I remember my grandma having those electric candles in her windows at Christmas: the off white plastic kind with an orange bulb in the shape of a flame. You can still buy them but they don’t seem quite as nice as those old-fashioned ones, or maybe sentiment has more to do with it. Be that as it may many people still put these candles in their windows at Christmas and it is nice to come across a house on a darkened street and see them “burning” in their windows.
There is at least one pressing reason that individuals did this at Christmas. At the suppression of the Catholic Church in Ireland it was dangerous to practice the faith. It could even lead to your death. The vestiges of this can still be seen. One way that this still effects the faith life of the people there is the way the mass is prayed in certain quarters. I was told that mass can be said a bit more quickly, a hold out from the days when Mass was said quickly for fear of discovery by the authorities. In one place we attended when it was time to say the Creed, the congregation seemed to finish the whole thing before we got past, “We believe . . .”
It is said that Catholic families in Ireland would light candles and place them in their windows to signal undercover priests that there they could say mass in relative safety. But if questioned, the owners of the house would remind the authorities of the Christmas story when Mary and Joseph could find no place for Jesus to be born and these candles were let to tell the Holy Family that this house was open to them. Of course it was! Jesus was really coming to that house!
As pretty as candles in a window may be, it seems to mean so much more when there is a meaning, a thought, a purpose behind them rather than just thinking it pretty. That is what can change something from merely pretty to beautiful.
There is at least one pressing reason that individuals did this at Christmas. At the suppression of the Catholic Church in Ireland it was dangerous to practice the faith. It could even lead to your death. The vestiges of this can still be seen. One way that this still effects the faith life of the people there is the way the mass is prayed in certain quarters. I was told that mass can be said a bit more quickly, a hold out from the days when Mass was said quickly for fear of discovery by the authorities. In one place we attended when it was time to say the Creed, the congregation seemed to finish the whole thing before we got past, “We believe . . .”
It is said that Catholic families in Ireland would light candles and place them in their windows to signal undercover priests that there they could say mass in relative safety. But if questioned, the owners of the house would remind the authorities of the Christmas story when Mary and Joseph could find no place for Jesus to be born and these candles were let to tell the Holy Family that this house was open to them. Of course it was! Jesus was really coming to that house!
As pretty as candles in a window may be, it seems to mean so much more when there is a meaning, a thought, a purpose behind them rather than just thinking it pretty. That is what can change something from merely pretty to beautiful.
6 comments:
I heard (or read) of the symbolism of the candle in the window at Christmas a few years ago, shortly after I bought my townhome. My family is of Iris descent (and a few chunks of other things)so it was meaningful to me. Well, I was hosting my first Christmas in my house, so on Christmas Eve as I waited for my Mom, brother, and his girlfriend to arrive, I took one of those candles and placed it in my kitchen window.
They didn't "get" the symbolism, but I did, and I still love to carry on this tradition in my small way.
Hmmm.....where IS that candle....?
thanks, father and adoro.
as our celebration and love of lights seems to have grown in recent years, the simple candle in the window can say so much. KISS
I remember, back when we could not afford more than one $.79 candle (lest it take food or small present away), seeing them sometimes in every window of houses here and there. It was a warm, almost welcoming feeling.. much warmer than from seeing those houses with a floodlit $90 wreath! Baffling, for it seems to me a wreath is a curved bunch of dead tree branches wired unnaturally together, and that its great charm is aroma.
You're right; once I found out the reason for candles in the windows, they have struck me as quietly beautiful and truly welcoming.
I have candles in my windows just like Mom and Dad did when I was a little girl (before electricity)
A few years ago our town did a little different twist on the candles in the window. A policeman had died in the line of duty. The mayor asked people to put blue bulbs in their electric candles to show solidarity with his family and all cops who put their lives on the line.
I too like the simple candles in the window rather than the extravaganza of lights. A lot easier on the utility bill, too.
I was driving home this evening and saw candles in windows of a house and smiled to myself, because I knew it was the "all clear" sign for priests. I used to think they were cute decorations, but now I like seeing them because of the symbolism.
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