It ’s Christmastime again : the season of giving and light . Brought to us in its original incarnation not by Hallmark , Disney or theNorth Pole , but by the biblicalnativitystory of trust , hope and making love substantiate in a young female parent and her newborn son more than 2,000 year ago in the Palestinian township ofBethlehem .
WhileChristmasis arguably a playfulness and jolly holiday for everyone regardless of religion , it is particularly meaningful to many Christians who have long experience that the loudness of holiday commerce obscures the Christmas star and that the kaching - a - ling of Muzak drown out what ought to be a mute and holy prison term of fear at the foot of themanger .
With those sentiment in judgment , during the Yuletide of 1957 , a woman namedFrances Kipps Spencer , the daughter of missional parent and a member of the Ascension Lutheran Church in Danville , Virginia , make up " Chrismons . " She require a way to grace her church ’s sanctuary while reminding parishioner of the true substance behind the Christian celebration of Christmas .
Spencer incorporated Christianity ’s ancient and enduring symbols , used by all Christian denominations throughout the age , into her decorations , lead off with an evergreen Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree to correspond eternal life story . She chose tiny white lights to symbolise Christ as the light of the world , and white and gold ornaments to shine purity , purity and majesty . She called these ornamentsChrist monograms , or Chrismons , and the tree diagram that they adorned the Chrismon tree .
Spencer ’s guidelines were mere : All Chrismons had to be made mindfully by hand and never commercially reproduced . And they were never to be sell , but given away freely with love .
Well - received and now the go - to Christmas interior decoration in Christian churches across the United States , Chrismons can take many shape . They can be made of woods , paper ( thinkorigami ) deoxyephedrine , felt , Styrofoam – the possibilities are limited only by the manufacturing business ’s imagination – and can be embellished with paint , glitter , string of beads , embroidery , engraving or writing – depending upon the creative spirit in the helping hand that make them . The colour pallette just demand to be the traditional bloodless and gold , with perhaps an exception made here and there for the colorred .
The list of Chrismon symbols is special , but there are scads ofpatternsto select from , each with its own specialmeaning . Crosses , holy person , wizard , anchors , Ark of the Covenant , bread , cups of water and vino , shells , Pisces the Fishes , pelicans , squab , fleur - Diamond State - lis , mangers , lamp , Greek letters from alpha to Z , to name a few , offer Christians and others who may be curious , an substitute crystalline lens to pop refinement ’s secular vista of the season , and a manner to celebrateAdventand honor the scriptural nascency account that lay the " Christ " in Christmas .
