St Mary's Messenger - Winter 2013

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8 Glen Drive,
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To discuss your business issues, please contact
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Tel: 0117 959 6424
Fax: 0117 959 6425
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Christmas Events and Servic
Something for everyone! You are most welcome to j
Sunday 1 st December– 6.30 p.m.
Advent Carol Service
This is a beautiful and dramatic traditional service of hymns, anthems and Advent
carols, led by our robed choir. It starts in darkness as a solitary flickering candle is
carried down the aisle to light a candle at the front. From there the light spreads out
as candles are lit on the window cills and low lighting is turned on. This illustrates the
coming of Jesus, the Light of the world, into a world of darkness. Refreshments are
served afterwards for those who would like to stay. Jennifer Hall will preach a short
sermon. Although children might appreciate the drama, this is essentially an adult
service.
Tuesday 10 th December - 6.30 – 8.30 p.m.
Stoke Bishop celebration of Christmas – do drop by!
Around a decorated Christmas tree, outside in the village at the bottom of Stoke Hill.
Mulled wine and mince pies will be on offer as carols are sung. Everyone please come to sing!
Sunday 15 th December– 4.00 p.m.
Christingle Service
This service is intended to appeal to children, accompanied by parents or
grandparents. It has become a very popular service with its visual aids –
an orange represents the world and the orange is decorated with a red
ribbon, sweets and finally a candle. It is in aid of the Children’s Society.
Again, a dramatic and attractive short service.
Tuesday 17 th December 2pm and 3.30pm
Carol-singing in Nursing Homes
Aabletone at 2.00 p.m, then Saville Manor at 3.30 p.m.
We shall also be visiting Stoke Leigh and Druid Stoke Homes,
dates and times tbc. Phone 968 7449
Please come to sing!
Tuesday 24 th
Christmas Eve 1
Midnight Comm
This is a service of Holy Communion, traditional car
short sermon, finishing just after mid-night, when we ca
another Happy Christmas before going home to put th
presents in the stockings. So, get organised and sneak aw
for this service, especially if you are cooking and entert
the morrow.

Sunday 22 nd December – 6.30 p.m.
Christmas Carol Service
This is intended to be a service for young people and adults to which
you might like to invite friends. Again, candlelight plays its part. There will be traditional well
-loved hymns familiar to all. The robed choir and Primary Voices will lead the singing and offer
some of their own anthems and songs. There will be short readings and the story of Christmas
will be told aided by readings and carols. One hour max! The service will be preceded by a
Christmas tea (congregational contributions welcome!) between 4.30 and 5.15. Afterwards
mulled wine and mince pies will be served.
Tuesday 24 th December - 4.00 p.m.
Crib Service
This is a very attractive 40 minute service for up to 7 year olds – younger ones might like to dress as a
nativity character. We need shepherds, wise men, angels and even a Mary and a Joseph – and if anyone
would like to loan a new born babe, I am sure it would be well received and cared for. There is sometimes
unpredicted audience participation! Our four television screens are well placed to enable everyone to read
the words of the songs.
Wednesday 25 th December
Christmas Day 9am and 10.30am
Holy Communion There will be the normal service at 9am, finishing by 10.
Christmas Praise 10.30 is our annual cheerful service for the young at
heart, especially frequented by families with excited children! This will be no longer
than 50 mins, to be followed at 11.45 by a short communion service for any who
feel that Christmas would be incomplete without it.

Illustration of a bombe

Stoke Bishop ‘Posada’
this Christmas
Hazel Trapnell
Time for a laugh!

Christmas Quiz
How much do you know
about Christmas?
1. Why is Christmas on the
25 th of December?
2. In 1843 John Calcott
Horsley designed the first
Christmas cards, acting on
the instructions of Sir
Henry Cole. What did the
cards depict?
3. What did St Francis of
Assisi contribute to
Christmas?
4. Who prohibited Christmas
parties in England?
5. Where does Father
Christmas come from?
6. Where do his costume and
sleigh originate?
7. What do crackers have to
do with a smith?
8. Why do we kiss under
mistletoe?
9. Why is the 26 th of
December known as Boxing
Day?
10. When should you say
‘Nadolig llawen’, and to
whom?
Answers overleaf

Answers to Christmas Quiz (see page 15)
1. The simple explanation of the date 25 th December is ‘tradition’. The date was fixed in the time
of the Roman Emperor Constantine, who converted to Christianity in 312. The underlying explanation
is debatable. The most favoured theory refers the date to pagan festivals connected with the
Winter solstice. It sees Christmas as a christianisation of these festivals.
2. The first Xmas cards depicted a family raising their glasses to the health of the card’s recipient.
Sir Henry was accused of encouraging excessive drinking.
3. St Francis of Assisi is traditionally regarded as the creator of the crib (1293). The setting was a
cave, and the figures were real people, so St Francis’s crib was a kind of living tableau. He may have
been inspired by religious painting and rudimentary religious plays.
4. Parties were prohibited by the Cromwellian/Puritan parliament in 1647. From then until the
restoration of the monarchy in 1660, all holy days were supposed to be reserved for religious
observance and prayer. No partying of any kind was officially allowed.
5. Father Christmas comes from the North Pole, of course!
6. It is sometimes said that Father Christmas as we know him today is the creation of a Coca-Cola
advertising campaign. In fact, the present-day figure has very ancient origins. His main ancestors
appear to be these: St Nicholas, the gift-bearing saint and bishop whose ecclesiastical robes were
red; the northern personification of winter (Old Man Winter) re-created in the flesh as a jovial
visitor to snow-bound homes; and the Norse god Thor – an aged, good, heavily bearded figure who
was associated with fire, hearths and flying; his aircraft was a chariot drawn by goats.
7. Tom Smith, a London confectioner, invented crackers around the year 1847. One of his sons
later put different kinds of present in them so that crackers could be personalised. The son had
impish tastes. Witness the sets of mock false teeth that are still to be found in some crackers.
8. We owe the custom of kissing under the mistletoe to ancient traditions that associate the plant
with love, beauty, fertility, sexual potency, and magic. Perhaps the most influential of these is a
mythic tale of motherly love protagonised by Frigg, the Norse goddess of love and the mother of
Baldr, the god of light (summer sun), who was murdered with a poisonous arrow made of mistletoe.
In one version of the tale of Baldr’s death, his mother’s tears are metamorphosed into the berries
of mistletoe, Baldr is then resurrected, and his mother turns mistletoe into a source of blessing: all
who walk beneath it receive her kiss.
9. There are two theories about Boxing Day. One of them connects the name with the ‘poor boxes’
that used to be kept in churches to receive alms for the poor and whose contents were traditionally
distributed on December 26 th . Another theory refers the name to the ‘Christmas boxes’ or boxed
gifts that the well-off traditionally gave to servants and tradesmen on December 26 th .
10. Say Nadolig llawen to speakers of Welsh at Christmas; .
Here are some starters for further reading or devising your own quiz:
http://www.thehistoryofchristmas.com; http://www.whychristmas.com;
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cancelled-christmas-dec-2011.pdf;
http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/norse;
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/christmas-trivia.htm.
Quiz and answers compiled by Paul Lewis-Smith

Hitting the Ground Running
Soul Survivor
Love...
Stoke Bishop!
Harvest Trail

University of Bristol
Sports Medicine Clinic at
Coombe Dingle Sports Complex
Open to the Public
Professional experts offering a high quality
Physiotherapy to people of all ages and activity
levels
All Physiotherapists hold post-graduate qualifications and provide care for
University Sports Teams (e.g. Rugby, Hockey, Football) and Coombe Dingle
Tennis Squads, beginner to elite. We treat all age groups.
Our clinic is the official Sports Medicine Partner of and Physiotherapy
provider for the RunBristol 10k and Half Marathon
Insurance Approved (e.g. BUPA, AXA PPP), Accepting GP referrals
To book, phone 0117 962 6718
Coombe Dingle Sports Complex, Coombe Lane, Stoke Bishop BS9 2BJ
http://www.bris.ac.uk/sport/sportsmedicine/smccd.html