Harvest Sunday . . .

According to our Diocesan Directory, tomorrow is Harvest Sunday.

I don't how this is remembered in your area but I always feel it's a bit of a non-event somehow.

I was brought up in the Anglican tradition with great emphasis put on our annual parish Harvest Supper; a church building where every possible nook and cranny was crammed with some sort of natural produce.

Even though it was an urban parish, it really was an amazing sight to a youngster who came from a family where food was always adequate but not usually abundant.

To see real sheaves of corn and the amazing skill of local bakers who had lovingly produced the huge (to my eyes) harvest loaves in the shape of sheaves of corn and 'cottage' loaves appetisingly placed on windowsills that were just out of reach (probably just as well) was an absolute delight.

And what Harvest Festival Sunday Eucharist was complete without 'We Plough the Fields and Scatter' sung with great gusto by all present.

I remember my first experience of a Harvest Sunday in a Catholic Church and was struck by the contrast between the celebration of Harvest today and my childhood memories. It was hardly marked at all. Perhaps a reference in the Prayers of Intercession but I don't think there was any other reference to giving thanks to God for his bountiful provision for us through his creation.

Perhaps it has changed in the Anglican church too.

The Blessing of Throats . . .

Do you have the Blessing of Throats in your parish on the Feast of St Blaise? We do.

This tradition stems from the story of St Blaise healing a boy with a fishbone caught in this throat.

It made me think about these sort of traditions and devotions in general. It was interesting to note that when I started looking for some information to confirm my understanding of the feast and the tradition, I found a link to an article on the Blessing of Throats under the title, ' British Folk Customs'. What is the difference between a 'folk custom' and a 'religious tradition'? Where does tradition and/or custom end and superstition begin?

Fr Dwight Longenecker has a very interesting post on just this subject. You'll find it on his blog Standing on my Head.

I hope you all manage to get though the rest of the Winter free from throat problems.

Our Crib is up! . . .

Yay! Our crib is out of it's wrappings and displayed in pride of place in our sitting room - all ready for the big day - or should I say the big night, as we always place the infant Jesus in the crib as soon as we get back from Midnight Mass.

We had a lovely Sunday again today. We enjoyed a delicious meal with friends last night in their home which was beautifully decorated for Christmas which really set the scene for us. This combined with the very seasonal weather and the fact that we'll all be together again shortly as a family really makes it a Super Sunday.

This morning's Mass was great with a very good homily and the children's nativity play at the end of Mass which is always guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye. We spent a relaxed afternoon decorating the tree and putting up a few decorations. I was going to say 'tasteful decorations' but then they're not really. We still tend to belong to the school of putting the same up things every year which have become part of our family tradition. When it comes to the tree, it's a case of 'pile it all on' with no regard for colour scheme, or any other scheme come to that!

Maybe one year, we'll have an adult tree with a tasteful theme which will be echoed in the other decorations but I've a feeling that day is quite a long way off.

Finally, Number One Son and I lit the fourth candle on our Advent wreath at 6pm and prayed the Angelus together - it doesn't get much better than this! God is very good!

St Nicholas and 'Knecht Ruprecht' . . .

Poor old St Nicholas missed out again this year. As always happens when 6th December falls on a Sunday, we hear no mention of St Nicholas whose feast day it is today.

I always think it's a bit of a shame that we don't make more of St Nicholas as they do in many other European countries. I feel Santa Claus is very much an American invention and Father Christmas, our English equivalent bears little resemblance to St Nicholas.

When we lived in Germany for a while when our children were small (yes, a long time ago!) I always enjoyed seeing the the shops full of Christmas goodies and of course the tradition of children in the family leaving their shoes out for treats from St Nicholas on 6th December is a lovely idea. What I especially liked was that it wasn't 'over the top' - probably a few sweets and a small toy.

The other difference between St Nicholas and Father Christmas is that St Nicholas would be accompanied by 'Knecht Ruprecht' carrying the goodies for the children who'd been good all year. But Knecht Ruprecht also carried a bunch of twigs to punish those children who had not been good! Can you imagine how that would go down here today? Funnily enough, it didn't seem strange to the German families we knew and all the shops would have bundles of treats for St Nicholas' Day with a miniature bunch of twigs attached.