The Nativity of the Lord…..is the first Day of Christmas
Christmas is one of the shorter seasons of the church lasting only 12 days…but it was a continuous feast that began at Midnight on Christmas Eve and lasted until the night before Epiphany…the ‘Twelfth Night’… and in the Middle Ages…along with Whitsun…it was one of the longest periods of public celebration in the year.
As ever on these occasions…like carnival in Europe…or more particularly like Fasching in Bavaria which is itself the last survivor or the lost celebration of Yule, this was a time when rich and poor; high and low; men and women and children all mixed as equals and melded together…and this topsy-turvy quality of these long festivals found expression in dancing, games, gaming, singing carols, men and women cross dressing, choristers presiding as bishops in cathedrals and commoners being elected by a bean or pea in a boiled pudding to serve as king and queen of the feast…
A little less wildly..I’ve spent the morning of the first day at Westminster Cathedral at Morning Prayer and Pontifical High Mass.
The cathedral choir was in full throat and sang gloriously…the Victoria O Magnun Mysterium Mass and For unto us a child is born from Messiah. It’s a unique sound a lovely combination of the English Cathedral Choir tradition and the Southern German/ Austrain choral sound. If you’ve never heard them buy a CD or go hear them live…one of London’s greatest treasures is the extraordinary church music that’s readily accessible for free… across the Christian traditions…
The Roman Catholics are spoilt with both the wonders of Brompton Oratory ( Haydn: Mariazellermesse last night; and Mozart’s Coronation Mass this morning) as well as St Patrick’s Soho and Farm Street…but the Cathedral has always held its own place and the liturgy there these days is as good as its ever been…
I love the unfinished cathedral with is gloomy brickwork above the marble walls… I know it is most unfashionable to say this…but I’d still like to see it finished…and had I the wealth of Croesus I’d at least do the dome above the high altar…
Have a Happy Christmas…
I’ll do a short post covering each day of the season and say something of the feasts and festivals and its importance…oh and in the carol of the twelve days…the partridge in a pear tree was said to represent Christ…I know it’s a long stretch but there are references to pear trees from which the Lord will go forth in the Books of Kings….