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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