Holy Days

• 25 December:             The story of mince pies

  Did you know that mince pies have been traditional English Christmas fare since the Middle Ages, when meat was a key ingredient?  The addition of spices, suet and alcohol to meat came about because it was an alternative to salting and smoking in order to preserve the food. Mince pies used to be a different... (65 words)

• High Days and Holy Days (all) for December 2020

  Editor:  We have provided some notes on the Season and some of its saints… As Saints’ Days do not change from year to year, we have offered material on many of these days before.  The sections marked with asterisks are new this year. 1          Eloi – a patron saint for the euro?  3         ... (10689 words)

• 1 December                Eloi – a patron saint for the euro? 

  It’s many years since Europe switched over to the Euro (January 2002).  So, this is a good time to remember Eloi, bishop of Noyon, who was born in Gaul, and started out as a goldsmith.  He entered the service of Bobon, the royal treasurer.  He went on to become master of the mint for King... (123 words)

• 3 December                Francis Xavier – the seasick missionary

  Ignatius Loyala sent his friend and follower Francis Xavier (born 1506) to the Orient as a missionary.  What a missionary!  Imagine David Livingstone, Billy Graham and the Alpha Courses rolled into one.  His mass conversions became legendary – he baptised 10,000 people in one month and in just ten years of work was credited with... (304 words)

• 3 December                Birinus – an apostle to the English

  Thousands of our churches are currently involved in various mission initiatives across the UK.  If it is tough going at times, we should spare a thought for poor Birinus, a priest from Lombard, who was sent here on his own 14 centuries ago.  Pope Honorius 1 gave him the daunting task of being the apostle... (333 words)

• 4 December                Osmond – an immigrant before Brexit

  Osmond is the saint for you if you regret Brexit, and believe that immigrants can bring good to Britain. Osmond came to England from France back in the days before EU regulations.  It was shortly after 1066, and he was a Norman, following William the Conqueror. Osmond himself was no soldier, but a gifted and... (150 words)

• 6 December       How Father Christmas got where he is today

  One person you are bound to run into this Christmas season is Father Christmas.  These days he seems to frequent shopping malls and garden centres.  If he looks tired, just remember that he has been around a long time and gone through a lot of transformations. Father Christmas wasn’t always the red-suited, white-bearded star of... (495 words)

• 6 December                St Nicholas – another look at this much-loved saint

  One account of how Father Christmas began tells of a man named Nicholas who was born in the third centre in the Greek village of Patara, on what is today the southern coast of Turkey.  His family were both devout and wealthy, and when his parents died in an epidemic, Nicholas decided to use his... (349 words)

• 6 December                What’s in a (Christmas) Name?

  What do your family call him, that cheerful old man in a red robe and floppy hat who pops up everywhere at Christmas? Sometimes he’s Father Christmas, sometimes Santa Claus, and in parts of Europe he’s Saint Nicholas. That’s his real name, abbreviated to ‘Santa Claus’ by Brits and Americans who don’t like to follow... (198 words)

• 6 December                St Nicholas – patron saint of children

  Father Christmas seems to be as old as Europe. Once he was Woden, lashing his reindeer through the darkness of northern midwinter.  Then he encountered the Church, and She transformed him into a saint, the much-loved Nicholas, Bishop of Myra (in south-west Turkey) in the fourth century.  St Nicholas became the patron saint of children,... (374 words)

• 11 December          Daniel the Stylite 

  Do you know any odd Christians?   People with hearts of gold, who would never harm anyone… but who are nonetheless just plain ODD…. Well, Daniel the Stylite should be their patron saint.  Perhaps he is the proof that God can bless and use any one of us – no matter how batty some of our... (430 words)

• 11 December          Daniel the Stylite 

  Do you know any odd Christians?   People with hearts of gold, who would never harm anyone… but who are nonetheless just plain ODD…. Well, Daniel the Stylite should be their patron saint.  Perhaps he is the proof that God can bless and use any one of us – no matter how batty some of our... (430 words)

• *NEW 17 December         Eglantyne Jebb – founder of ‘Save the Children’

  Here is a modern-day saint whose compassion and determination has saved literally millions of lives. Eglantyne Jebb did not begin as an obvious ‘mover and shaker’ of people. Born in Shropshire in 1876, she grew up in Ellesmere, studied history at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, taught at Marlborough, and then resigned as she was... (425 words)

• 17 December                Lazarus of Bethany – back from the tomb

  Some people have near-death experiences…. Lazarus should be their patron saint.  Except that he went all the way, and died for four days.  He was quiet in his tomb and the mourners of Bethany were in full swing – before Jesus called him back to life.  (See John 11: 1 – 44.) What happened next... (268 words)

• 21 December               Winter Solstice

  A Midwinter festival has been a part of life since pre-Christian times. When the hours of daylight are fewest, the warmth of the sun weakest, and life itself seemingly at a standstill, our ancestors, the pagan peoples of Europe and Western Asia, kept festival by lighting bonfires and decorating their buildings with evergreens. Perhaps they... (231 words)

• 24 December              Christmas Eve

  How do you celebrate Christmas Eve?  It has its own customs, the most popular of which is going to Midnight Mass, or the Christ-Mas.  This is the only Mass of the year that is allowed to start after sunset.  In Catholic countries such as Spain, Italy and Poland, Midnight Mass is in fact the most... (203 words)

• 25 December              Christingle:  a generous present from the Moravians

  It is the Moravians whom we have to thank for bringing us the Christingle.  Especially one Moravian clergyman: John de Watteville. On 20th December, 1747, John de Watteville was taking a children’s service in his Moravian church in Marienborn, Germany.   He led the children in some hymns, and read out verses which the children themselves... (433 words)

• 25 December               Christmas throughout the Christian world

  For nearly four weeks leading up to Christmas Christians recognise a period called Advent.  It means ‘coming’.  It is a time of spiritual preparation.  ‘Coming’ refers to Jesus’ first coming as a baby, but it also looks forward to a day when Jesus is expected to return in triumph at his ‘second coming’ to establish... (476 words)

• 25 December              The story of the Christingle

  The word ‘Christingle’ actually means ‘Christ Light’, and celebrates the light of Jesus coming into the world.   Stories of how the Christingle began look back to the Moravian Church, which is found in the Czech Republic.  The Moravians have held Christingle services for more than 200 years, and according to them, this is how the... (377 words)

• 25 December         The history of Christmas

  The Bible does not give a date for the birth of Jesus. In the third century it was suggested that Jesus was conceived at the Spring equinox, 25th March, popularising the belief that He was born nine months later on 25th December.  John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople, encouraged Christians worldwide to make Christmas a holy... (559 words)

• 25 December              And there were shepherds  

  Luke’s story of the birth of Jesus is brilliantly told – the angel’s visit to Mary to tell her she would be mother of the long-promised Messiah, the old priest in the Temple told by another angel that his wife would have a son to be called ‘John’, who would prepare the people of Israel... (268 words)

• 25 December              Why the world was ready for Christmas

  Ever wonder why Jesus was born when He was?  The Bible tells us that “when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son…” The Jewish people had been waiting for their Messiah for centuries.  Why did God send Him precisely when He did? Many biblical scholars believe that the ‘time had fully come’... (231 words)

• 25 December              Why does Christmas begin at midnight?

  The hour was first chosen at Rome in the fifth century to symbolise the idea that Christ was born at midnight – a mystical idea in no way hindered by historical evidence!  No one knows the hour of His birth. Certainly in recent times, Holy Communion at midnight on Christmas morning has proved popular with... (91 words)

• 25 December              The man who married Mary

  The traditional Nativity scene on our Christmas cards has Mary with the Holy Babe. Around her are the shepherds and Magi. We may also see stable animals, angels and a star! While Joseph is often included, his presence seems to be of minor importance. After all, we praise God for Jesus with our familiar Christmas... (492 words)

• 25 December              Why was Jesus born in a barn?

  Our pretty Christmas cards do not do it justice – the stable that Jesus was born in would have been smelly, dirty, and full of mess.   So why did God not provide something better for His beloved Son?   Why let Joseph and Mary scrounge around until they ended up in a smelly stable? Perhaps because... (133 words)

• 25 December              World’s oldest fake tree

  Did you know that it is a family in Wiltshire, the Parkers, who claim to own the world’s oldest artificial Christmas tree?  It was bought in 1886, and is still put up every year. (34 words)

• 25 December              Where did Christmas stockings come from?

  No one is really sure, but a story is told of St Nicholas, a bishop who lived in the 4th century, who may have started the custom by accident.  St Nicholas was of a wealthy family, and of a generous heart.  As Christmas approached one year, he wanted to help a poor family whom he... (154 words)

• 25 December              Mistletoe’s smelly history

  Did you know that the word ‘mistletoe’ means dung on a tree?  The Anglo-Saxons thought that mistletoe grew in trees where birds had left their droppings.  Mistel means dung, and tan means twig. (33 words)

• 25 December              Where did Christmas trees come from?

  There are two early stories that mention fir trees.  The first involves St Boniface, who went to Germany in the 8th century as a missionary and found people sacrificing a child to their god under an oak tree.  Boniface was appalled, and rescued the child. He then chopped down the oak tree and found a... (184 words)

• 25 December              We three kings of Orient are… what?

  “A cold coming they had of it at this time of the year, just the worst time of the year to take a journey, and specially a long journey, in.  The way’s deep, the weather sharp, the days short, the sun farthest off, in solstitio brumali, the very dead of winter.” It was 1622, and... (291 words)

• 25 December              Thank Dickens for Christmas as you know it!

  Ever wonder where many of our Christmas traditions come from?   A surprising amount of our modern Christmas celebrations can be traced back to the well-loved story of ‘A Christmas Carol’, by Charles Dickens. When you read ‘A Christmas Carol’, you discover almost a template of the ‘ideal Christmas’ which we still hold dear today.  Dickens... (213 words)

• 25 December              Christmas and St Luke’s Gospel

  It is to St Luke’s wonderful gospel that many Christians turn as the year draws to a close and Christmas approaches, for it is to St Luke that we owe the fullest account of the nativity. Luke alone tells us the story of Mary and the angel’s visit to her, and has thus given the... (181 words)

• 25 December              Was Jesus really born on 25th December?

  Almost certainly not.  But the story of how that date came to be chosen as His ‘birthday’ is one that stretches back long before His birth. it seems to have started on the Greek island of Rhodes in 283 BC. That year the solstice fell on 25th December, and it was also the year that... (270 words)

• 25 December             Who is ‘Santa Claus’?

  On the whole British people are happy with the title ‘Father Christmas’, a suitably neutral name for the central character in children’s Christmases, writes David Winter. In America, however, and by a process of cultural indoctrination increasingly in other English-speaking countries, the same red-coated and bearded fellow with his sack of presents is known as... (207 words)

• 26 December              On the Feast of Stephen 

  Everyone knows that it was on the feast of Stephen that ‘good king Wenceslas looked on’.  After all, it’s in a Christmas carol – but why? There’s nothing about Christmas in it: a splendid young page who rustled up some flesh, wine and logs, an old man out in the snow (’deep and crisp and... (460 words)

• 26 December          In praise of Good King Wenceslas

  When I was a choir boy many years ago, writes David Winter, ‘Good King Wenceslas’ was a very popular carol. A man sang the King’s lines, a boy sang the Page’s, and the choir filled in the narrative. It was not of course technically a Christmas carol but one for which most people know as... (318 words)

• 26  December              St Stephen – the first martyr

  Have you ever stopped to consider that the very first martyr of the Christian Church (Stephen died c 35 AD) was a deacon?  (But no, he wasn’t worked to death by his church.)  It was Stephen, one of the first seven deacons of the Christian Church.  He’d been appointed by the apostles to look after... (363 words)

• 26 December             Look out for Wenceslas

  Most of us probably know that on December 26th (the Feast of Stephen) ‘Good king Wenceslas’ looked out, writes David Winter. We probably also know that the snow lay round about, ‘deep and crisp and even’. Beyond that, he’s just someone in a carol that’s not often sung nowadays. However, Wenceslas was a real person,... (196 words)

• 28 December              Holy Innocents

  The death of a very young child is perhaps the hardest grief of all to bear.  So the 28th December is a very poignant day in the church calendar.  It is when the worldwide Church joins with bereaved parents to grieve the loss of babies and young children.  For Holy Innocents day recalls the massacre... (294 words)

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