Christmas Seals

A gift of a half-penny seems comical in today's world, and it seemed so even 100 years ago, when the Christmas tradition of adding Christmas seals to envelopes of Christmas cards just to add more color and show more Christmas spirit began.

It started in Denmark because a postal clerk named Einar Holboell was so moved by all the children he saw and knew were dying of the illnesses caused by working and living conditions. Nothing pained him more than watching a child desperately trying to breathe, fearing that each breath was his or her last, and then seeing the family mourn as the inevitable finally happened. TB killed people of ever age group, but what it did to children horrified him the most. He realized the only answer was through medical research. And with people's mood to give generously during the holidays, he realized this would be the perfect time to raise money for that research. He made a plan and presented it to his boss. The postal authorities put the Christmas seal plan into affect and even the King of Denmark approved and provided royal patronage. The first stamp bore the words "Merry Christmas" accompanied by a picture of the king and queen. Over four million seals were sold and they raised $18,000. This was enough to fund the construction of two children's hospitals. The tradition continued to grow for many years.

Of course this idea spread across the Atlantic and the story there is just as touching because of a physician in 1873 named Edward L. Trudeau who was diagnosed with TB. He discovered that bed rest, proper nutrition, fresh air and lots of sunshine could help in the recovery and sometimes cure the illness. He went on to build a two-bed hospital, which caught on with other doctors and produced a few more small hospitals. When they ran into financial difficulties, Emily Bissell, a fund-raiser for the American Red Cross, stepped in. It is a complex story and worth your time to do a little research to read the remainder of her story. It involves a newspaper office in "the city of brotherly love", along with a few other people.

In 1908 Americans purchased more than $135,000 worth of Christmas seals and in 1917 the total topped a million dollars. Before his death in 1927, Einar Holboell was knighted by the King of Denmark for his contribution to this cause and he was also honored by scores of other countries, including the United States.

The American Lung Association still relies heavily on Christmas seals to help fund education, advocacy, and research projects about asthma, tobacco use, and air quality. These common people who remembered the real reason for this season teach us of Christ's lesson that reaching out to the "least of these" is the most important expression of Christian love.

Today the tradition is carried on also through email Christmas seals. You can find out more here: http://www.christmasseals.org/

Dedicated to all the children with incurable illnesses this Christmas Season

Patty Cake

Once in awhile a You Tube video just hits me as too funny and I have to post it here. Curtsy to Dee for sharing it with me. Get ready to laugh!!!

Candy Canes

There are probably more stories, legends, fables and myths about the origin of the candy cane as there are different colors, types and swirls of the colors through these hook-shaped sweets. And I am betting you will get more than a couple of emails about the origin or meaning of them this year. I did some research and although I didn't come up with a proven historical origin, I did find out some interesting facts and likely scenarios.

Hard candy has been around for more than 1000 years, but candy of multi-colors only came about in the last 100 years. The time involved to make the multi-colors was the inhibiting factor. On St. Nicholas Day in the 4th Century was when children first began receiving hard candy as a treat. It was expensive and considered a delicacy. Because of the rarity, the first Christian legends associated with it are more likely to be closer to the true origin.

Briefly one legend goes that a choirmaster in Germany used it to keep children quiet and less restless, rather than using the standard punishment for being noisy in church. It took the children a long time to eat these straight white sticks of candy, but he also knew that the clergy and parishioners might not go for the candy eating in church. To overcome this objection, he asked the candy maker if he could make the sticks with a hook on the end. He was told that it could be done. Now he could use this candy as a teaching tool. The shape would remind children of the way the shepherds came to see the baby Jesus, while the white color would stand for the purity of Jesus.

The second early legend I found came from the time when all religions but the Church of England were officially banned. The story goes that a candy maker (probably of an outlawed Protestant faith or Catholic Church) created the candy cane as a way for Christians to recognize each other on the street. It was like a secret handshake. They were decorated with 3 small stripes to represent the Father, Son & Holy Spirit and a larger stripe to stand for the redemptive power of Christ's blood.

Without a doubt, hard candy, especially candy canes, are a treat that has been associated with Christmas since the Middle Ages. It is a sweet reminder for the real reason for Christmas and one of the few holiday traditions that point to the real reason for Jesus's birth.

The Coming

The Latin word for Advent is "the coming". The church established the four weeks before Christmas as the time to be called Advent on their calendar. It starts the first Sunday that is closest to Nov 30th and runs until Christmas Eve. It was originally meant to be a time of reflection on the coming of Christ and what it meant to the world and to the individual believer. But the focus has changed over the decades. Before WW II, the focus was on the future and final coming of Christ. But as Christmas became more focused on children, it began to be more focused on the child in the manger.

The advent wreath with its 4 candles representing each of the 4 Sundays, originated with the Vikings. The colors of the candles vary with different traditions, but there are usually three purple or blue candles. Typically the Christ candle stands in the middle of the wreath and is lit on Christmas eve or Christmas day. The first Sunday in Advent focuses on the prophecies of the prophets who predicted the the birth of Jesus. The candles were to serve the reminder of the light that Christ brought into the world. Tomorrow is the second Sunday in Advent and the remaining three candles of Advent are associated with different aspects of the Advent story in different churches. So, the sequence for the remaining these three Sundays might be Bethlehem, shepherds, and angels; or love, joy, and peace.

A more recent advent symbol is the advent calendar. It was originated in Germany a century and a half ago and focused on children. It actually started out as a wreath also, but had 24 tiny bags tied to it and the child was allowed to open one as each day passed. As the tradition became more popular, the advent calendar was adopted. Today you find both secular and spiritual ones, but both helps stir the excitement of "the coming" of Christmas.

Advent

   "It's the most wonderful time of the year", as a famous Christmas song says. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity", as Dickens states in Tale of Two Cities. All of that seems to fit this time of the year.
    For me the Christmas season doesn't seem to hold the charm and warmth of an old-fashioned Christmas. But what is "old-fashioned" to me is certainly different than what my grandparents viewed as "old-fashioned". And probably what my grandchildren will view as "old-fashioned" is happening today in 2010. But for me, in my pessimistic state of mind, I would hope that perhaps those grandchildren might find a way back to at least some of what my grandparents and I considered the charm and warmth of the Christmas season.
     When I did a little research into past traditions of Christmas I was surprised to find that up until the 1800's, the day recognized as Christ's birth was mostly a pagan celebration. It was a riotous celebration for drinking and singing bawdy songs, especially in England and America. These drunken celebrations had their roots in the Greek and Roman celebration of winter solstice.
      It took the church over 300 years to make the decision to choose Dec 25th to recognize the Lord's birth. Most biblical scholars agree that spring would be the most likely time of the year for His birth for several reasons; one being that shepherds would not have been out with their flocks in the coldest part of the year. So Dec 25th was most probably decided on by the church leaders to counteract the ancient wild festivals held at winter solstice time. There are other reasons for this likely decision, but I will let you do a little research yourself, if you find it an interesting endeavor.
     I'll be doing a little searching this month as to where some of those traditions come from that made up "old-fashioned" Christmases in my mind.