Xmas memories

[sm_counsell]

My neighbour has just given me an enormous basket full of oranges, lemons and tangerines and it has brought back memories of Christmases in Ossie a long time ago.
My mum always bought oranges, dates, nuts and tangerines ( only at Christmas)
and I think pomagranates.
Is there some kind of meaning to eating these fruits at Christmas.
I do remember my grandfather telling tales of his Christmases when he received an apple and an orange in a sock hung up on the fireplace.
I'll take the opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2012

[susie123]

Originally Posted by sm_counsell

Is there some kind of meaning to eating these fruits at Christmas.

Yeah there's not a lot else about. Try getting strawberries - well you can now but you couldn't years ago. It's called seasonality.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Yes we knew it was Christmas because that was the only time you saw Tangerines(as they were called way back then) no such thing as satsumas, clementines...they were tangerines......wrapped in either tissue paper or purple foil.
I always felt special if I got a foil wrapped one in my stocking....pomegranites too were only seen at Christmas. We would sit for hours with half a pomegranite and a pin, getting all those lovely sweet seeds out....and trying to avoid the bitter yellow pith/skin.

Another tradition at our house was what my father called a 'damp glass'.......with our Christmas meal we got a very small galss(maybe a liquer glass) with maybe a dessertspoon of wine in it and the same amount of water........and once that was quaffed(the boys used to 'neck' it in one gulp) we had a glass of non alcoholic port wine Cordial(bought at Veevers in Peel St.)...they also did port wine jellies too. This was something else that you only ever saw at Christmas. I used to love the Port Wine cordial.......I liked it hot with a slice of orange floating on top.........daft as it might sound, and poor as we were, it made me feel sophisticated...or posh, as we called it back then.

[Alan Gilmartin]

What were the ones called, they were chocolate segments, in the shape of oranges, made by Terry's I think, Woolies over here have got an English section now, you can buy Picallily, Ambrosia rice pud, Fray Bentos Stk & Kid pie, etc all sorts of stuff, but its very pricey.

[mobertol]

Originally Posted by Alan Gilmartin

What were the ones called, they were chocolate segments, in the shape of oranges, made by Terry's I think, Woolies over here have got an English section now, you can buy Picallily, Ambrosia rice pud, Fray Bentos Stk & Kid pie, etc all sorts of stuff, but its very pricey.

Strangely enough they were/still are called Terry's Chocolate Oranges!

Can't get 'em in Italy either - which is a shame. Can't get Fray Bentos pies either - which isn't!

[DaveinGermany]

I think the orange thing is something to do with "Christkindl" (Kris Kringle), an Orange, Cloves, red ribbon wrapped around it & possibly Cinnamon, it's all to do with some religious context, being the heathen that I am I really couldn't tell you much more, but in certain areas of Germany it's all still very relevant.

[JCB]

Christingle ?

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[susie123]

Originally Posted by JCB

Christingle ?

Usually an Advent celebration. The candle came before the orange:

A Christingle is a symbolic object, related to the pomander, used in the advent services of many Christian denominations. It has its origins in the Moravian Church.
At Christmas 1747, Germany, Bishop Johannes de Watteville thought about how he could explain the love of Jesus to everyone, and what Christmas really meant to the children in the church. He decided to make a simple symbol to express the message of Christmas in a fresh and lively way. Pastor Johannes de Watteville gave each child a lighted candle wrapped in a red ribbon, with a prayer that said "Lord Jesus, kindle a flame in these dear children's hearts". This was the first .
Many years later, in 1968, John Pensom of The Children's Society introduced Christingle services to the Anglican Church, where the custom spread quickly. It is celebrated sometime around Christmas. Various hymns about Christingle include: The Christingle begins with an orange, We haven't come far and When the frost turns the berries red.[1]
The story of the Christingle is that there were three children, who were very poor, but wanted to give a gift to Jesus, like the other families at church were doing. The only nice thing they had was an orange, so they decided to give him that. The top was going slightly green, so the eldest cut it out, and put a candle in the hole. They thought it looked dull, so the youngest girl took her best red ribbon from her hair and attached it round the middle with toothpicks. The middle child had the idea to put a few pieces of dried fruit on the ends of the sticks. They took it to the church for the Christmas mass, and whereas the other children sneered at their meager gift, the priest took their gift and showed it as an example of true understanding of the meanings of Christmas.