Authors: David McLaughlan
Tags: #Christian Books & Bibles, #Christian Living, #Holidays, #Christmas, #Religion & Spirituality
Why?
Pastor Wichern may have invented his Advent wreath to quiet down some excited children, as the legend suggests, but he probably also had the spiritual education of his wards at heart.
Christians who adopted the pagan wreaths probably had no difficulty equating the idea of never-ending life with the Eternal God. The practice of encouraging the sun to come back in the springtime fit well with the idea of waiting, excitedly, for the second coming of the Son of God.
Different churches attach different symbolisms to the four external candles, but they all encourage excited anticipation in the weeks before the Christ candle is lit.
Who?
The Bible doesn’t say that Gabriel was the angel who announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, but it would seem very likely. After all it was he who told Mary she would give birth to the Son of God. The book of Luke tells of “an angel” making the announcement, but earlier in the story Gabriel described himself as the one who stands “in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee” (Luke 1:19).
His name means “God is my strength,” and he serves as God’s messenger throughout the Bible. For an announcement of such magnificence, it seems highly unlikely God would have sent anyone else.
What?
Angels hold a position in creation somewhere between humanity and the divine. As such they are often used to carry important messages to humans or carry out God’s will on earth. The name
angel
ultimately derives from the Greek word for “messenger.”
The angels in the Bible seem to have presented themselves as men (sometimes as comforting messengers, sometimes as destroyers), but their beauty often leads to them being depicted in art as female. Most of the angels who adorn Christmas trees these days will be in the form of beautiful, adoring women with wings and halos. Surprisingly, no mention is made of angels having wings until the book of Revelation.
Where?
Gabriel and the other angels came directly from God and appeared, well, wherever there was a message that needed delivering! In the book of Luke the “heavenly host” appeared to the shepherds in a field in the night. Perhaps the shepherds were the only ones awake at that hour!
The Bible has them appearing in Israel and Judah, but there are very few countries where angelic appearances have not been recorded.
In family Christmases the angel (it will usually be either an angel or a star) takes pride of place at the very top of the tree, perhaps representing the idea that angels look down on us mortals from above.
When?
In the book of Genesis, an angel is sent to guard the Garden of Eden. Angels play a major role in the book of Revelation. These two books cover the whole span of creation. So angels have always been with us and always will be.
But when should you put your angel on top of your Christmas tree? Some folk favor the tradition of twelve days before Christmas and for twelve days after. Increasingly, though, people put their tree (and their angel) up straight after Thanksgiving, thus making the most of the time available either to shop or to anticipate the birth of the Lord.
Why?
All through the Bible, angels carry messages, comfort the needy, and punish the unrepentant, but no errand from God could have been as important as the one trusted to the unnamed angel on the night of the first Christmas. He had to announce nothing less than the arrival of God on earth in the form of a newborn child!
He appeared in the middle of the night more than two millennia ago to tell some shepherds the good news, showing that God loved the humble. He was joined by “the heavenly host,” who sang praises to God and promptly returned to heaven.
Why? For the salvation of all mankind. That’s why!
Who?
Rather wonderfully, the day after the one dedicated to Jesus Christ’s birth is dedicated to Saint Stephen, Christianity’s first-known martyr. In many countries Boxing Day is better known as St. Stephen’s Day.
St. Stephen’s Day, described as “the Feast of Stephen,” is featured in the carol “Good King Wenceslas.”
What?
Many countries where Christmas is a recognized holiday have some version of Boxing Day. It may be an officially sanctioned holiday from work, a day of spiritual observance, or simply a day of recovering from the excesses of Christmas.
In times when real holidays were much scarcer, Boxing Day undoubtedly had greater significance, but these days it does tend to get absorbed into the Christmas celebrations. Often it is little more than a chance to enjoy some major sporting events or simply catch up with the family and friends not seen on Christmas Day. (Not that those are unimportant things!)
Increasingly January sales are beginning on Boxing Day.
Where?
Boxing Day is recognized and celebrated in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries (countries associated with the former British Empire) across the world. Places with a strong Catholic or Lutheran tradition have also tended to preserve the idea of St. Stephen’s Day. The combination of the two traditions means that one or the other is celebrated in many countries. However, many people in the United States have only read about the day.
For many the tradition will be celebrated in the home, but if we were to combine the charitable aspect of the day with the love displayed at Christmas, we could take a little Boxing Day generosity to some place where there was a need to be met.
When?
Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26. The Feast Day of St. Stephen, on which the tradition of Boxing Day stands, was proclaimed in 1083. Originally a day of remembrance and veneration, it became a day of charity to the poor and a valued holiday to people who worked in domestic service. It would have been one of the few days servants who lived in the grand homes of their masters were allowed time off to visit their families.
It was “on the Feast of Stephen” that Good King Wenceslas ventured out through the snow “deep and crisp and even” to take food and firewood to some poor neighbors.
Why?
Some believe the day got its name because the nobility and churches would traditionally empty their charity boxes to the poor on this day. Since medieval times, collecting boxes were left outside churches to collect money to feed the poor on St. Stephen’s Day.
Another possible meaning of the term
Boxing Day
derives from the gifts the nobility gave their servants. Primarily concerned with making sure their grand celebrations went well, members of the nobility would have required their staff to work on Christmas Day and given them the next day off. The servants were presented with boxes to take home to their families. Leftover food would be a substantial part of these gifts.
But because the name of the day isn’t easily explainable, an attempt was made in modern times to suggest that Boxing Day was the day children put their Christmas presents back in their boxes. The people who suggested it must never have had children!
Who?
Legend has it that the choirmaster of Cologne Cathedral was the one who first bent straight white candy canes into their familiar inverted “J” shape. It wasn’t to represent the name Jesus, as is often thought, but to represent the crooks of the shepherds to whom the angel announced the first Nativity.
August Imgard, a German immigrant, brought the tradition to Ohio. He is generally credited with being the first person in America to decorate a Christmas tree with candy canes.
Gregory Keller, a Catholic priest and brother-in-law of Bob McCormack, invented the first candy cane machine. Bob McCormack’s company, Bob’s Candies, then became
the
major candy cane manufacturer.
What?
Shaped sugar treats were probably the earliest form of candy and would have been made (when the ingredients were available) by hand in the home. The recipe includes sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar, flavoring, and coloring. The hardening mixture could be pulled into shapes, but the most common shape would have been the straight cane.
The colored stripe and flavor were added much later in the candy cane’s history.
The curve at the top of the cane (making it look like a shepherd’s crook) was not intended to make it easy to hang on people’s Christmas trees—but some combinations just work too well to be ignored!
Where?
Being made as treats for children, candy canes could have been around a long time and been made in many places without making it into recorded history. But where they come to the world’s attention is in Cologne, Germany.
Like so many other European traditions, this one traveled with immigrants to the United States, where it was adopted and quickly became established as a Christmas tradition.
Bob’s Candies, based in Georgia, was the first company to mass-produce candy canes.
Perhaps surprisingly, candy canes are much more popular in the United States than in Europe, where the tradition began.
When?
Candy treats might easily have been a part of pagan Yule festivals in northern Europe before Christianity arrived. The tradition persisted, and in 1670 we have the first recorded instance of their being used as a Christian symbol.
In 1847 August Imgard cut a spruce tree from the woods near his home in Wooster, Ohio, and decorated it with a tin star, paper decorations, and lots of candy canes. This is generally considered to be the first time a Christmas tree was
ever
decorated with candy canes in the United States.
Sometime in the 1950s Gregory Keller invented the candy cane machine and made mass production possible.
Why?
Why? Who needs an excuse for a sweet treat? Mothers would have made them to keep their children happy, and perhaps the Cologne choirmaster wanted to keep his choir quiet during a long Nativity (when they weren’t supposed to be singing, of course!).
The familiar cane shape may have been meant to symbolize the shepherd’s crook, or it may have symbolized the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ Himself.
The red strip, so common in candy canes, is said to represent Christ’s blood, and the white color of the cane symbolizes His purity. Even the flavorings have meanings, with peppermint said to represent hyssop, the reed on which the crucified Jesus was offered a sponge to drink from.
Who?
The man who is credited with conducting the very first Christingle service was Bishop Johannes de Watteville.
But the story that may have inspired the bishop tells of a group of poor children who wanted to present an offering at a Christmas service. Not being able to compete with the other rich offerings at the altar, they gave the most precious thing they had—an orange! Thinking it lacked something, each child added a decoration: a candle, a ribbon, and some little treats.
When the other children sneered at their efforts, the priest held it up as an offering of the very best kind, a gift from the heart!
What?
Christingle is a church tradition aimed specifically at children. It began as a way of trying to explain the significance of Christmas to little ones.
The Christingle itself is usually an orange or an apple with a candle inserted at the top. A ribbon is tied around it, and four toothpicks are stuck into the orange through the ribbon. The toothpicks are decorated with little offerings of candy or fruit. The bottom half of the orange often is wrapped in aluminum foil.
More ornate metal globes are sometimes used as Christingles, but the simplicity and the humble nature of the usual ingredients are part of the charm of the tradition.
Where?
The Christingle service is believed to have originated in the Moravian Church, which originated in the lands that became known as Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic).
A Moravian bishop preaching to noble families in Marienborn Castle in Germany encouraged the children to show their understanding of Christmas in front of their parents and supplied them with the necessary accoutrements. That initial charming performance soon became a tradition.
The Children’s Society, a charity caring for children in need, took the Christingle to England, but by then the Moravian Church had already taken it to Pennsylvania, in the United States. The two churches have since taken the tradition to many other countries across the world.
When?
The first Christingle service was held in 1747, but there were no oranges or apples (the other fruit sometimes used) involved. Each child held a candle wrapped in a red ribbon.