The party must go on. The modern tendency to start Christmas early. However, Christmas is not over, like Easter the Christmas will go on for the next twelve days which ends with Epiphany.
This year we celebrated twelfth day of Christmas or called Epiphany which means ' manifestation'- we celebrate the day which Our Lord was shown to a wider public, and in particular wise men from a far country came to worship Him.
The feast of Christmas or Christmastide goes on. we don't keep by putting trees out..The celebration of the Lord's nativity cannot disposed of in a singe day. Ideally we shouldn't give up on Christmas until Candlemas on February 2 according to tradition (Advent to Epiphany book by Vincent Ryan OSB).
In Britian it's old name is twelfth Night and tradition to take decors down. Shakespeare wrote play in honour of twelfth Night. The keynote of the feast is joy and fun; Christ is with us,...He is among men, A child who is to become our Savior.
One of the other element in this feast is the guiding star which led wise men to Bethlehem and star as a symbol of faith..reward of faith is face to face vision of God.
''On this day, Lord God
by a guiding star you revealed your only begotten son
to all peoples of the world.
Lead us from the faith by which we know you now
to the vision of your glory, face to face''.
The above prayer represents our own life as a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage of faith. We are the Magi, Faith is our guiding star.Bethlehem is our goal.
The traditional way is to get house blessed by using the chalk blessed day before.
This is the climax of Christmas and a day for a party and make the enthusiasm for this day infectious.
Today we went for Holy Mass and then It was a great chance to do Carols in St Joseph Home with Seymour family. There were lot of songs especially children sang ''We three kings of orient ...and On the first day of Christmas my true love send to me....'' Annu and Munnu played in piano and was great. Theresu was so keen in singing Twelve days but gave up once reached home.
There was some feasting at home once we reached home . Annu and Theresu helped with preparing different dishes with 'twelve days of Christmas song'...Prepared pear for the first day , two turtle doves, three french hens with ...four calling birds with ... five gold rings with onion rings, 6 geese are laying with some eggs, seven swans are swimming...and go on...
'Twelve days of Christmas song came in Elizabethan period when faith was prohibited to practise with a hidden catechism...
In the front is Galette des rois which is a traditional french cake for Epiphany and a small token was hid for who to be the king in our family. It was so fun and none of us got it and Geo didn;t want to try as he is not having much food these days and finally came to realise Geokuttan's piece got the token. Whoever recieves the token will be preparing the epiphany cake and wear the crown next year
Children dressed up as wise men and our wise men nearly reached baby Jesus as we were moving wise men a little steps closer to Him every day. Also reminds us Christina Rossetti's nice Epiphany song...In the bleak mid winter.....
If you're keen you can can make twelve days of Christmas lapbook and have a look at shower of roses blog.
Moreover today we have baptism day of both Munnu and Geo in our family. Later tonight with the blessed chalk Jobychayan did Epiphany blessing on the door lintel.
'' When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw baby and Mary the mother. They worshiped Him and offered gifts'' Mathew 2
This year we celebrated twelfth day of Christmas or called Epiphany which means ' manifestation'- we celebrate the day which Our Lord was shown to a wider public, and in particular wise men from a far country came to worship Him.
The feast of Christmas or Christmastide goes on. we don't keep by putting trees out..The celebration of the Lord's nativity cannot disposed of in a singe day. Ideally we shouldn't give up on Christmas until Candlemas on February 2 according to tradition (Advent to Epiphany book by Vincent Ryan OSB).
In Britian it's old name is twelfth Night and tradition to take decors down. Shakespeare wrote play in honour of twelfth Night. The keynote of the feast is joy and fun; Christ is with us,...He is among men, A child who is to become our Savior.
One of the other element in this feast is the guiding star which led wise men to Bethlehem and star as a symbol of faith..reward of faith is face to face vision of God.
''On this day, Lord God
by a guiding star you revealed your only begotten son
to all peoples of the world.
Lead us from the faith by which we know you now
to the vision of your glory, face to face''.
The above prayer represents our own life as a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage of faith. We are the Magi, Faith is our guiding star.Bethlehem is our goal.
The traditional way is to get house blessed by using the chalk blessed day before.
This is the climax of Christmas and a day for a party and make the enthusiasm for this day infectious.
Today we went for Holy Mass and then It was a great chance to do Carols in St Joseph Home with Seymour family. There were lot of songs especially children sang ''We three kings of orient ...and On the first day of Christmas my true love send to me....'' Annu and Munnu played in piano and was great. Theresu was so keen in singing Twelve days but gave up once reached home.
There was some feasting at home once we reached home . Annu and Theresu helped with preparing different dishes with 'twelve days of Christmas song'...Prepared pear for the first day , two turtle doves, three french hens with ...four calling birds with ... five gold rings with onion rings, 6 geese are laying with some eggs, seven swans are swimming...and go on...
'Twelve days of Christmas song came in Elizabethan period when faith was prohibited to practise with a hidden catechism...
In the front is Galette des rois which is a traditional french cake for Epiphany and a small token was hid for who to be the king in our family. It was so fun and none of us got it and Geo didn;t want to try as he is not having much food these days and finally came to realise Geokuttan's piece got the token. Whoever recieves the token will be preparing the epiphany cake and wear the crown next year
Children dressed up as wise men and our wise men nearly reached baby Jesus as we were moving wise men a little steps closer to Him every day. Also reminds us Christina Rossetti's nice Epiphany song...In the bleak mid winter.....
If you're keen you can can make twelve days of Christmas lapbook and have a look at shower of roses blog.
Moreover today we have baptism day of both Munnu and Geo in our family. Later tonight with the blessed chalk Jobychayan did Epiphany blessing on the door lintel.
'' When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw baby and Mary the mother. They worshiped Him and offered gifts'' Mathew 2
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