Thursday, November 30, 2006

Dog Advent


Twenty-five bones for the 25 days in December before Christmas. Or if started on the secular/Pagan Nov. 28, the 25 days before the Winter Solstice. Got this at a church crafts fair, and was gonna send it off to friends, but everyone at work said, "That isn't for Bindi?!?!?!" in horror, as if she should get every interesting thing. So now it's on my office wall.

Had pizza and salad for lunch at the office to celebrate three December birthdays, and two October birthdays. Nice. Bindi chewed another hole in the sofa in our office library. Exact same cushion, different spot. Oy.

The Christian word "advent" is of pagan origin. Pagans observed a manifestation of a god who came to dwell in his temple at a certain time each year. The feast honoring this god was called "adventus." On this day the temple, normally closed, would be opened. At times a statue of a god would be moved to a place much larger than the small sanctuary where it usually resided. The adventus then was the god's return, an anniversary. In another context, the adventus referred to the celebration of the anniversary of the coming of the emperor. So this word was very convenient to use in another context—the coming of the Son of God in the temple of a human nature for His visit. The word gradually became limited to describe what was considered the only real coming—the coming of the Lord. -- Brother John Raymond www.monksofadoration.org

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