Advent to Easter

This evening in Spain many places will see a farewell to carnival known as the Burial of the Sardine. In Madrid, where the custom was recorded by Goya, the procession with bands sets out from the Church of San Antonio de la Florida. The artist is buried there below his frescoes. Most of the nationwide […]

This morning the Stationers’ Company walked in procession in light rain to St Paul’s Cathedral for its annual service. On return to the livery hall the members and guests were due to enjoy a buffet lunch known as ‘cakes and ale’. The annual Shrove Tuesday event dates from 1612 but until recently was held on […]

Lent starts in early March. The first day of the month is Shrove Tuesday and you can read about all the traditional pre-Lent fun as well why we eat pancakes in Keeping Lent & Easter. The book guides you through the forty days of Lent to Easter. After Mothering Sunday, Lent’s halfway point at the […]

On Wednesday 2 February we say that, forty days after the birth of Christ, the Holy Family is leaving Bethlehem. A month in the stable is enough. It’s back to Nazareth, or maybe on to Egypt, by way the Temple. This is where we are for today’s main reading from St Luke’s Gospel as we […]

Boxing Day this year is Holy Family Sunday unless you are at a church dedicated to St Stephen where it is patronal festival day as usual. Monday is St John’s Day. Holy Innocents on Tuesday is when we can think (out of sequence) about Herod’s reaction to the Three Kings arriving at the climax of […]

At last it is nearly Christmas. At dusk tonight we can say Christmas has arrived. Mary and Joseph have arrived in Bethlehem. There will be the carols from King’s College Cambridge on Radio 4 from just after 3pm and cathedrals will have the first Evensong of Christmas. Thanks to Covid it is now possible to […]

In many churches the ancient Advent Prose , Drop down, ye heavens, from above,/ and let the skies pour down righteousness, is sung between the first readings during Advent. The words are from Isaiah: Pour down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness. Turn your fierce anger from us, O Lord, […]

Advent turns on the 17 December as the O Antiphons are heard daily at Mass and Evening Prayer. They are familiar to many as we hear five of them in the Advent hymn O Come, O come, Emmanuel. We are looking at last towards the birth of Christ. By tradition it is now that Mary […]

St Lucy’s Day, Monday 13 December, provides another suggestion of the coming light of Christ. It is an important stepping stone in Advent for those in Scandinavia, Sicily and Venice. In Swedish homes and churches it is the tradition for girls to dress as Lucy and wear a crown of candles to recall the manner […]

The Translation of the Holy House of Loreto on 10 December marks the arrival on this day in Italy of the front section of the house where Mary lived in Nazareth. It took several years to move the house although the iconography suggests that angels carried the little building. This was based on a misunderstanding. […]