Christmas Countdown, Traditions and Trivia Day Twenty Three

Hello Friends!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so today I open the penultimate door of my Advent calendar and here is the picture and scripture for today ~~~

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I've introduced some quite scary Christmas traditions from around the world, so today I'm taking a look at a much gentler one, something that I feel is far more appropriate for the Christmas season and that is the Christingle or Christkindl. Christingles originated, again, in Europe when a Moravian minister, John de Watteville, gave candles tied with a red ribbon to the children at the Christmas service in 1747.  The Christingles were accompanied by this little prayer ~~~

Lord Jesus, kindle a flame in these children’s hearts, that theirs like Thine become.

Over the following years the tradition flourished and spread, and the Christingle changed in appearance until it evolved into what we know today, a candle in an orange pierced with sticks holding dried fruits. Each of these is symbolic

• The orange represents the world
• The candle is the Light of God
• The ribbon is the blood of Christ
• The sticks represent the four points of the compass and the four seasons
• The dried fruit represents the bounty of the earth

The meaning of Christingle or Christkindl can be either Christ Child or Christ Light and today they are used in many Advent services across the world, and popularised in Great Britain in 1968 by John Pensom who used the Christingle to raise money for children's charities.

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The second to last Yuletide Lad is Meat Hook, arriving tonight and departing on 5th January Also called Ketkrókur, Meat Hook, would, in bygone days, lower a hook down the kitchen chimney to pull up a leg of lamb that is being smoked, or any meat that may be being cooked in the pan.  These days Meat Hook will use his hook to snatch meat from anywhere, but as his pole is very short, often has little success.

Until next time ~~~
~~~Deborah xoxo