Bath Christmas Market 2011

Passing through on viewings and couldn’t resist a snap or two of the opening days shoppers!

December Newsletter part 2

Advent

Advent is four weeks before Christmas.  It starts either on St Andrew’s Day or the Sunday nearest to it – known as Advent Sunday – and it ends on Christmas Eve.

The name Advent, from the Latin ‘adventus’, means the ‘coming’ or advent of Jesus.  Advent was once a solemn time, a period of penitence.  It has now totally changed in character.  Young children in particular look forward to the ‘coming’ of Christmas.  They are given colourful Advent calendars which they use to count the days until Christmas Day.  Fixing wreaths to the outside of the front door is a well-known custom during Advent.  The evergreen leaves were symbolic of everlasting life and the red ribbons express the festive spirit.  During the Middle Ages the red berries of holly were believed to keep witches out of the home, which is why holly became the traditional and lucky evergreen for wreath-making.

 

The Nativity Scene

The nativity scene has become a favourite Christmas decoration.  For centuries it has been used to bring the Christmas story to life.  Francis of Assisi, who was renowned for his love of animals, instituted the custom of the nativity scene.  After receiving permission from the Pope, he erected the first one during the Christmas of 1224 in a cave outside the Italian town of Greccio.  A friend, John Velita, supplied Francis with a manger, straw and animals.  When people gathered to view the spectacle, Francis stood in front of the manger and recited the Gospel relating to the scene; then he delivered a sermon.  Today, nativity scenes with the figures of Joseph, Mary and the three wise men along with an ox and an ass, have become popular throughout the Christian world.

Bath Christmas Market funfair

Twerton Parochial School

Photograph below showing Twerton Parochial School which was built in the late 1800s, replacing the school that was opened in 1848 in one of the Carr Mills.  A Parochial school is one that is affiliated with a church and provides children with religious instruction in addition to conventional education.  The Twerton Parochial School stood on the site now occupied by the McDonald’s restaurant on the Lower Bristol Road in Bath.  It was destroyed in the Bath Blitz of 25 and 26 April 1942.  (Photos/information from  Twerton History website)

For more information on Madison Oakley or contact details for our directors, do visit our website.

Bath Christmas Market photos

For more information on Madison Oakley or contact details for our directors, do visit our website.