A little cultural treat

Cookie, Heather and Raylene Rankin perform "Taladh Chriosda" (The Christ-Child's Lullaby).

Performed in Gaelic, this traditional song tells of Christ's birth from the perspective of his mother, Mary.

An English translation is as follows:

"My darling, my love and treasure, you,
My new-found wealth and ecstasy, you,
My beautiful, handsome wee son, you,
I am unworthy to be in your presence.

My love the eye that gently sees,
My love the heart that's filled with affection,
Although you are a helpless child
Many virtues are growing in you."

And here we are, at the Holy Evening. That means the 24th of December. At this day, and only at this day the Christmas tree is brought into the house, mostly at the sitting/living room. In Germany there are no Christmas trees in the house before this date, although the plain trees are bought earlier and kept outside to keep it fresh. Then, when it is set up in the house, the door of the room is locked, so no children is allowed to go into it, cause now the Christkind is coming and with the help of its angel it is embellishing the tree and bringing the presents. Mostly the father is then collecting the children for a walk, while the mothers are embellishing the tree.

The traditional colours for Christmas and the Christmas time in Germany are green and red and gold, and so are the colours for the tree. It should have beeswax candles, red apples and bows, golden balls and nuts, straw stars and everything glimmering and shimmering. The apples are always smelling wonderful and so are the candles. When everything is done and the children/adults have waited impatiently enough, the Christkind is ringing a bell, a sign that it is leaving now and the family could come to see the beautiful tree. Everyone is proper dressed, the candles are burning, the electric light is switched off, the music is playing and the family is standing or sitting in front of the tree and singing. Then the big distribution of Christmas presents starts, mostly the whole family is together at this evening, I mean the parents, grandparents, children, and sometimes also aunts and uncles and cousins. The meal at this evening is simple, a lot of Germans are eating simple sausages with potatoe salad to keep the women away from spending too much time with cooking, and in a lot of families it is the only evening of the year where the TV stays switched off, it all about talking and laughing and playing games and reading Christmas stories. At about 10 pm the Christmette (Christmass) is starting, so a good opportunity to have a small walk with refreshing air, to move from the sofa to the church bench and although during the year the churches are empty, just a few people are going to church on sundays, at the Holy Evening the churches are crowded. I love it so much when at the end of the mass the lights were switched off, only the very big Christmas tree is illuminated, and the whole crowd is singing "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" (Silent Night, Holy Night). And when you are walking home again, and the sky is clear and you could see the stars, then it´s time for a special, secret wish. It is a night, where animals can talk and it is also a night where it would be kind to put some extra food for the animals (and the elfs and dwarfs) outside in the garden.