For more thoughts on Advent, I decided to write some background for the Christmas tree. Trees played an important role in ancient Germanic Paganism. The World Tree -as any World of Warcraft player knows- was the centre of their life and narrative. Its roots reached under the earth and up into the Heavens, with gods like Ravens perched on its branches. They worshipped around … [Read more...]
Dominion Day / Canada Day
For those of you in Canada reading this, a happy Dominion day! (or Canada Day as they call it now) For those interested in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada, they should read some of the Canadian Church History that I found quite interesting. It is from a book called "The sword of Saint Paul : a history of the Diocese of Saskatoon, 1933-1983" by Duncan F. … [Read more...]
What's the Point of Advent?
The purpose of Advent is to set aside some time to prepare ourselves for a celebration of the birth of Christ. In the West, we decadent Latins, marked the season by celebrating a feast at the end, and the more disciplined Eastern Greek Christians underwent a great fast in preparation for the coming of Christ. In a sense this dichotomy of feasting and fasting well marks what … [Read more...]
Advent & Christmas Mythbusting: Why Dec. 25th?
The first season of the Church Year in the Liturgical Calendar is Advent. Perhaps the biggest controversy of late regarding this season in the pop culture of the Anglo-sphere has been the date of Christmas. In the days of the Early Church in Britain, the Venerable Bede recorded that the Church catholic almost schismed over the date of Easter, so it's not an unusual … [Read more...]
The Liturgical Calendar?
For some readers the Liturgical Calendar like the prefix "St." is scary and reminscent of the Inquisition, Clerical sex-scandals, and everything they hate about religion in general. However, in years past, more and more people with that initial gut reaction have been rethinking their own positions, and have warmed to words like "Lent" and "Advent". I remember first … [Read more...]