 right|thumb|a christingle a christingle is a symbolic object, related to the pomander, used in the advent services of many christian denominations. a christingle consists of: * an orange, which represents the earth; * a red ribbon around it representing the blood of christ; * dried fruits skewered on cocktail sticks pushed into the orange, representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons; and * a lit candle pushed into the centre of the orange, representing jesus christ as the light of the world.the bible (new living translation), john chapter 8 v. 12, quote: 'i am the light of the world, if you follow me you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.' the base of the candle is commonly wrapped in tinfoil. this is purely functional. the word "christingle" comes from the german christkindl, and christingle is originally a german custom and has its origins in the moravian church, although the representation of the four seasons was a later addition. at christmas 1747 in germany, bishop johannes de watteville in marienborn thought about how he could explain the love of the jesus the christ child (christkindl in german) and what christmas really means to the children in the church. he decided to make a simple symbol to express the message of christmas in a fresh and lively way. pastor johannes de watteville gave each child a lighted candle wrapped in a red ribbon, with a prayer that said "lord jesus, kindle a flame in these dear children's hearts". in 1968, john pensom  obituary to john pensom in the church times 2006 of the children's society adapted and introduced christingle services to the church of england, where the custom spread quickly, and now is also sometimes held in other denominations. it is celebrated sometime around christmas. various hymns about christingle include: the christingle begins with an orange, we haven't come far, it's rounded like an orangeit's rounded like an orange at hymnary.org (sung to the tune of "the holly and the ivy"), and when the frost turns the berries red.christingle services for advent at the highland shepherd the story of the christingle is that there were three children, who were very poor, but wanted to give a gift to jesus, like the other families at church were doing. the only nice thing they had was an orange, so they decided to give him that. the top was going slightly green, so the eldest cut it out and put a candle in the hole. they thought it looked dull, so the youngest girl took her best red ribbon from her hair and attached it round the middle with toothpicks. the middle child had the idea to put a few p
Advent Christian_terminology Moravian_Church Oranges