Christmas Customs
Christmas is steeped in tradition, but how did these habits start and where did they come from?
In the UK this year, the Post Office expects to handle over 100 million cards a day in the three weeks before Christmas. The custom of sending Christmas cards started in Britain in 1840 when the first penny post began. Helped by the new railway system, the public postal service was the 19th century’s communications revolution, just as email has been for us today. As printing methods improved, Christmas cards were produced in large numbers from about 1860. They became even more popular in Britain when a card could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one halfpenny.
Father Christmas is based on a real person, St Nicholas, which explains his other name, Santa Claus, which comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas. Nicholas was a Christian leader from Myra in modern-day Turkey in the 4th century AD. He was very shy and wanted to give money to poor people without them knowing about it. It is said that one day he climbed the roof of a house and dropped a purse of money down the chimney. It landed in a stocking, which a girl had put to dry by the fire. This explains the belief that Father Christmas comes down the chimney and places gifts in children’s stockings.
Boxing Day comes from the custom that started in the Middle Ages around 800 years ago. Churches would open their alms box, in which people had placed gifts of money, and distribute the contents to poor people in the neighbourhood on the day after Christmas. The tradition continues today as small gifts are often given to delivery workers such as postal staff and children who deliver newspapers.
Christmas Concerts
Wantage Choral Society has a concert coming up on Sunday 9th December 2007 at St John Vianney church (Catholic church on Charlton Road), starting at 7.30pm. The choir will be singing classic Christmas choral music including The Truth from Above (Vaughan Williams); The Matin Responsory (Palestrina/Willcocks); Adam Lay Ybounden (Boris Ord); and In Dulce Jubilo (Pearsall).
They’ll be joined by organist David Millikin and a local brass ensemble. There will be some audience participation in the more traditional carols and lots of festive spirit, so come along and bring the family.
Carol Services
Wantage Churches Together will be holding a carol service on Saturday 22nd December at 9.30am - 11.30am. The churches will be gathering outside WH Smiths and will be joined by Wantage Silver Band. There’ll be carols for all - so come along and join in!
Grove Parish Council are organising a service of carols round the Christmas tree on Thursday 20th December. Starting at 6.30pm, Wantage Silver band will be accompanying the singers by the tree, on the corner of Vale Avenue (opposite Grove Health Centre). All proceeds go to the Grove Day Centre for the Elderly.
Lots of carol services in Faringdon over the next few weeks including:
All Saints Church - Carol Service on Sunday 16th December at 6.30pm;
Baptist Church - Carols by Candlelight at the Bromsgrove Chapel, Sunday 23rd December at 6pm;
United Church - Christingle services at 3.30pm and 5pm on Friday 14th December
I’m dreaming of a GREEN Christmas!
Looking forward to Christmas? Dreading the thought of all the preparation? Christmas may (eventually) be fun but it’s also stressful for our health and our bank accounts and can have a damaging effect on the environment. Here are our top five tips to having a happy, healthy green Christmas.
Indulge your foodie friends by putting together hampers using Fair Trade foods and local produce. Source your food at farmers markets or in shops like Cornerstone Café in Grove or Mustard Seed in Faringdon, or better still, have a go at making preserves, chutneys, cakes or chocolates yourself!
Don’t waste your money on wrapping paper – use old magazines or newspapers and find suitable pictures or articles to personalise your parcels for friends and family. It will save you money and they’ll also be able to recycle the paper – not all traditional wrapping paper can be reused and around 83 square km of it ends up in our bins each year!
Christmas dinner is the ultimate British meal so make sure that you buy all your meat and veg locally. Not only will you be helping local farmers but you’ll also be reducing your food miles and helping reduce climate change. And make sure you put your vegetable leftovers in a compost bin - around 4,000 million sprouts are bought for Christmas dinners so that’s a lot of leftover peelings!
The best presents don’t have to cost a fortune – or the earth. Give your family “promise cheques” offering babysitting, breakfast in bed or a week off from the washing up – all you need is your imagination. Buy second-hand jewellery or accessories at charity shops or flea markets for a retro present – the ultimate in recycling. Or buy an alternative gift for the friend who has everything – just £25 pays for a session in the Jacuzzi for a young person with a life-shortening condition staying at Douglas House for respite care (www.helenanddouglas.org.uk/shop3.html), or a goat for a village in a developing country (Oxfam Unwrapped - www.oxfam.org.uk/shop)
Make your own Christmas decorations – with a few hours, some glitter, shiny paper, ribbon and glue you can turn leaves, holly and pinecones into works of art! You could even bake gingerbread shapes to hang on the Christmas tree! And if you have a real tree (and over six million of us do) make sure you recycle it.
Carry on with the green theme into the New Year - ever wondered what to do with all those unwanted presents? Why not recycle them - take them to a charity shop so they can be sold on to raise funds for a good cause, or find a more appreciative home for them by giving them away on Freecycle. (uk.freecycle.org)
Whatever you do, however you spend Christmas, everyone at Community Times magazine would like to wish you a very happy Christmas and a safe and peaceful New Year.
