Wednesday, October 22, 2008

New Church Members




I managed to acquire a new set of crib figures recently, the Church had only ever had the three primary figures, now everyone and his sheep are here.
We had a collection for a new monstrance, a few people were generous, and then our sisters mother house found they had a spare one which they gave us, so there was spare money.
This set are plaster, and handpainted, the figures -or at least the moulds they came from date from c1920 judging from the features, they are in perfect condition - every finger is present.
Now all I need is a Neopolitan or a Pole to start making the crib. Neopolitans do wonderful rocky landscapes whilst Poles make cribs with towers and pinnacles, either would be splendid. And now is the time to start planning.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope the splendid Magi do not appear at the, hopefully rocky and pinnacled, crib until January 6th.

PeterHWright said...

Great minds think along the same lines, obviously.

I have decided on a set of new crib figures for Christmas (although they will need a crib to house them). I hope they arrive in time ..

Congratulations to Fr. Ray on the fine set he has aquired.

I was glad to read the comment by Old Believer. No Magi until the Feast of Ephipany (followed by the Octave, of course, inexplicably suppressed by Rome in 1955, but not by me !)

Fr Ray Blake said...

They might even remain out until Candlemas!
A rediscovery of an old tradition.

Anonymous said...

Quite so. Traditionally Christmas decorations remain until Candlemas:

'Candlemas Day, Candlemas Day
Time to put Holly and Ivy away'

Let us not be deceived by the misinformation about it being 'unlucky' to leave Christmas decorations up after Twelth Night. The origin of that was when the celebration of Christmas had been banned by Cromwell and the discrepancy between the Gregorian and Julian (that England kept until 1752) calendars whereby decorations were put up at 'Twelfth Night' new style. Then it was unlucky as if people were caught keeping Christmas they got fined, or worse.

PeterHWright said...

I can't trace the allusion, but there was in the nineteenth century House of Commons a Welsh (methodist) M.P. who proposed a Private Members's bill (which was not carried).

His proposal was to abolish the Romish word "Mass" in "Christmas" with the word "Christide".

His name was Thomas Thomas. So, when it came to his turn to speak, he was called on by the Speaker as "Mr. Thotide Thotide".

gemoftheocean said...

Pretty things! How tall are they? Or is that pretty "standard size" concrete block to go by behind them?
[I don't "do" metric...]

I have some pieces for a small home creche that were made of the same materials in the mid 1960s. I'm very sorry we didn't get a complete set and only got some bits...the holy family, one shepherd with sheep and one wise man + camel + and extra sheep, and an angel...Each piece was between a buck or two at the time, but I think we got them just after Christmas or something on a closeout and not all pieces were available.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Gem, The standing figures are 2ft high.

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