24

Description of Baby Jesus in Song (Silent Night): "Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar" = "Blessed boy in curly hair" and most depictions presume a fair haired caucasian new born, like the one pictured above.

But considering the geographic location of the story of Jesus' birth, it is very likely that his complexion was not caucasian/white, yet depictions of the baby Jesus being black or any other colour than white are a rare find though these exist. I found one African American nativity scene in an US online shop that advertises a more diverse Xmas experience, but currently it is sold out. 

The baby Jesus of it looks like that:




This image shall also work as a tag to a 'present' that I am leaving you, (find a link at the bottom of today's last post), but before jumping there, let's open the last window of the calendar: 

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[ 24 ]  Clearly the most often featured song in these advent blogposts is Silent Night (Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht), possibly the most popular Christmas carol. Composed by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr, it was first performed on Christmas Eve in 1818.  It was declared as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in March 2011. The carol has been translated into about 140 languages. It has been recorded by countless artists from every music genre and I have posted a small selection of obscure and funny ones.
Famously, the song was sung simultaneously in French, English and German by troops during the Christmas Truce (Waffenstillstand) between the trenches in 1914, as it was one carol that soldiers on both sides of the front lines knew.
Even though the Christmas Truce only happened in parts of the front, the fact that it happened at all inspires me as providing evidence for our need and capacity for compassion and forgiveness.  For a movie (Joyeux Noel, 2005) the truce was dramatised and appears almost surreal, yet the scene of the song making that big difference of war and peace remains gripping and powerful.


With this clip I would like to close the advent calendar.
All that remains for me to do is passing a little ‘present’ for your xmas celebration. 

 

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To the party / present
>>>  this way please  <<<
 
Have a great holiday.
See you soon again in the new year.

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