Archive for 2005
History of the Creche
HISTORY OF THE CRECHE One of the most beautiful Christmas traditions is setting up a creche during the Advent season. A creche is a model of the scene at the manger on the first Christmas in the stable at Bethlehem. A creche can be a small model, set up in the home or a large…
Read MoreHistory of Christmas: Traditions
TRADITIONS Many of the customs that we associate with Christmas come from largely pagan or pre-Christian backgrounds. The word ‘Yule’ comes from an old Norse word for a twelve-day celebration. Mistletoe was prominent in the traditions of the Druids and the lore of northern Europe. The wassail bowl was first known in Scandinavia. Holly was…
Read MoreHistory of Christmas: King Herod
HISTORY OF HEROD THE KING When the wise men asked Herod the King "Where is he who is born king of the Jews?" their question was not really spoken in a vacuum, for even the Roman author Suetonius wrote, "There had spread all over the East an old and established belief that it was fated…
Read MoreHistory of the Wise Men: the Magi
THE WISE MEN You’re familiar with the song that begins “We Three Kings of Orient Are…” but it is inaccurate in at least three ways. We don’t know how many there were, but we know they weren’t kings. They did not originate in the Orient, meaning the Far East. How could they have seen the…
Read MoreHistory of Christmas: Year
THE YEAR It’s obvious that Jesus was born on December 25, A.D. 1, right? Wrong. We do know that Herod the Great (who killed all the babies in Bethlehem younger than 2 years of age) died in the spring of 4 B.C., and the king was quite alive during the visit of the Wise Men…
Read MoreHistory of Christmas: Season
.!. NATIVITY SEASON You’ve seen the greeting card — Joseph along with Mary on the back of a donkey making their way to Bethlehem in the wintery snow. But could Jesus have been born during that time of the year, perhaps with snow on the ground? It is possible, as 3 to 4 days a…
Read MoreHistory of Thanksgiving
HISTORY OF THANKSGIVING The origin of Thanksgiving Day has been attributed to a harvest feast held by the Plymouth Colony, although such celebrations date from ancient times. In 1621, Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony proclaimed a day of "thanksgiving" and prayer to celebrate the Pilgrims’ first harvest in America. The picture you usually…
Read MoreMovie Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire I had the opportunity to catch a private pre-screening of this movie. What a treat! It opens in black and white with a dark and stormy night and the Warner Brothers logo. Then a snake slithers along the ground… and then the title. But soon afterward,…
Read MoreConcert Review: Paul McCartney at Pepsi Center in Denver
PAUL MCCARTNEY AT PEPSI CENTER IN DENVER Sir Paul McCartney last visited the Denver Pepsi Center in 2002, where he performed what has now been captured on his album Back in the US. It was the best concert I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been going to major concerts for 35 years. Why was this?…
Read MoreHistory of Veterans Day
HISTORY OF VETERANS DAY A professor once commented, "We write things down so we can forget them." Now, of course this is wrong, except in the limited sense of writing down appointments so we don’t have to worry about forgetting things. But that’s just it, we do forget things. As individuals we forget things that…
Read MoreHistory of Guy Fawkes
HISTORY OF GUY FAWKES For our friends across the Pond November 5th is known as “Bonfire Night” or “Guy Fawkes Night”, and all over Britain people fire off fireworks, light bonfires, and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. Guido Fawkes was an Englishman who, in popular legend, tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament with…
Read MoreHistory of October 31
HISTORY OF OCTOBER 31 On October 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg 95 propositions or theses and marked the beginning of the Reformation. Of course, the Reformation began long before that, but this date proves to be a convenient coat hanger to mark…
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