Newspapers / The Chowan Herald (Edenton, … / Dec. 23, 1982, edition 1 / Page 17
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lH c TVlerry' Christmas; A CHRISTMAS QREETING SECTION Spirit of Christmas infuses holiday season with joy -Hk m hi ■■ ■■■ DISTANT AND REGAL, this enthroned Madonna and Child seem to stare into eternity. The painting, the Ma donna of Humility, is by the 15th century Sienese painter, Sano di Pietro. In the collection of The Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Frank L. Babbott. The creche—its history, legends The creche —a representa tion in miniature of the man ger in which Christ was bom, complete with tiny figures of the Holy Family, angels, the adoring Magi, and even the animals which were present is a familiar sight under the Christmas tree, where it com mands a place of honor during the Christmas season. Traditionally, the crib remains empty until Christ mas arrives, at which time the miniature figure of the Christ Child is lovingly placed within it. The original creche is believed by many to have been set up by St. Francis of Assisi. In the year 1224, St. Francis arranged a represen tation of the Holy Family in a grotto in the Italian hill town of Greccio. With a white ox and a don key both of whom repre sented animals present at the Nativity at either side of the creche, the midnight Eucha rist was celebrated on Christ mas Eve at an altar situated above the crib. The creche, (presepio. in Italian) is still most popular in Italy, its country of origin. Each year, in Rome and Naples, children construct presepi of cardboard, and populate them with inexpen sive clay figures bought in the market. A typical Neapolitan prese pio might incorporate a hill, with the sacred grotto below, a tiny shepherd’s hut, some trees, a dirt path or two wind ing toward the cave, and per haps a stream, the latter formed with pieces of glitter ing glass. Landscaping would be done with moss. Rejoicing angels, and the star which guided the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem, would be suspended by nearly invisible threads, and the crib would be carefully padded with real straw. So much for the simple creche. Many more elaborate were created in the course of time. One German example was large enough to fill an entire room. Thiscrec/ie represented the main square of a small vil lage, which was bordered by various large edifices, includ ing a domed cathedral, in the porch of which the crib was ( *A, yft >» «, JSfl^;i- % IN PRB VSpUS CENTURIES, creches were often elaborate diorama* with detailed scenery and a multitude of figures and buildings to fascinate the eye and stimulate the inui(dna lion. H- re, children gaae in wonderment as a procession of miniature people and animals converge upon the humble manger, to. do honor to the newly born Christ. Illustration courtesy: The New York Public Library Picture Collection. set up. ' Many figurines populated the scene, in different sizes depending upon where they were located, in accordance with the laws of perspective. Another creche, from the Tyrol, imitates the villages and mountains typical of the area, and yet another, from Munich, represents the Ado ration set in the dramatic envi ronment of a ruined castle. Some creches, made in Naples, boasted classical tem ples, or the remains thereof. Usually, the figures which were incorporated into, the scene would be dressed in contemporary rather than Bib lical garb, providing a fasci nating view of the fashions current when the creche was created. The animals most likely to be found in a creche are the donkey and ox, mentioned above, and the cow, the goat, and the horse. Each of these animals has a legend con nected with it. Both the donkey and the goat were noisy, disturbing the peaceful sleep of the Holy Infant. For this reason, both were punished: the donkey was not permitted ever to have offspring, and the goat was doomed to carry, throughout history, the opprobrium of having a voice no human could find pleasant. The horse, too, was pun ished —for selfishly eating the hay which had been laid down for the Christ Child to sleep upon, he was doomed always to be the servant of man, and never to be satisfied, no matter how much he ate. The ox, on the other hand, generously gave its hay to pro vide Christ’s bedding, as well as warming the Infant Jesus with his breath. And, the cow, as a token of its devotion, gave her newly born calf as an offering to the Child. Both ox and cow were rewarded by the Madonna, who promised them that they would always enjoy their food so much that they would chew it a second time. Additionally, the cow was promised that she would bring forth a new calf every year. A fitting gift in a season of giv ing, which celebrates above all the miracle of birth, and especially the mira cle of the Birth of Christ. Universal in meaning, and deeply mooing, Nativity touches heart, soul In the course of two millenia, countless mil lions of people have lived their lives in accord ance with the teachings of Christ. To all of them, the story of the birth of Christ is of great significance. It is at once the history of the Mother and Child whose lives are at the heart of Christianity, and the moving tale of a mo ther and her infant. The story of the Nativity is both glorious and tender, infinitely complex and profoundly simple, universal in significance and deeply personal in tenor. With a meaning that is truly for all time be cause it transcends it, the Christmas story is as integral a part of thought and belief in the 20th century, as it was in the third or thirteenth. Perhaps no other occurrence has touched so many lives in so many ways, fulfilling vastly different needs while remaining itself un touched. The mystic bent of the medieval mind, for instance, envisioned the Christ child as a min iature adult, crowned with a golden halo. Perched rather stiffly on the Madonna’s lap, He sits enthroned and surrounded by an honor guard of angels and saints. Even in infancy, the painters of the Middle Ages seem to say, Christ was already the man who would die upon the Cross for our sins. The paintings of Madonna and Child which date from the Middle Ages are itensely devout celebrations of the glory of God and Christ. His Son. In contrast, the paintings of the Italian Ren aissance, when the philosophy of Humanism was current, depict the Madonna and Child as a very real mother and son. As painted by Leonardo da Vinci, Masaccio. Botticelli, Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, for example. AN EARLY NATIVITY from an illuminated manuscript is iconographic, basically two-dimensional. The Annuncia tion to the Shepherds, below, has little of the wonder and joy associated with this scene in later art. Missal is from Weingarten Abbey in Germany and dates from the early years of the 13th century. Reproduced courtesy: The Pier pont Morgan library. Traditional Yule fare CHRISTMAS DINNER IN OLDE ENGLAND often com menced wfth a boar’s or pig’s head. The origin of this tradi tional dish—now rarely to be seen on the Christmas groan ing board is buried in the mists of pre-Christian ritual. Illustration by Randolph Caldecott for Washington Irving’s Old Christmas, reprodnsod courtesy of Sleepy Hollow Res torations. MINCE PIE Two pounds and a half of tongue, or lean beef. A pound and a half of suet. Right good-sized apples. Two pounds of raisins. Two pounds of sugar. Two gills of rose water. One quart of wine. Salt, mace, doves, and cinnamon, to the taste. / Boil the meat, and chop very fine. Chop the suet and the apples very fine. Stone the raisins, cutting each into four pieces. Dissolve the sugar into wine and rose water, and mix all well together with the spices. Twice this quantity of apple improves the pies, making them less rich. Line your plates with a rich paste, fill, cover, and bake. Measure the spices used, to save tasting next time, and to prevent mistakes. 19th Century recipe for Mince Pie - os Washington Irving might have enjoyed it-is reproduced courtesy of Sleepy Hol low Restorations, in Tarrytown, New York. Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, December 23.1982 the infant Christ is truly a child, pudgy and squirming on His loving mother’s knee. The setting is realistic —a landscape or light-bathed interior rather than a stiff throne floating on a golden background. The saints and angels of Renaissance art are as likely to be teasing the infant Christ as sol emnly adoring Him. The playfulness of the artist’s conception in no way dims the glory of God and Christ, but rather enhances it, em phasizing love rather than awe. At the same time, the Italian Renaissance conception of Christ was a glorious one. Paintings such as Gentile da Fabriano’s Ado ration, with its air of regal courtliness, illus trate that, to the Renaissance mind, Christ was a king as well as a child and a man. The Flemish painters of the 15th century see the Nativity from a different perspective. The emphasis is on the personal in such paint ings as Hugo van der Goes’ Portinari Altar piece (whose central panel depicts the Adora tion) and Geertgen tot Sint Jans’ Nativity. The homely virtues the Flemish admired are represented in the many true-to-life de tails, as well as in the attitude of the Madonna watching over her Babe, the epitome of loving motherhood. Mystic, regal, touching, awe-inspiring, loving. That the Nativity can be so many things at once, is in some way a measure of its immeasurable significance. That it has meant so many things to so many people indicates its infinite power to reach dis parate lives, in centuries and continents far re moved from one another, touching both heart and soul. As the eternal leaves its indelible mark upon the temporal, it repeats the lesson of its ultimate, essential universality. ’ ' S P'lk*. JByB HIGH RENAISSANCE PAINTINGS, such as this Adoration of the Magi by Sehastiano Florigiero. combine moving emo tions w ith courtly display. In the collection ofThe Brooklyn Museum. Gift of A. Augustus Healy . A Washington Irving Christmas: dazzling celebration of the season Few writers have been more enamoured of the plea sures of the Christmas season than Washington Irving, whose fascination with old lore and traditions led him to create such fables as “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip van Winkle. ” Enchanted by the ancient customs faithfully followed by a family with whom he stayed during his sojourn in England in 1819. Irving annually observed the time-honored Christmas traditions that were so dear to his heart at his own home. Sunnyside, in Tarry town, New York. As early as 1809. Irving waxed poetic on the subject of St. Nicholas, the forerunner of the Santa Claus we know and love today. In Dierdrich Knickebock er’s History of New York, Irv ing wrote: "The good St. Ni cholas would often make his appearance riding jollity among the tree tops, or over the roots of houses, now and then drawing forth magnifi cent presents from his breeches pockets, and drop ping them down the chim neys.” A forerunner of Clem ent Moore’s famous "Visit from St. Nicholas,” if there ever was one! Christmas, to Irving, meant all the homespun pleasures of good companionship, hospi tality and good cheer. ‘‘lt is, indeed,” Irving wrote in Old Christmas, the book of essays in which he celebrated his English Christ mas, "The season of regener ated feeling the season for kindling, not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart.” In a letter to his sister, Sarah Van Wart, Irving viv idly describes one of the plea sures of the season. “I know of nothing more exhilarating than the first sleigh rides; skimming over the sparkling snow, the air so pure and bracing, the sunshine so splendid; the very horse seems to share your animation A TENDERLY EVOCATIVE RENDITION of a Madonna ami Child by Sandro Botticelli. The Madonna is loving and stately: the Infant Christ, the image of a real babe. Illustration courtesy: The New York Public library Picture Collection. and delight, and dash forward merrily to the jingling of the leigh bells." The buoyancy of the description befits a boy of seven or 17, not (as Irving then was) a man of 57. To his niece, Sarah Stor row, Irving described Sunny side, ready for the Christmas festivities, as, "dressed in evergreens,” as it was each year, as custom (and Irving was a staunch observer of cus tom) dictated. In addition to evergreen garlands, wreaths and sprays, Sunnyside boasted its share of holly, and a wreath hung on the front door in welcome. Mistletoe dangled over var ious doorways, reminiscent of that which Irving remembered from his English Christmas:, “with its white berries, hung up, to the imminent peril of all the pretty housemaids.” In Irving’s footnotes to Old Christmas, he explains the way the mistletoe tradition operated. According to Irv ing, ‘ ‘The young men have the Ppt. I IHI A FESTIVE HOLIDAY TABLE, set for dessert, in the dining room of k ashington Irving's home. Sunny side, in Tarrytown, New Yolk. The table is set with Irving's own dishes, and tied with a red satin ribbon, as it was in Irving's day. CHRISTMAS GREETING SECTION privilege of kissing the girls under it. plucking each time a berry from the bush. When the berries are all plucked, the privilege ceases. " Irving faithfully observed the custom of gift-giving at Christmas. Irving Van Wart, a visitor to Sunnyside. recalled Christmas mom in his journal: “This morning when we woke we lit our gas and then opened our stockings." Irving’s dining table, the center of much of the nierri ment, was traditionally adorned by a lustrous red satin ribbon which encircled it. tied into four large bows, one at each corner. The Christmas dinner which would be enjoyed at it. often included roast goose and pickled oys ters. The menu for Christmas Dinner, 1852, encompassed Macaroni Soup, Baked Ham, Turkey with Oyster Soup, Scalloped Oysters, Parsnips, Carrots, Boiled Turnips, Mince Pie, Rice and Plum Pudding, and concluded with coffee, fruit and nuts. It was as elaborate, if not as unusual as the meal Irving associated with his English Christmas, which began with, "an enormous pig’s head, decorated w ith rosemary , w ith a lemon in its mouth, which was placed with great formal ity at the head of the table," and encompassed such delica cies as mock-peacock pie (made from pheasant), "mag nificently . . decorated with peacock's feather's, in imita tion of the tail of that bird." The English Christmas din ner. which Irving remembered all his life, concluded with th< ceremony of the wassail bowli whose contents Irving described as. "Being com posed of the richest and raciest wines, highly spiced and sweetened w ith roasted apples bobbing about the surface." As everyone drank from the one bowl, which was passed around the table, it was the perfect beverage with which to toast Merry Christ mas and enjoy the feeling of togetherness which the Christ mas season instills.
The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.)
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Dec. 23, 1982, edition 1
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