The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar 2017 - Day 24

Jesus refulsit omnium (meaning 'Jesus, Light of the Nations) is the earliest known hymn in honour of the Nativity, which means, effectively, it must be the first Christmas carol!



To find out more about the history of the Christmas carol, pick up your copy of Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

Holy Night, Hipster Night

Yes, this is actually a thing. And not a spoof but a thing you can buy - for $129.99!

If you want to find out more about the Hipster Nativity Set - which today’s Millennials can relate to with its man-bunned Joseph taking a selfie and Starbucks-toting Mary - then click this link.

From Mummer's Play to Pantomime, via School Nativity

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar - Day 12

For an old school friend of mine, it's panto season once again. And yesterday I got to enjoy my daughter's school nativity play.

One of the things you can read about in What is Myrrh Anyway? is how the traditional mummers' plays helped influence the development of the popular pantomime, not to mention the classic school nativity.

The words ‘mummer’ and ‘mumming’ either come from the German mumme, meaning a ‘mask’ or ‘masker’, or the Greek momme, meaning specifically ‘a frightening mask’. To hide their true identities (disguise being an important part of the mummers' ritual performance) many mummers wore masks made to look like different animal heads. One of these was the stag.

Just such a 'classic' Medieval mummer mask appears in an fourteenth century illuminated manuscript in the Bodleian Library of Oxford University. A marginal panel in the lower right corner of the verso of Plate 21 shows a stag masked mummer leading four other dancers (two women and two masked men) to a musical tune provided by a man playing the lute.

The stag mask itself is particularly ancient, dating to the stone age in Europe. A painting on the wall of a cave named Le Trois Freres in France clearly shows a shaman wearing a stag mask and costume. The style of the paintings in the cave place the image at the end of the Ice Age, around 15,000 to 10,000 BC!

Modern Wiccan believers see the stag as representing the powerful male spirit of the animal world, 'the source of masculine energy; he is the raw force, wisdom and law'. Some Medieval writers also identified the stag as a force for good, determined to stamp out evil, as in the natural world the animal will trample any snakes it comes upon.

S is for Star of Bethlehem

In Christian tradition, the Star of Bethlehem (also called the Christmas Star) revealed the birth of Jesus to the magi and led them to Bethlehem. The star appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew, where magi "from the east" are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem. The star eventually leads them to Jesus' house in Bethlehem, where they pay him homage, worship him, and give him gifts.

Many Christians see the star as a miraculous sign to mark Christ's birth. Some theologians claimed that the star fulfilled a prophecy, known as the Star Prophecy, while astronomers have made several attempts to link the star to unusual astronomical events. Current contenders for the Star of Bethlehem include:

1) A series of three conjunctions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn occurred in the year 7 BC (proposed by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler in 1614). However, modern calculations show that there was a gap of nearly a degree between the planets, so these conjunctions were not visually impressive.

2) An astronomical event where Jupiter and Saturn were in a triple conjunction in the constellation Pisces (as argued by Dr. Karlis Kaufmanis).

3) A comet. Halley's Comet was visible in 12 BC and another object, possibly a comet or nova, was seen by Chinese and Korean stargazers in about 5 BC. This object was observed for over seventy days with no movement recorded. Also, ancient writers described comets as "hanging over" specific cities, just as the Star of Bethlehem was said to have "stood over" the place where Jesus was in the town of Bethlehem. However, in ancient times comets were generally seen as bad omens.

4) Uranus, which passed close to Saturn in 9 BC and Venus in 6 BC. However, this is unlikely because Uranus moves very slowly and is barely visible with the naked eye.

Did you know...?

The star often appears in representations of the manger scene found in Luke, although the star and the wise men do not appear in Luke's nativity story.

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You will find many other such tasty morsels of information in my book What is Myrrh Anyway?- and its American counterpart Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas.

A is for Angels

There is much excitement in the Green household this half term because Darling Daughter has been cast as the Angle Gabriel in her school Nativity Play. The role of Gabriel is rather like that of the Pantomime Dame or Principal Boy, in that its a gender reversal role. Gabriel is male but is more often than not played by a girl.

It is of course an important part in the traditional Nativity, hence the outset of Proud Parent Syndrome. And it is because of the vital part they play in the Christmas story that angels have become so associated with the festive season.

The word 'angel' comes from a Greek word meaning 'messenger'. In the Bible, angels are represented as immortal divine beings, who act as intermediaries between God and humankind. Traditionally, pictures and poems on angels portray them as having human bodies with wings sprouting from their backs. The wings are said to symbolize innocence, virtue, purity, peace and love, qualities which taken together place the angels above humans, although they are still under God.

Nine ranks of angels are recorded in the Bible, with Seraphim and Cherubim angels being at the top of the rankings (as it were). Within this heavenly hierarchy, the chief angels are the Archangels Gabriel and Michael. However, it is interesting to note that Christian doctrine about angels evolved most rapidly between the years AD 1100 and AD 1200. An example of this change in theological thought can be seen in the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Angels were, of course, instrumental in birth of Jesus Christ and hence play an important part in Christmas celebration and festivities. It was the Archangel Gabriel who told Mary she was to bear God's son. Another angel informed Joseph that he should marry Mary and look after the Christ. Angels were the ones that brought the news of Christ's birth to the wider world, via the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night.

According to one particularly twee legend, God appointed a small group of tiny angels, who were just learning their angel ways, to watch over Joseph and Mary on their journey to Bethlehem. These tiny angels did the best they could but failed to help the couple find shelter in the infamously over-crowded inn, so the Holy Family were forced to make do with the stable.

Nonetheless, these tiny angels were so excited that they were to witness the birth of God's Only Son that they flew closer to the Earth and sang sweetly. The fastest among them caught sight of the newborn child from stable's roof and instantly understood their mission was to herald the birth. They were so filled with joy and mirth that they burst into a glorious thanksgiving song that reached the heavens and was so melodious that it could be heard all over the Earth.

Will there be a glorious, melodious announcement of Christ's birth in Darling Daughter's Nativity play? I'm just praying Archangel Gabriel remembers her lines.

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Stop by again on Monday to see what nugget of Christmas lore I shall be unearthing next. And remember, you can find many such tasty morsels of information in my book What is Myrrh Anyway? - and its American counterpart Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas.

The Countdown to Christmas...

... starts here!

There's only one month to go until the Feast of the Nativity of the Christ Child* and so from now until then, I'll be posting an A to Z of Christmas on this blog. Some of the subjects chosen will be familiar, some not so much, but all shall be enlightening and maybe, sometimes, amusing.

So stop by every day of the working week to see what nugget of Christmas lore I shall be unearthing next and remember that you can find many such tasty information morsels in my book What is Myrrh Anyway? - and its American counterpart Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas.

* a.k.a. Christmas Day.

The Greatest Story Ever Told... via modern social media

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar - Day 22

It's that time of year now, when families start to visit church to take part in a crib service. The children among the congregation are invited to place the kings, shepherds, et al, into a pre-prepared stable scene. Actually there's one outside the church opposite my house. But where does this practice of recreating the Nativity tableau come from?

Well, as you can imagine, What is Myrrh Anyway? and Christmas Miscellany have the answers, but just to give you a taster... One man is credited with creating the Christmas crib more than any other, and that is the thirteenth-century Saint Francis of Assisi (and it's not his only connection to Christmas either).

In 1220, Francis made the pilgrimage to Bethlehem. While there, he saw how Christmas was celebrated in the town of Jesus’ birth and was so impressed that he asked the Pope, Honorious III, if he might recreate something like it in his own Italian home of Greccio.

With the help of a local landowner, Gionvanni Velita, and his friends, Francis succeeded in creating his own representation of the Nativity in a cave, surrounded by candles. Details over the actual participants in his Nativity scene vary, with some saying that Francis used statues to represent the holy family, while others say claim that real people, dressed in appropriate costumes, fulfilled the role. However, all the sources agree on the fact that at the centre of the scene was a straw-filled manger surrounded by real animals.

These days, most families have to settle for a wooden replica if they want to recreate a crib scene in their own home. In 1562 the Jesuits put up a crib in Prague, and this is considered to be the first crib of the modern kind.

In different countries the traditional Nativity scene has different names, of course. In Italy it is known as presepe or presepio; in Portuguese it is known as presépio, in Catalan it's the pessebre, in Spanish the name goes between El Belén (for Bethlehem, where Jesus was born) and also Nacimiento, Portal or Pesebre. The Maltese name is Presepju and the Czech names are betlém and jesličky. In Poland it is known as szopka, from Polish for 'small crib', in Croatian it is jaslice. In the Philippines, it is called a Belen (due to Spanish Influence). The Dutch name kerststal refers to the stable in which Jesus was born. The Scandinavian words julkrubba (Swedish) and julekrybbe (Norwegian and Danish) are made from the words for yule and manger. And in Russian and Ukrainian culture there was a type of portable Christmas puppet theatre called vertep, known in Belarus as batleyka, from 'Bethlehem'. So there you go.

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar - Day 12

In the lead up to Christmas, children often attend a Christingle service. But what is a Christingle and what are its origins?

The physical form of the Christingle is an orange, tied with a red ribbon and stuck with a candle and cocktail sticks bearing fruit and nuts. It is a symbolic object particularly used in Christian Advent services, hence the name given to a particular type of religious service. The word Christingle actually means 'Christ Light'. Both the Christingles that are made and the Christingle services that take place in church, celebrate Jesus coming into the world, in his aspect as the Light of the World.

The first Christingle service was held in a castle in Germany, on Christmas Eve 1747, by a bishop of the Moravian Church known as Pastor John. He wanted to find some simple way of teaching people about the true meaning of Christmas. His solution was to prepare a simple symbol which would make the Christmas message seem fresh and alive to them. During the informal service, Pastor John gave each child present a lighted candle wrapped in a red ribbon. He then intoned a prayer.

You can find out more about the origins of the Christingle (and Nativity plays) in What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas, published by Icon Books, and Christmas Miscellany, published by Skyhorse Publishing.

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar - Day 11

The preparations for Christmas in the Green household really started in earnest this week. First off it was Son's Nativity and next week it's Daughter's Nativity, but what are the origins of Nativity plays?

One man is credited with creating the Christmas crib more than any other, and that is the 13th century Saint Francis of Assissi. In 1220, Francis made the pilgrimage to Bethlehem. While there, he saw how Christmas was celebrated in the town of Jesus' birth and was so impressed that he asked the Pope if he might recreate something like it in his own Italian home of Greccio.

And of course during the Medieval period, mystery plays - with mummers acting out stories from the Bible - were one of the most popular forms of Christmas entertainment. Both survive to this day, but it is normally children who act out the Nativity story itself and not the adults anymore.

So now you know.