Posts Tagged: christmas

  • Four angel christmas decorations on a shelf.

    Angelology — what angel is that?

    At Christmas we are bombarded with images to evoke the traditions of Christmas. These images can be secular: images of Santa Claus, northern winters, and Christmas baubles; or religious: nativity scenes of Jesus’s birth, the Three Wise Men and angels announcing the birth of Jesus to some shepherds. Angels play a crucial role in the […]

  • AI generated image of Santa singing into a microphone representing a songageddon.

    Christmas songageddons

    I have seen a fair few Christmases and I still get nostalgic for the spirit of Christmas.  I am a traditionalist and still see the celebration in the context of the Christian nativity and gospel stories of the birth of Jesus. So I love listening to the great carols such as Jingle Bells, Silent Night, […]

  • Madrigal Communications word of the week bauble a Christmas tree decoration

    Pretty, pretty Christmas baubles

    When I was a boy living in Scone, in country NSW we still had a traditional Christmas along the lines of that which my parents had had growing up in England. This meant two things: firstly, that we sat around at midday on Christmas Day in sweltering heat (we had no air conditioning, see below) […]

  • Godspell was a university play and musical, based on the Gospel of Matthew

    The meaning of gospel at Christmas

    The nativity of Jesus from the gospel Christmas approaches. For Christians, Christmas is the time to celebrate the nativity (the birth) of Jesus Christ (see In the name of Christmas on how Jesus got his many titles). You find the story of the events around Jesus’ birth in the Bible in the gospel books of Matthew, […]

  • Image drawing of man holding stein. Text: Booze originally a verb meaning to drink a lot (from 1768).

    Nothing moderate about booze

    As Christmas approaches we will be looking forward to the seasonal feasts of rich food washed down with our favourite booze. On Christmas day we are likely to be very mellow by the end of the day, perhaps having anaesthetised ourselves against the stress of getting on with our family. So in honour of the […]

  • Nativity scene in a stained glass window (unknown church). Noel is the French word for Christmas.

    Noel and the meaning of Christmas

    Noel, Noel I am not much of an actor but over the years I have been persuaded to get up on stage a handful of times. The first time it was as one of the shepherds in my primary school nativity scene (sometimes I can still remember the one line I had). It was the […]

  • ICON Jesus Christ, messiah, saviour, redeemer, Lord

    In the name of Christmas

    Christ Christmas is the mid-winter celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The meaning of Christmas is literally Christ’s mass. It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, from Old English Crīstesmæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. Sometimes Christmas is abbreviated to Xmas, the X representing Christ. Although this irritates some people, it […]

  • Saint Nicholas Ho Ho Ho

    Tally-ho to ho-ho-ho

    This year’s Christmas word is ho. It is a word with no real meaning but is more an exclamation to focus people’s attention. It has a long history and many uses.

  • Wassailing's most common meaning is door-to-door Christmas carol singing - a common practice in England.

    Wassailing—be healthy at Christmas

    Behind the modern rituals of Christmas lurk old traditions tied to our magical, pagan past. Words provide a link to that magic. We have looked at Yule, a word that predates most native languages of Europe. Wassailing is our Christmas word. Wassail arrived in English from the Old Norse salutation ves heill meaning “be healthy” from […]

  • Yule from the edge of the ice

    Yule is a very old word for Christmas or for the Christmas season. Yule is of disputed origin—for a thousand years scholars have tried to explain its meaning. Some believe it comes from one of the names of Óðinn, others that it comes from Julius Caesar. (1) It has also been suggested that Jól is […]