Church of the Nativity

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by gerryadmin

A large fortress-like church complex on Manger Square in Bethlehem centred on the site where Jesus was said to have been born.

As early as the second century local tradition claimed that the Nativity of Christ had taken place in a stable-cave, the location of which was sufficiently well-known that the Roman emperor Hadrian established a pagan grove there dedicated to Adonis in order to discourage Christian worship on the site. In the third century Origen and other visitors were still being directed to the spot. The theologian reported: “In Bethlehem the cave is pointed out where He was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and the rumor is in those places and among foreigners of the Faith that indeed Jesus was born in this cave.”

The first Church of the Nativity was built over the cave by Saint Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine. This church was later damaged in an uprising and was rebuilt in the sixth century at the command of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. When the area was overrun by Persian invaders in 614 legend claims that the Church of the Nativity was spared because of depictions in a mosaic of Magi in Persian dress.

The cross-shaped Church of St Mary of the Nativity, 170 feet long and 80 feet wide, stands above the small grotto where a silver star marks the spot where Jesus was born; the inscription reads Hic De Virgine Maria Jesus Christus Natus Est — “Here Jesus Christ was Born of the Virgin Mary.”  Nearby is a chapel where the manger stood in which the infant was placed. Surrounding the Church of the Nativity are other chapels and convents of the Catholic, Orthodox and Armenian churches; these three denominations share the administration of various parts of the complex. Quarrels between them in the nineteenth century took on dangerous overtones. The Russian goverment supported the Orthodox claims while the Catholics were backed by the French government; these hard feelings were one of the reasons for the outbreak of the Crimean War in the 1850s

Night of the Radishes

Home / Christmas / Night of the Radishes
by gerryadmin

For over a century the town of Oaxaca, Mexico has held the Noché del Rábano, Night of the Radishes, a festival dedicated to the carving of the large twisted local radishes which are shaped by artists into Nativity scenes, images of the Virgin of Guadelupe, Aztec gods or local geography. Thousands of townspeople and tourists crowd the town square during the Christmas season to tour the stalls, visit the hundreds of vendors and enjoy the music and fireworks that accompany this fiesta. Recently prizes have been offered for works made from corn husks and dried flowers.

Leacock 6

Home / Something Wise / Leacock 6
by gerryadmin

I really believe there are many excellent writers who have never written because they never could begin. This is especially the case of people of great sensitiveness, or of people of advanced education. Professors suffer most of all from this inhibition. Many of them carry their unwritten books to the grave. They overestimate the magnitude of the task, they overestimate the greatness of the final result. A child in a prep school will write the History of Greece and fetch it home finished after school. “He wrote a fine History of Greece the other day,” says his fond father. Thirty years later the child, grown to be a professor, dreams of writing the History of Greece — the whole of it from the first Ionic invasion of the Aegean to the downfall of Alexandria. But he dreams. He never starts. He can’t. It’s too big. Anybody who has lived around a college knows the pathos of those unwritten books.

Gingerbread

Home / Christmas / Gingerbread
by gerryadmin

 

Ginger was one of the spices brought back to Europe from the Middle East by returning Crusaders in the twelfth century. Though it had other uses in medicine and the kitchen it was the baking of gingerbread that made it a popular treat and one eventually associated with Christmas. During the Middle Ages it became so popular that special guilds of bakers were granted exclusive rights to produce the food. When it began to appear at Christmas markets in Germany in the sixteenth century, especially in Nuremberg which was a centre of the ginger trade, it began to be linked in the public mind with holiday eating.

Gingerbread appears in many varieties, light and dark, moist and dry and can be shaped into figures such as the pigs sold in the Nuremberg market or human forms or the famous gingerbread houses that grew in popularity during the nineteenth century. It has long been a custom for gingerbread ornaments to be hung on the Christmas tree and eaten when it is taken down.