Merry Christmas!

The Chrismologist's Christmas Message 2010

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar - Day 25

Now I know that Advent Calendars don't usually include Christmas Day itself (I'm talking traditional Advent Calendars here, not the mass produced, branded, chocolate disgorging monstrosities) but I'm the Chrismologist and I bring you tidings of great joy! So, with that in mind...

Merry Christmas!

Yes, Christmas Day is here at last, and hopefully some of you are waking up this morning to find that Father Christmas has left you a copy of What is Myrrh Anyway? or Christmas Miscellany in your stocking!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, no matter where you are or what you're doing.

So we keep the olden greeting
With its meaning deep and true,
And wish a merrie Christmas
And a happy New Year to you.

(Old English saying)

The Queen's Speech

The Queen’s speech is as much a part of Christmas as over-eating and spending far too much money on presents. And yet it is also one of the more recently-developed popular Christmas traditions.

The practice of the monarch making a speech to the nation was begun in 1932, when the then king George V, father of our own monarch, broadcast a Christmas message to the British people over the radio.

And at 3.00pm on 25 December 2010 I will inaugurate another new Christmas tradition - the Chrismologist's Christmas message...

A month today...

... it's Christmas Day! A day to spend eating too much, drinking too much and watching the not-so-special Christmas specials on the telly.

A regular fixture of the BBC Christmas Day schedule for the last few years now has been the revitalised Doctor Who, and 2010 is no exception. And this Christmas we can look forward to Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor's first festive outing. And here's a preview...

The Glastonbury Thorn - the original Christmas tree?

Whilst delving into the history of the Christmas tree I was reminded of the connection that the legendary Glastonbury Thorn has with the festive season.

For those of you not in the know, the Glastonbury Thorn is a hawthorn, of a type which originates in the Middle East, that grows in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset, England. Legend has it that it grew from where Joseph of Arimathea (supposedly Jesus's uncle) laid his staff, flowering every Christmas Day.

A cutting from the Glastonbury Thorn was sent to the monarch each Christmas by the Vicar and Mayor of Glastonbury. However, the tree was pronounced dead in June 1991, and cut down the following February.

Fortunately, plenty of cuttings were taken from it before its destruction so that a new Thorn could be planted. In fact, the hawthorn growing in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey before 1991 was itself supposedly a cutting from the original plant, planted in secret after the original was destroyed.

Only hawthorn trees that budded or grafted from the original exist. The plants actually blossom twice a year, in May as well as at Christmas. The blossoms of the Christmas shoots are smaller than the ones the plant produces in May and do not produce any haws, the small, oval, berry-like fruit of the hawthorn, which are dark red in colour.

You will discover many more facts about Christmas and Christmas trees in What is Myrrh Anyway? and Christmas Miscellany - both of which are available to buy by clicking the relevant links in the left-hand sidebar.