HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-12-23, Page 5‘ Bells on Bobtail ring, making spirits bright/ 0, whatfun it is to ride and sing/A sleighing song
tonight! " [Grey Township Public School]
THE CITIZEN, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1986. PAGE 5.
Christmas
Wishes
Scania's here
with a pack
crammed full
of the
joys off
Christmas*
Brindley
Auction Service Dungannon
Looking at the old story
The International Scene
BY RAYMOND CANON
Somebody once told me the story
of a teacher who got after one of his
students about an essay he had
written. “1 can’t accept this essay
about your dog,” said the teacher.
‘‘It is exactly the same as the one
writtenbyyoursister.” ‘‘Yes, I
know,” replied the boy. ‘‘It’s the
same dog.”
I can appreciate the situation.
When 1 write about Christmas, it’s
the same Christmas that every
body else is writing about. The
temptation is very great to say
things that have been said untold
times before and trying to find
something new or stimulating is
close to being a hopeless task. For
this reason I try to look for the
unusual when writing about Chris
tmas; if this column is a bit
different from everything else you
have read or heard about our
celebration of the birth of Christ,
then I have succeeded.
There is nothing cut and dried
about this birth although we tend to
have a rather stereotyped presen
tation of it. Frankly, nobody really
knows where Jesus was born; Luke
and Matthew would have us
believe that it was in Bethlehem
but the possiblity also exists that it
was actually in Nazareth. Certainly
it was the latter place where Jesus
grew up although the latter place is
so small that, outside of the
Scriptures, there is little reference
made about it in any literary
source. We do know that the village
existedatthe time of Christ but
that is about all.
It is just as well that we read one
Christmas story at a time or just
parts of them. If we were ever to do
a comparison, we would find, for
example, that the narratives in
Luke and Matthew are totally
divergent. Luke has the baby
Jesus, for example, visited only by
the shepherds while Matthew
describes nothing but the visit of
the wise men. For some reason we
have set their number at three
although Matthew does not specify
the exact figure.
We do not even know the precise
year in which Jesus was born
although we are more certain
about his life span. Did he have
brothers and sisters or was he an
only child? Again we are not sure
nor are we sure just when his father
died. There is no reference made to
Joseph after Jesus begins his
teaching.
However, that is something for
the theologians to think about; the
average person is not inclined to
give much thought to such matters.
If in our Christmas pageant we
have the shepherds side by side
with the wise men, so be it. With
respect to the latter, I like the
imaginative way the Spanish have
handled the problem of gifts. Not
being steeped in the lore of Santa
Claus, they observed that the wise
men took a bit of time to get to see
the baby Jesus and so it was about
two weeks later when they arrived
with their gold, frankincense and
myrrh. In Spain it is these wise men
that bring the gifts to the children
and it does not take place until the
January 6.
I reasoned that, since the
Spanish custom was more in
keeping with the Christmas story,
or should I say stories that it
might be nice if I used my
imagination as well. If the rest of
Canada wanted to go on giving
gifts on Dec. 25, which is after all an
arbitrary date, thatwas fine by me.
I decided to try to persuade my
family to switch to the January
date, pointing out that in so doing
we could escape all the mad rush of
Christmas shopping. In addition
we would save considerable money
since we could take advantage of all
those post-Christmas sales. Alas,
this was not to be. My entire family
proved to be just as intractible as
everybody else and so gifts still get
exchanged at Canon Castle on Dec.
25. Nevertheless, I haven’t given
up. If you like the idea, go ahead
and try it. I’m tired of being the
only one with imagination.
All my reading on the wise men,
etc. did get me curious about the
gold, frankincense and myrrh. I did
a fair amount of research on all
three and persuaded Carol Camp
bell and Jim Swan to use it when
they wereputtingupwith me on
Morning Break on TV London. We
got some Frankincense and myrrh
and requested the station manage
ment to bring in about $30,000
worth of gold in all shapes and
sizes. We ended up doing a 15
minute show on all three but
especially gold and in case you
missed it, let me tell you that, while
both the frankincense and myrrh
no longer have the value they had
back in Biblical times, the gold has
withstood the ravages of time and
is just as valuable now as it was
then.
Now, ifyou would like to give me
some gold on January 6, that would
be fine. You can forget about the
frankincense and myrrh!
SuCTS QITO
from the
Honourable
Murray Elston MPP
and Family
(fowtt'iu Studio
Best wishes for a
great Yuletide seasonl
Ross
Anderson
Hardware and
Electric
Belgrave
May all the joys and happiness be yours this Christ
mas season and always. Happy holidays to all.
Walden Photography
Westfield 523-9212