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Alderton Celebrates Its First Christingle Service

The first ever Christingle at St Margaret's Alderton - the magical candlelit part

St Margaret's Church in Alderton held a Christingle Service for the first time ever on Sunday 23rd December 2012.

Alderton is a small village in the Tove Valley a few miles south of Towcester.

The church was decorated for Christmas complete with crib and Christmas Tree. The service by Rev Andrea Watkins Rector of St Margaret's in the Grand Union Benefice was simple and very child friendly, a good job because the church was packed with children and families.

Rev Watkins explained Christingle and the collection was for the Children's Society - the ever reliable Wipedia explains:

"The Christingle has its origins in the Moravian Church, but the representation of the four seasons was a later addition. At Christmas 1747 in Germany, Bishop Johannes de Watteville thought about how he could explain the love of Jesus and what Christmas really means to the children in the church. He decided to make a simple symbol to express the message of Christmas in a fresh and lively way. Pastor Johannes de Watteville gave each child a lighted candle wrapped in a red ribbon, with a prayer that said "Lord Jesus, kindle a flame in these dear children's hearts".

"In 1968, John Pensom of The Children's Society introduced Christingle services to the Church of England, where the custom spread quickly. It is celebrated sometime around Christmas. Various hymns about Christingle include: The Christingle begins with an orange, We haven't come far and When the frost turns the berries red.

The story of the Christingle is that there were three children, who were very poor, but wanted to give a gift to Jesus, like the other families at church were doing. The only nice thing they had was an orange, so they decided to give him that. The top was going slightly green, so the eldest cut it out and put a candle in the hole.

"They thought it looked dull, so the youngest girl took her best red ribbon from her hair and attached it round the middle with toothpicks. The middle child had the idea to put a few pieces of dried fruit on the ends of the sticks. They took it to the church for the Christmas mass, and whereas the other children sneered at their meagre gift, the priest took their gift and showed it as an example of true understanding of the meaning of Christmas."

The service was completed with a visit from Santa much to the delight of the village children and their friends!

The Editor of AboutMyArea/NN12 managed a few snaps during the first Alderton Christingle

 
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

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