Sunday 5 January 2020

Epiphany 2020 - The Blessing of the Chalk - Wassailing


 Epiphany - the day the three wise men came to visit the Holy family and little Lord Jesus , bringing gifts of gold , frankincense and myrrh .
  The service was just beautiful this morning ....
The scene of the Nativity is changed to include the three Wise Men and the straw is taken away , as Father explained that the Holy family are by this time living in a house , so the Bible tells us .
 There certainly was a beautiful atmosphere in our little church heightened by the sweet perfume of Frankincense .


  Father Paul introduced us to an old custom , that of " The Marking of Houses with Chalk Blessed on the Feast of the Epiphany ".
 The bowl of chalks were Blessed on the Altar and everyone was invited to take a piece , at the end of the service , with which to mark above the doors of our homes .
    This in turn would bless everyone on their way in and out .


                                              20 + K + M + B + 20
 The numbers representing the year 2020  . The letters are the first letters of each of the three wise men . Kaspar Melchior and Balthasar . In between are four crosses and a short prayer asking for protection and grace for all who dwell here is said .
   I think this is such a beautiful custom .


                ..........and my first visitor is my Blackbird Birdie-girl !


The weather is still quite mild and we cracked on with some gardening  jobs .


                                            Painting sheds and gates .


 Lopping and pruning and pulling out brambles and big clumps of tough grasses .


 I like to see the new red shoots and leaves on the Photinia "Red Robin "bushes and prune them back quite hard .


     It didn't look like I'd done very much , but that wheelbarrow was full !


                                                        Groan !


                          Little Robin singing heartily up in a nearby tree .


No rain today ,but the grass is still too wet to pull the lawnmower over . Maybe I,ll do that tomorrow if it stays dry .


 Took a look in the greenhouse on the way back . All looking well .


                  Marlothistella is beginning to open it's buds  , very slowly .


  ......and the Epiphyllum bud hasn't dropped off yet ! In fact it is getting bigger !


       Came in to have some of my husband's delicious home made Squash soup .
                          Always good when you,ve worked hard for it !
                                           This was really good !
After this we took down the Christmas decorations .... sigh ...... tomorrow I must get some flowers to cheer the place up again !


 Oh ! Then our lovely Sunday drifted into evening and as the sun set we suddenly remembered that we hadn't Wassailed our Apple Trees !
 

  So on with our wellies and back out into the garden , with torch , a hastily scribbled song sheet and a can of cider .
  We sang our wassail and made a din to scare away all evil spirits and gave a goodly drink to our precious Apple Trees in order to be sure of a bountiful harvest this year .


                                       Oh ! Here we come a wassailing
                                          Among the leaves so green .
                         Here we come a wandering so fair to be seen.

                                      Love and joy come to you
                                      and to you your wassail too

                                  And God Bless you , and
                              send you a Happy  New Year
                      And God send you a Happy New Year !

1 comment:

  1. Cutting back brambles is not for the faint hearted.

    ReplyDelete