Christingle! – What is Christingle?

It is apparent that many of us in the Anglican Church are unaware of the significance and background of the annual Christingle Service. It is a ‘Celebration of the coming of “Christ Light” into the World.

A Christingle is an orange (representing the world) on the top of which is inserted a candle representing the ‘Christ Light’. Four toothpicks are inserted equidistantly around ’the equator’ representing the four corners of the world. Dried fruits are affixed to the toothpicks representing the differing foods.

Making Christingles

On the morning of Thursday 23rd December friends joined together in the Coffee Room to make the Christingles for the following day.

The Christingle service is very old, so old that no one is sure exactly when it started. There are records of an ancient Welsh “Calenig” service, and the Moravian church have been holding Christingle services for more than two hundred years, though they do not believe that the custom began with them.  In the early nineteen seventies the custom was revived by the Church of England’s Children’s Society, and some ten years later over a thousand services were known to be held each year in many countries.

Christingle means “Christ-Light” and the service is a celebration of the coming of the Christ Light into the World. Traditionally children receive the Christingle from the church in return for gifts of toys or money for needy children, or in acknowledgement of services such as giving charity during the year. When all the Christingles have been given out, carols are sung by candle light.

At St. Christopher’s Cathedral the service was introduced during the time of Provost Derek Taylor, and the collection has been used to support the Belize Orphanage and the Mother and Child Welfare Society.

Normally the Christingle service is held in the evening but this year, because Christmas Eve fell on a Friday, it was held as the normal 9.30am service.