronage. ELEANORS FLOWERS "sk Rejoice ~ Grue blessings of Christmas joyfully arise from that first wondrous Holy Night. May the spiritual glories of the season be yours. JOSEPH'S Now's the time to thank you for your continued good will, and wish you and your family a happy holiday! 4 PEEL HARDWARE EDITH & FRED FRASER AND STAFF Crest Hardware: Ny BARBER SHOP A