Looking back, looking forward

All the planning, adorning our homes, buying gifts and other preparations for Christmas have been and gone. They unfolded at their appropriate time as we celebrated the coming of Jesus into the world as a baby, each in our own way. It is now almost time to put everything back in their respective boxes and store them away for another year. In our home we had a wonderful family time together but my older son has now returned to his home in Cheshire and things are gradually returning to the way they were. The last couple of days we have tried to be creative in using up any left-overs. Yesterday the recycling lorry took away our torn Christmas wrapping paper, the varioius cardboard boxes and the empty bottles and so we begin to look forward to another year and whatever that will bring.



We look back over the past year and note things that have changed and hope for future dreams to be fulfilled. One of my favourite sayings is:

'Look back and thank god, look forward and trust Him.'

A few days ago I received an email with some noteworthy sayings that I am taking with me into the new year.

Happiness isn't a destination, it's the attitude with which to travel through life.

Objects were made to be used. People were made to be loved. Not the other way around.

A smile costs less than elecricity and gives off more light.

Friendship is one of the most beautiful gifts that God has given us to share.


I don't usually make New Year's resolutions but one I will try to keep is to live out those sayings.

Emmanuel

Part of God's beutiful creation (Malta)

We use the term ‘Emmanuel’ for Jesus particularly at this time of year – God with us.  Some seem to think that this means that God is ‘out there’ somewhere above and beyond and in humility comes ‘down here’ to humanity on planet Earth.  Others like St Francis see through their love of nature that God’s ‘footprints’ are everywhere in His creation.  It seems that the whole of God’s creation has a part of His DNA as it were.  You can see the likeness.  I quote from Fr Richard Rohr:

When God gives of God’s self, one of two things happens: either flesh is inspirited or spirit is enfleshed.  It is really very clear. I am somewhat amazed that more have not recognized this simple pattern: God’s will is incarnation.  And against all of our godly expectations, it appears that for God, matter really matters.  God, who is Spirit, chose to materialize!  We call it the Christ Mystery. Michael Angelo's 'Creation of Adam' This Creator of ours is patiently determined to put matter and spirit together, almost as if the one were not complete without the other.  This Lord of life seems to desire a perfect, but free, unification between body and soul.  So much so, in fact, that God appears to be willing to wait for the creatures to will and choose this unity for themselves - or it does not fully happen.  Our ‘yes’ really matters, just like Mary’s did. Adapted from Near Occasions of Grace, p. 5   In Genesis we learn that God created all things and He created humanity.  He breathed life into His creation – the Holy Spirit brooded over and breathed life into all things.  It has always been His desire to join together body and spirit – incarnation of Himself in humanity.  Sadly, we messed up and so in love, He sent His own Son to show us what He meant and make a way back for us.  Paul in his letter to the Romans says, “Do not tell yourself that you have to bring Christ down!” (10:6). And again I quote Fr Richard Rohr: He (Paul) knew that God had overcome the human-divine gap in the Christ Mystery. The issues of space and time have been overcome once and for all. God is here, not there.  The mystery of the Incarnation is precisely the repositioning of God in the material world once and forever. He is here!  All we have to do is accept and enjoy His presence. Happy Christmas!

 

Christmas Traditions -Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer

The story of Rudolph began in 1939, invented by a man called Robert L May.  At the time he was employed by a company called Montgomery Ward in Chicago.  For a number of years the company had purchased and distributed children's colouring books at Christmastime as gifts for their loyal customers.  In 1939,they asked Robert May to create a book for them in order to save money and so he wrote the story of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.  That year 2.4 million copies were handed out and despite hardship and a shortage of paper due to the war, over 6 million copies were distributed by 1946.

May got the idea for the story partly from the story of 'The Ugly Duckling' and partly from his own experience as he had often been taunted for his small, frail appearance as a youth and wanted to convey something of the feelings of someone who was thought of as a misfit in society.  He considered names like, Rollo and Reginald but finally decided on Rudolph for a name for the misfit reindeer.  The story was written in verse as a series of rhyming couplets.  As he went along he tested the story on his 4 year old daughter Barbara who loved it.




Sadly at the time of writing, his wife died and he was left with much debt because of medical bills but he was able to persuade the company president to give him the copyright in January 1947 so that his financial position was more secure.  The story was then printed commercially in 1947 and a 9 minute cartoon was produced in 1948.  This was shown in theatres.  May's brother-in-law wrote lyrics and a melody for the song 'Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer' and so the Rudolph phenomenon was born.  Some musical artists turned it down, worried that it would interfere with the legend of Santa Claus until Gene Autry's wife persuaded him to record it.  It sold 2 million copies that same year and went on to be one of the best-selling songs of all time, second only to 'White Christmas'.  Rudolph is now a much loved Christmas character.

 

Christmas Traditions - Santa Claus

I guess that most people know that the name of Santa Claus has evolved from Saint Nicholas so it is interesting to follow the history of the tradition from those very early days.  It begins in the 4th century when Saint Nicholas was the Greek Christian bishop of Myra in what is modern day Turkey.  He was known to be a very generous man, especially devoted to children.  One legend in particular tells of how he gave money to the three daughters of a very poor devout Christian so that they would each have a dowrie for their future instead of having to raise money by becoming prostitutes.  He died and was buried in Myra in 340 AD but it is alleged that Italian sailors stole his body and took it to Bari, Italy in 1087.  There the popularity of Saint Nicholas increased throughout Europe.  He became the patron saint of Russia.  In Greece he was the patron saint of sailors while the French thought of him as the patron saint of lawyers and of children and travellers in Belgium.  Around the 12th century the churches created an official holiday for the Feast of Saint Nicholas on the 6th December.  After the Reformation, his followers dwindled but the tradition was kept alive mainly by the Dutch who called him Sint Nikolaas that eventually became Sinterklaas.  It was when the Dutch took the tradition to America in the 17th century that the name Santa Claus emerged.

A vintage Coca Cola advert of the 1930s

In Britain, in the 17th century there was the tradition of Father Christmas.  Pictures of him survive from that era, portraying him as a jolly, well-nourished bearded man dressed in a long, green, fur-lined robe.  He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas.  This character and the gift-giver of church history merged into Santa Claus.  It is often thought that the first images of the modern day Santa Claus with his red and white clothes was due to the advertising of Coca Cola in the 1930s.  In fact, according to church history the patron saint of Russia, Saint Nicholas was portrayed with a red cloak and the first mention of Santa Claus was in the American press of 1773.  He had lost his bishop’s apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat.  Santa Claus also  appeared dressed in red and white and essentially in his current form on several covers of Puck magazine in the first few years of the twentieth century before the Coca Cola adverts.  But I guess that the adverts in the 1930s did much to popularise the image we now have of Santa Claus.

I do feel that it's a shame that the original idea of Saint Nicholas and his generosity together with the whole Father Christmas idea of giving gifts and cheer has somewhat been overtaken in our materialistically orientated ways of the 21st century.  I always remember as a child and asking my mother whether Santa Claus existed or not and her reply was, 'I believe in the spirit of giving at Christmas'.  That, of course began with God's greatest gift on the very first Christmas.

Christmas Traditions - Christmas Cracker

The Christmas Cracker was devised in 1847 by an English confectioner and stationery manufacturer. He was on holiday in Paris with his family at the time.  English sweets were sold loose from trays but his children discovered that in Paris bon-bons were sugar-coated lollies that were wrapped in coloured paper and the ends twisted.  He thought that this gave them a novelty appearance as well as being more hygienic to handle.  He liked the idea so much that on his return to England he wrapped his lollies and sweets in similar paper and, unwittingly, began the development of his own 'bon-bons'.

 

The original Christmas Crackers were called Bon-Bons and were quite small with fairly plain wrapping.  Later said confectioner changed the wrapping to be a little more colourful and then added the friction strip - two small strips of cardboard coated with a small amount of explosive powder joining them together.  When the strips were pulled apart, the friction of the strips rubbing one against the other caused the bang that we still know today.  The friction snap was also known as "Silver Fulminante" - a discovery in 1802 by Dottore Luigi Valentino Brugnatelli (1761-1818) Professor of chemistry at Pavia University, Italy.  It was also the custom in Italy to have a little trinket inside a chocolate Easter Egg and the English confectioner would have been aware of this.

Returning from the family holiday in Paris, he pooled these ideas together and so the Christmas Cracker was born, complete with a surprise novelty, paper hat, a piece of paper with a joke or motto suitable for the occasion and, of course, the all-important snap to make a bang when pulled apart.  Originally all the contents were handmade and assembled by hand.  The outer wrapping would then be artistically decorated with a bow. 

The custom of decorating the table with a cracker on every place setting was established and handed down over generations.  Now this is seen not just in England but in other countries also.  Other manufacturers soon began to imitate the idea and with international distribution becoming easier the whole industry went into mass production continuing until the present day.

 

 

Christmas Traditions - Christmas plants

Over 200 years before Christ, Druids revered the mistletoe because although it has no roots, it remains green throughout the winter.  They often used it in their celebrations.  The ancient Celts believed it to have magical powers to heal and so they used it to combat poison, infertility and to ward off evil spirits.  It was also seen as a symbol of peace and the Romans said that if enemies met under some mistletoe, they would put down their weapons and embrace each other.  It was the Scandinavians, however, that appeared to introduce the custom of kissing under the mistletoe as they associated the plant with Frigga, their goddess of love and claimed that whoever kissed under the mistletoe was promised happiness and good luck in the following year.


In ancient times, it was generally believed that any plant that remained green throughout the cold winter months must have magical powers and so was often used in keeping evil spirits at bay.  It was believed that it was ghosts and demons that were whistling in the winter winds among the trees so holly was hung over the door in order to prevent the evil spirits from entering the home.  This would seem to be the precurser to the tradition of hanging a Christmas wreath of greenery on the door at christmastime.There was also a legend that claimed that holly sprang up in the footsteps of Jesus as he walked the earth, the points of the leaves representing the crown of thorns of his death and the berries his blood.  Greenery was also taken into the house in order to make the air a little fresher and to brighten the long dark days of winter.


Poinsettias were thought to have been used by 17th century Franciscan monks in Mexico during their Christmas celebrations.  One legend has it that a young Mexican boy was hurrying to attend a Nativity scene in the village but realised that he didn't have any gift to put in front of the manger.  So he quickly gathered together a few twigs of leaves and took them as his gift for the Christchild.  The other boys made fun of him but were surprised when in a short while the topmost green leaves turned bright red looking just like star-shaped flowers.  Joel R Poinsett was one time US ambassador to Mexico and the plant was named after him when he took the plant back to the US of A in 1828.

 

Christmas Traditions - The Christmas Tree

The tradition of the Christmas Tree is sometimes traced back to pre-Christan times when the symbolism of evergreen trees was part of ancient rites and ceremonies.  According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmas time." 

By the Middle Ages it was identified as the 'tree of Paradise' in a popular play about Adam and Eve.  The tree represented the Garden of Eden and it was decorated with apples to represent the 'forbidden fruit'.  This celebration also included the promise of a Saviour who would save the world from its sin and so it was often held during the advent season.



 
By the 18th century, it had become popular in most of Germany and was accepted as part of German culture.  It is thought that Martin Luther was responsible for introducing lights, inspired by his journey home one night when he was struck by the beauty of the stars twinking between the leaves of the fir trees he passed.  He decided to recreate the image on a small fir tree inside his house.



In Britian, it was known in the royal family in the early 19th century because of the union between George III and Queen Charlotte of Germany but it was Victoria's husband Prince Albert who made it popular and available to the masses throughout Britain.

Between now and Christmas it is my intention to look at other traditions connected with the festive season.
  

Victorian Christmas

Yesteday we had a most enjoyable day at Portsmouth's Victorian Christmas Market. Apart from the stalls, there were a number of entertainment events to get you in the mood. The first thing that we saw just after arriving through the gates was a demonstration of the Fort Cumberland Guard firing their muskets.

Shortly beyond that there was a kiosk selling warmed mince pie with mulled wine. For an extra 50 pence you could have the wine served in a souvenir mug which you could then take home. It seemed like a very appropriate way to start our Victorian experience!

Walking along it appeared to have started to snow until a few yards further we realised that it was a snow machine creating false snow in order to give an authentic Dickensian Christmas feel to the occasion. Throughout the market there were scenes of typical Victorian/Dickensian life.

There was also an exhibition of various old cycles - 2, 3 and 4 wheeled vehicles.



The original 'quadbike'?

As the market was held in the Historic Dockyard, there was opportunity to visit exhibits from earlier times in British maritime history - the Mary Rose museum.  The Mary Rose was a warship of the Tudor navy of Henry VIII. In 1545 it led the attack on a French invasion but sank in the Solent. It was raised from the sea bed in 1982. Also in the dockyard is HMS Victory, Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship that was used to defeat the French in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. I sense there was a bit of 'tongue in cheek' by the organisers of the Victorian Market as they put the French stalls right next to HMS Victory. Hmm!

We left the house just before 7.30 in the morning and arrived back about 7.45 in the evening, tired but happy to have experienced such an enjoyable day.