My song for today, the feast of Candlemas, is “It’s rounded like an orange”. That might be a puzzling title, if you’re not accustomed to the custom of Christingle. The name literally means ‘Christ fire’ – the old English word for fire is still seen in words such as inglenook and inglebeam, or the mountain Ingleborough.
The contemporary meaning of Christingle is a decorated orange with candles, celebrating the Christian symbolism of the 40-day season from Christmas to Candlemas, as made by children (and sometimes adults) in many European churches. The tradition is said to originate from the Moravian Church in Germany in 1747 but only became popular in England in the later 20th century. See the illustration, and the words of the hymn (originally a poem) which can be found in full here.
In Sing Praise, the final stanza of the poem is used as a chorus to be sung after each verse. The words of the other stanzas give an idea of the symbolism – the orange for the earth, a candle for the light of Christ, a red ribbon for his blood shed for us (although the hymn shies away from referring to this directly, instead referring only to Jesus ‘giving his life for the lost’), and dried fruit on four sticks for the four seasons of the agricultural year. The completed article may be displayed lit on a windowsill to demonstrate that this is a Christian home, or just as a sign of hope at a dark time of year.
I could have put this song about Christingle at the back end of the year because some churches have their Christingle service in Advent. Others have it on Christmas Eve (the setting of this hymn to the tune of the popular carol ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ suggests this is intended) or around Epiphany, but still others on Candlemas itself. There were plenty of other hymns to fill the Advent/Christmas season, though, so that’s why I put it here, with a setting of Nunc Dimittis – the canticle most closely associated with Candlemas – for tomorrow.
So may Christ the light of the world be the fire in your heart today.