It's that time of year again, when I post images each day leading up to Christmas. Today we start with the earliest Christmas image of all. It dates from the mid 200s: it shows three Magi approaching Mary and the infant Jesus. But why would this be the first Christmas image, why not the shepherds or the angelic host which sang to them? The magi appear first, probably because most early Christians were not Jews, but gentiles. They savoured the message that this saviour was not meant just for the Israelites, but for every human being on Earth. What better way to symbolize that than to show three strangers who had crossed the Arabian desert to seek out this special child? Note that they are painted in different hues, a tradition that would later show up in paintings showing the Magi as a Black African, a man from Asia, and a Caucasian from Europe. The news that there is a Way that is better than violence, greed and hatred, one that is rooted in love, was worth crossing the world to embrace. And it still is.

The Symbols of Christmas, December 3rd: In a normal year, kids would be going to malls to get their picture taken with Santa, but this year calls for some innovation. This picture is from 1946, at the Montreal Eaton's Store. Mall Santas have been around since the late 19th century, but getting a picture taken with Santa appears to have started in 1944 in Seattle. An enterprising photo-journalist used a large format camera to take pics which he sold to parents. He made $10,000 in his first December, three times his annual salary. Other department stores like Eaton's soon joined in. This year, though, another technological leap has occurred. Most malls have cancelled in-person Santa visits. However, some now offer live FaceTime visits with Santa, and some stores (outside of lockdown areas) have magic mirrors, so kids can pose with Santa as his image is streamed from the North Pole. If nothing else, these virtual visits solve some perpetual questions, like how can Santa be at two malls at once? When it comes to Christmas, nothing is impossible. 

The Symbols of Christmas, December 4th: There is a long tradition of depicting animals in the stable where Jesus was born, although there is no mention of them in the New Testament. Usually it is an ox and donkey - but why not chickens or sheep? In this painting from the early 1500s, they are so close they could drool on the Christ child, which is both gross and weird. They are symbolic animals: the ox represented the Jews ( a clean animal), the donkey, the Gentiles ( unclean). They are hovering over the manger ( the feeding trough) to fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 1:3: "The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand." Luke's gospel underlines that only a handful of people notice Jesus' birth ( shepherds, John the Baptist's parents), while the rest of Israel sleeps. However, artists for over 1000 years have painted in the prophecy in the form of the ox and donkey, that Christ's ministry will be for all of humanity, represented by these two animals who stay close to the child who will change history.

The Symbols of Christmas, December 5th: Christmas lights are a tradition that goes way back. In the past, Yuletide logs were kept burning because in Celtic lands there was an ancient belief that the sun stood still for twelve days in December. When Christmas tress were popularized in the English-speaking world in the 19th century, they were illuminated with candles, a serious fire risk. Thomas Edison's new electric lights were applied to Christmas trees in 1882 ( at a price close to $300 in modern terms). Now, Christmas lights are everywhere - NASA satellites have revealed that American suburbs are 50 % brighter in December than the rest of the year. In Vancouver, electricity bills have risen by 20% since 2012, thanks to households stringing up so many lights outside. Christ did say He was the light of the world - now Christians are literally lighting up the world one month a year.

The Symbols of Christmas, December 6th: Today is the feast of St Nicholas, the saint who evolved into Santa Claus. Like all symbols, Santa changes with the times. This picture of Black Santas shows the yard of the Kennedy family in North Little Rock, Arkansas. They have a four year old girl, and for the past few years, her Dad has been putting an inflatable Black Santa on the lawn. This year he received a letter claiming to be from Santa. It stated that Santa is white, and Mr Kennedy should be ashamed of getting Santa's race wrong on his lawn. Kennedy took to social media to express his outrage, and his neighbours reacted. Over the following days, Black inflatable Santas began cropping up on lawns of neighbours, both Black and white, in protest of the letter's racism. One man in New York even sent Kennedy a second Black Santa to put up, seen here in the picture. “At the end of the day, what was meant for evil was flipped for good,” Kennedy said. “We are showing that we are truly better together and united as one.” Amen! 

The Symbols of Christmas, December 7th: Is Christmas cancelled? There are certainly lots of government restrictions this year which make it feel that way. But before we get too upset, we should remember that there was a time when Christmas was outlawed completely. Back in the 1650s, religious fundamentalists known as Puritans believed that since Christmas was not celebrated in the Bible as a holiday, it should not be allowed among Christians now. The British government agreed, making feasts and church services at Christmas illegal. The law only lasted 10 years or so, but the damage was done. The poster below is from Boston, where the anti-Christmas stance was also adopted. Two hundred years later, it was still normal for people like Scrooge to keep the office open on Christmas Day, and schools were open in many Protestant nations. Christmas was like Ash Wednesday is now - present, but optional. And yet, these people were still very devout Christians. So, this year, when the government once again places regulations on Christmas, history suggests we can be Christians under reduced circumstances, and still be devout. Indeed, Christmas began under adverse conditions, in a stinky stable, with no extended family to help Mary give birth. As long as love and compassion are our guides, it won't matter how small this year's Christmas is - indeed, with those values in place, Christmas won't have been cancelled at all. 

The Symbols of Christmas, December 8th: Many of us set up Christmas nativity scenes around this time of year, and we have St Francis of Assisi to thank for them. Back in 1223, he realized the peasants didn't really get the Christmas story, since they couldn't understand the Latin spoken at church services. So he enlisted a rich local man to help him set up a life-sizesd stable with hay, a real ox, ass and a cradle for a wax baby Jesus. On Christmas Eve, he held an outdoor mass by torch light for the local peasants. Some accounts say he even spread some seed on the ground so birds could come to fill in for the angels. The live creche was a big hit and was soon copied all across Europe. Eventually, statues came to replace the live animals and actors, and creches got smaller, so that now they fit in our homes. Today nativity sets of all kinds can be purchased - I once found one that was entirely composed of plastic 'smores, with a marshmallow playing baby Jesus! What would St Francis think? 

The Symbols of Christmas, December 9th: Who says the first people to learn about Jesus' birth were just men? This image is from an illuminated manuscript from the 1400s. Take a close look at the shepherds. There is at least one woman here, and why not? The Bible doesn't specify anything about the gender of the shepherds. Other women in the Bible tended sheep, such as Rachel and Jethro's daughters ( whom Moses first meets at the well seeking water for their flocks). The bigger question is why medieval people were willing to have angels singing to women, but we, the supposedly progressive ones, have assumed they were men? And why are the angels always white in these images, and usually male? What if female angels in the sky were singing to women on the ground to go see a woman who had just given birth? This old story still has room for more assumptions to be unpacked and thrown away on our way to a more equal world - one of peace and good will for all ( cue those bagpipes!). 

The Symbols of Christmas, December 10th: "Silent Night" is one of the most beloved of Christmas carols, and is often sung as the climax of Christmas Eve candlelight services. It was written for a Christmas Eve service in 1818 in Switzerland, and in 1859, one Rev. J. Freeman Young of New York City translated it from German into English, seen here in this photo. But Young left out half of the words. The version we know is composed of verses 1,6 and 2 of the original, which stress an intimate family scene. What Young omitted were three verses which widen the focus to include Christ's coming as an act of grace and healing for the entire world. In a year when it is abundantly clear that the whole world is connected, and we all need healing, perhaps it's time to start singing the missing verses, too? Here's what we have been missing ( couched in very patriarchal language):

3. Silent night! Holy night!
Which brought salvation to the world,
From Heaven's golden heights,
Mercy's abundance was made visible to us:
Jesus in human form,
Jesus in human form.

4. Silent night! Holy night!
Where on this day all power
of fatherly love poured forth
And like a brother lovingly embraced
Jesus the peoples of the world,
Jesus the peoples of the world.

5. Silent night! Holy night!
Already long ago planned for us,
When the Lord frees from wrath
Since the beginning of ancient times
A salvation promised for the whole world.
A salvation promised for the whole world.

English translation of the lost verses provided by https://buff.ly/3m2C111

The Symbols of Christmas, December 11th: Advent Calendars are a recent addition to Christmas traditions, but they embody a Christian answer to an old argument about the nature of time and hope. The kind we have now, made of paper, with doors that open first appeared in the 1920s in Germany. They had evolved out of 19th century Protestant practices of people putting out candles to light for each day counting down to Christmas - some people also made chalk marks on doors. Advent calendars reflect the Christian conception of time: each day is a surprise, and open to wonderful possibility. Forgiveness and a better, new life is always possible. This was a radical break with the old Roman and Greek view of time, which was cyclical and fatalistic. Everything that happens now has happened before, and will happen again. Greek tragedies featured people who could not escape their god-given fate. Christianity disagrees - time does not repeat, you are not doomed to relive your misfortunes over and over again. Life can and should get better. Advent calendars express that hopeful outlook with days that open on sweet chocolates. The old ideas of fatalism survive in racism and sexism, where one's skin colour or gender and sexuality are destiny. Let us continue to fight against this form of slavery, and rejoice in the gift of forgiveness and free will. We have the opportunity to never repeat a year like 2020 again - may it be so!

The Symbols of Christmas December 12th:Was there really a star which the Magi followed to find the Christ child? Over the years, many scientific explanations have been offered, and lately, a conjunction of planets has been a popular answer. There will be spectacular one on Dec 21st. However, we should be careful. The Magi account is found in the Gospel of Matthew, and it states clearly that this star moved - first leading the Magi to Jerusalem, and then to Bethlehem. Stars and comets don't make sharp turns in that way. In the ancient world, Romans and Persians expected the gods to signal their decisions through new objects appearing in the sky. So, to pagan readers of the gospel, it would have been odd for the Christian Messiah to have been born without a heavenly sign. But Matthew chose a star that acted unnaturally. That idea is captured in this painting by Sassetta of the 15th century, where the star seems too low to the ground. Matthew is discouraging us from comparing the Magi's guiding star with any other kind of star or comet . The Messiah was unique, and his guiding light was special, too. Trying to reduce this star to a regular astronomical phenomenon may appeal to our scientific curiosity, but it also explains away an event that was meant to be singular, and only explainable in one way - the God of all had come to Earth for the good of all humanity. 

The Symbols of Christmas, December 13th: Hey, who put the Christmas tree on the table? This is what Christmas trees looked like in England in the early 19th century. The custom was new. Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, was from Germany, where it was customary to decorate a yew branch each Christmas. In 1800, she decided to do something special for the children of the court, so she had an entire tree brought in and decorated. She is credited with creating the first Christmas tree, instead of just using branches. The trees were soon being placed on tables every year, decorated with candies and toys, like this one put up by Queen Victoria and her German husband, Prince Albert, in the 1840s. The custom passed from the court into society, as people back then, like now, liked to copy what the royals were doing. Presents were placed under the tree, often with a menagerie of wooden animals from Noah's ark. So, today, when the Britons leave the EU, with our without a deal, they might pause to realize that those Christmas trees in their homes were derived from a German practice, with an English twist. A fine example of Brits and Europeans co-operating. O Tannenbaum, O tannenbaum....

The Symbols of Christmas, December 14th: Many churches had to stage virtual Christmas pageants outside our church buildings this year, and this is actually a practice that goes way back. This image is from Brussels in 1615. It shows how pageants were done in the Middle Ages and Renaissance -outside, on elaborate wagons. This picture shows the angel appearing to Mary to tell her she will bear Jesus. Spectators would stand outside in squares or on the side of the road. Wagons pulled up to tell their part of the Christmas story . There were special effects, elaborate dialogue ( each of the shepherds had a name and standard lines), and often a comic sensibility. These nativity plays were a big hit for many centuries, although they often got out of hand and too ribald, no longer being constrained by the propriety of a church service. So, this year, when we can’t be in church to see the children in their paper crowns and bathrobes, take some consolation that performing pageants outside church walls has a long history. And, we have have just added to it by creating virtual pageants. Who knows, we may get a part in the history books for the way we innovated to keep the story alive during this pandemic.

The Symbols of Christmas, December 15th: Ten days to Christmas - but why is it on December 25th, anyway? This painting by Leonardo da Vinci of Mary and the angel Gabriel is part of the answer. There is nothing in the Bible which declares what day Christ was born. But, the early Christians did have a theological reason for the 25th. Mary was pregnant for nine months, so if you count backwards, you end up in March. But which day? Back then, people believed that major religious events occurred in whole years- so Christ must have been conceived on the exact same date as he died. By the 200s, Christians had deduced that Christ died by crucifixion on March 25th. So, if he died on March 25th, he must have been conceived on that date as well. Add nine months of pregnancy to March 25th and we arrive at a birth date of December 25th. Not exactly the kind of reasoning we would use today, but back then they placed great value on harmony and symmetry. It is a reminder that the only reason Christmas is worth celebrating is because of what happened at Easter. Something too easy to forget as we get (w)rapped up in the excitement of the season....

The Symbols of Christmas, December 16th: We live in a period where our bodies and sexualities are key to our identity, and it often seems like Christianity lags far behind, or is just in the way. But this Christmas painting from the Renaissance suggests it doesn’t have to be like that. Take a good look at baby Jesus. He is flashing us, pulling away a transparent covering to reveal his full naked body. This was a new way of painting him; in the Middle Ages, he was always covered up. These paintings were part of a cultural shift towards admiring the beauty of the human form, but there is a theological point here, too. Christianity is based on the radical act of God taking up residence in a human body, with all its messiness as well as its beauty. As Jesus, God is saying human bodies are good, I made them, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. The theological point was that *all* bodies count, God is sanctifying them all through this divine physical incarnation. That message is often lost, as Christians have declared some bodies sinful, wrong, etc... But in the Renaissance, painters made the pendulum swing the other way, creating baby pictures where Jesus insists on showing even his genitalia to his parents and viewers of the painting. These images are saying, Jesus came to sanctify and save us in our full, complete physical bodies, including our sexual organs, which are being revealed here by the infant. God was born this way, a message we still have trouble taking in.

The Symbols of Christmas, December 17th: Why did the angels announce Jesus’ birth to shepherds? There are a few theories: shepherds were humble, and Christ came to serve even the poorest and most despised of society. Also, shepherds moved around a lot, so they could spread the word. There is a poetic possibility: King David was originally a shepherd boy, and he came from Bethlehem. Jesus is born in David’s city to fulfill prophecy, so it may have seemed right to have his birth announced to shepherds who were symbolically linked to David the shepherd boy. It also helps that Jesus was known as the Good Shepherd, so who better to tell about his birth but his own crew? Whatever the reason, the choice of shepherds has added an element of pastoral mystery to the Christmas story that might have been lacking had the accountants or tax collectors been told first. “For lo, as they were counting their earnings, a light like glinting gold filled the sky above them, and the music of falling coins filled their ears…” Good call on the shepherds. 

The Symbols of Christmas, December 18th: Today is International Migrants Day, so it seems like a good time to be reminded of a part of the Christmas story we don’t feature in our Christmas pageants. In Matthew’s Gospel, King Herod is incensed when the Magi don’t come back to tell him where the baby Jesus was born. Herod gives the order to massacre all male children under two years old, fearing a challenge to his throne. Fortunately, an angel has warned Joseph to take his family and flee to Egypt. Modern translation: Jesus and his family became refugees seeking asylum in Egypt because their lives were in danger from the state back home. This picture shows the children being killed, and Christ’s family on the run. The original nativity story was frank in its statement of the stakes: when you stand up for love and compassion, expect fierce resistance from those who rule through hatred and fear. In this Christmas story, at least Egypt let them in - no guarantee they would be welcomed in many states today. There are 272 million migrants in the world as of 2019, almost 80 million are refugees. On International Migrants Day, let’s keep in mind that as Christians we are called to follow Jesus - even when he was a migrant on the run, seeking safety.

The Symbols of Christmas, December 19th: “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” is a famous Christmas jingle, glorying in the materialistic and 1984 side of Santa, but we’re missing out on the important message in the original version. It was written in 1934 during the depths of the Great Depression. Eddie Cantor ( nee Edward Israel Iskowitz) had a popular radio show in the U.S., and he wanted to sing a new Christmas song. He got one from New York Times reporter Haven Gillespie. The first few verses are the same as the song we know, but the second half imagines people in Santa costumes delivering presents to those suffering from poverty, making sure everyone is reached. A Jewish radio star sang this very Christian song, and it was an instant sheet music hit. Here’s the second half, which in this year of closed stores and emptied bank accounts we need more than ever: “We've gotta dig deep/and cover the list,/gotta see that/nobody is missed,/Santa Claus is coming to town; Let's keep home fires burning,/let's give without a pause,/let's prove to those less fortunate/that there is a Santa Claus; Oh the joy will be yours ,/that wonderful day,/knocking on doors/and shouting hooray!/ Santa Claus is coming to town.” There’s a nice video of Cantor’s 1934 version here: https://buff.ly/3p8LfuE 

The Symbols of Christmas, December 20th: Why is there a crumbling wall around this nativity scene? This refers to a medieval legend about the nativity. The story goes that the night that Christ was born, the Temple of Peace in Rome fell down into a clump of ruins ( its remains are still there in the Forum). The point was that the kind of military "peace" established by the Romans was being replaced by a true peace by the coming of Christ, who would teach love, forgiveness and justice. So, the painters built the crumbling ruins of the Roman system around the stable where Christ was born. Christianity did infiltrate the Roman Empire, which fell, and Christianity survived. But the desire for power and the allure of violence also infiltrated Christianity. So perhaps images like these are more realistic than we expect - two ways, co-existing in an uneasy tension, neither one poised to win any time soon. It is up to us to choose which one to lean into, and to keep the faith that love’s power is the only viable alternative to power based on fear and violence.

The Symbols of Christmas, December 21st: Why is Santa so small in this picture? The image comes from the 19th century, when the Santa myth kicked into high gear. Santa was well known in Europe as Saint Nicholas, and was usually seen as a Bishop. But when the Dutch brought his story to North America, he got crossbred with Norse myths ( hello reindeer) and turned into a jolly old elf. That meant he was small enough to slip down a chimney. American consumerism and advertising companies provided a growth spurt in the 20th century, with Coca Cola ads providing much of his expanded girth. Parents usually invoke magic to explain how the man with the bag gets down such narrow chimneys. That same degree of imagination will likely be needed to answer some new questions for this covid Christmas. Is Santa at risk from covid? Has his isolation at the North Pole protected him enough? Or, is he an essential worker, and has already been vaccinated? So many questions, but like any good myth, revisions are what give it life and longevity. Santa has survived wars and depressions, the jolly old elf will no doubt survive this crisis too ( but will he wear a mask...?).

The Symbols of Christmas, December 22nd: The nativity stories in the Bible tell us that Jesus was born with just Joseph on hand, but tradition decided some women must have been there, too. As early as the 2nd century, there were stories of midwives greeting the shepherds when they came to visit. Some theologians claimed that Mary had a painless birth since she was not born of a sinful body ( her immaculate conception - long story). But tradition sided with common sense - there must have been some midwives involved, even though they are not mentioned. Of course, making women invisible or nameless was a common strategy in the gospels. What was the name of the woman at the well whom Jesus spoke to, or the woman in Tyre? The weird thing is that even in medieval, patriarchal Europe, they showed women at the nativity, but there are rarely midwives in *our* Christmas pageants. We massage the story in all sorts of other ways, such as making the shepherds and Magi arrive at the same time, so why not include some extremely useful and important women, too? No offence Joseph, but call in the midwives! 

The Symbols of Christmas, December 23rd: Many of us have been buying turkeys lately, but why are they called turkey? They don’t come from Turkey, afterall. The name comes from long ago, before Columbus reached the Americas. The English ate guinea fowl during the holidays, which they imported via the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, so they called those birds turkeys. So, when *our* kind of turkey started being shipped from North America in the 1500s, people just kept calling these large fowl turkeys. However, in France, people had been importing their big birds from India ( via Turkey), so they called them d'inde, which got shortened to dinde. And what do people in Turkey call turkey? Well, since they got their turkeys from India, they called them ‘hindis’. Have a great dinner, whatever you call it!

The Symbols of Christmas, December 24th: Today when we think of Christmas Eve visitors, Santa is the first who comes to mind, but when Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol,” in 1843, people expected ghosts. For centuries, Christmas Eve had been a time for getting together for dinner and telling ghost stories. It was believed that during the winter solstice the spirits of the dead were nearby, so tales of close encounters with the spiritual world were popular. Dickens took that tradition and added a moral spin, chastising the greedy Scrooge for ignoring the plight of the poor. The tradition persisted into the 20th century, with movies like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” where Jimmy Stewart’s character becomes like a ghost in his own town, until he learns the value of gratitude. Dickens’ story has been copied and plagiarized endlessly, but the ghosts are not nearly as scary as facing our own limitations as we see the life that could have been. Perhaps that is ultimately the genius of Christmas - we are asked to believe in more than the possible and real. That can be inspiring or scary, depending on where you are at in your spiritual journey. “Mankind was my business!” Jacob Marley’s ghost howls at Scrooge. If only we could take that to heart all year ‘round. Merry Christmas all, thanks for reading these posts.