Forgive me. I’m about to say something that some of you are not going to like at all.
Sorry everyone, but this is probably worse than trainee teachers casting aspertions about the reality of Father Christmas. (The silly fool involved should have told them about Saint Nicholas and had done with it).
My problem is not to do with the objective reality of Santa. It is to do with the origins of the Christingle. Who on earth thought up this sticky, messy nonsense? We are told by well meaning people that it is a tradition that comes from Moravia. Lots of good things come from the Moravian Church, but I struggle to believe that the custom of sticking candles in oranges and decorating them with dolly mixtures and then telling children that it is all about Christmas has anything to do with Moravia. (The Orange and Dolly Mixtures Marketing Board, perhaps, but not the Moravians).
How many oranges are waiting to be plucked from orange groves in Moravia in December I ask you?
Bah!
I agree I like the idea of the sweets though! Nothing to do with Christmas! I’ve never been to a Christingle service or to Canada!
(Age 10)
I’ve never been to Canada either Lewis and I like sweets more than I should.
(Age 42)
You are far from the only one. As a dyspraxic, and a semi-rational human being, I find the whole thing quite bewildering.
After years of making them, I am now free and someone else will have to them. I dared to say ‘no’ this year. I see the point of the message, but they are Soooooo messy!
Rejoice and be glad say I .. a priest to left the CofE for Canada and has yet to have a Christingle service in 8 years. Never seen one advertised which is also a sign of hope…
Am I the only one who sees a striking resembles to the holy handgrenade of Antioch? (Though not as effective)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrgLj9lOwk&sns=em
What movie is that from? I must see it!
Well, little did I know, when I asked for an explanation of “Christingle,” what a gloriously entertaining array of comments would ensue! As far as I know, it’s a custom which has never set foot on American soil. Waste of a good orange, I’d call it. We do have Advent wreaths (an official one in the sanctuary as well as ones of various style in the homes of those who like them–I do). The first one I ever saw was in my high school German classroom in 1961, back when having a religious symbol in a public school wasn’t yet a mortal sin; about the same time, the Advent Calendar began to be popular. Both customs may have come into the Bay Area (California) along with the first stirrings of what would become “Silicon Valley” and a concomitant influx of tech-minded young Germans coming in via Canada. Both are, of course, German in origin. (Now someone will write in to tell me that they’re actually Mixo-Lydian . . .)