Every year, thousands of children across the UK attend a Christingle service at a local church. This is the story ...

Christkindl

In the German-speaking world, Christmas was very much about the coming of the Christ-child. In the German language, the word for child is Kind, and children is Kinder, which we know in English from the word kindergarten and from the Kinder egg chocolates. In German, the word for the Christ-child is the Christkind, who is traditionally the one who brings gifts in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany.

In English, we can create a diminutive form of a word with the suffix -let, such as piglet, booklet, and droplet. Similarly, some forms of German achieve this with the suffix -el or -l, so a small child can be a Kindl. Thus, in southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, the small Christ-child is the Christkindl.

Christkindl apples and oranges

In the Victorian era, it was the tradition in German-speaking communities to decorate Christmas trees with brightly coloured apples, nuts, and sweets on the branches. Sometimes, they would also put beeswax candles on the trees, although this might feel like a fire hazard to us today. Apples hung from trees were called Christkindl apples, and sometimes they would have a small candle placed in them. Over time, wealthier families began to use oranges instead, which gradually became more decorative.

In some places in continental Europe, it became fashionable to hang or display oranges decorated with cloves on Christmas trees. Later, more elaborate forms were used as table decorations, into which people would stick feathers or candles. The name of these Christkindl decorations was misheard or anglicised into English as "christingle".

Christingles

As German-style Christmas trees and decorations became more fashionable, books and articles in England began to report on some of these customs. Mentions of christingles can be found in British books and newspapers dating back to the mid-1800s. In each case, they are described as a German-style Christmas table or tree decoration. They typically consisted of a candle in an orange, and there would typically be one for each child.

The christingle became more widely known from 1868. That year, Macmillan's Magazine, published on 23 December, included a long four-page poem titled "Christingles". Macmillan's Magazine was a popular monthly British publication featuring stories and poems. The poem, written by "B.B.B.", begins with the description:

"Christingles are made in this way. A hole is made in an orange, and a piece of quill, three or four inches long, set upright in the hole, and usually a second piece inside this. The upper half of each quill is cut into small strips, and the end of each strip inserted into a raisin. The weight of the raisins bends down the little boughs of quill, forming two circles of pendants. A coloured taper is fixed in the upper quill, and lighted on Christmas Eve. The custom is German."

The poem relates the story of a mother mourning the deaths of two of her children, symbolised by two fewer christingles on the family dining table. This poem became a popular recital piece for Christmas concerts and events, especially after it was included in school reading books. Thus, the word "christingle" entered the English language. However, we have the Moravians to thank for the Christingle Service.

The Moravians

The Moravian Church is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in the world. Its history traces back to the Czech reformer Jan Hus (John Huss), based in Prague, who was influenced by John Wycliffe through connections with Anne of Bohemia, England's first evangelical queen.

The Hussites were early evangelicals persecuted during the Counter-Reformation, with many fleeing to safe havens outside the Catholic Austrian Empire. In 1727, one group from Moravia settled in Herrnhut, Saxony, under the protection of Count Zinzendorf, where they lived communally. Many of the early members of this church came from the province of Moravia (now in the Czech Republic), hence they were known as Moravians.

On 3 August 1727, there was a revival among the Moravians, marked by a Pentecostal-style outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a desire to spread the Gospel. They became the first Protestant missionary group. From central Europe, they brought the Christian message to other countries, including England, where some remained before travelling on to British North America. It was at a Moravian meeting in London in 1738 that John Wesley experienced his heart being "strangely warmed", sparking the Evangelical Revival.

The Candlelight Service

On 20 December 1747, in Watteville, Saxony, the Moravian pastor Johannes de Watteville held a service and decided to do something special for the children. Speaking in German, the minister explained the symbolism of Jesus as the light of the world. Each child was given a candle tied with a red ribbon symbolising the blood of Jesus. As the candles were lit on a cold and dark winter's afternoon, the castle where they met gradually illuminated. This became an annual tradition known as the "Candlelight Service" or the "Children's Lovefeast", held on Christmas Eve or the Sunday before Christmas.

The British Christingle service

As the Moravians came to Britain, they brought their customs, including the candlelight service, with them. Originally, children were just given a candle to hold, but at some point, the candle was placed into an apple, and later into an orange. By the Victorian era, a Christmas decoration of an orange with a candle in it was known as a christingle, and so the candlelight service became known as the Christingle service. At the climax of the service, every child would be given a christingle, and the church building was then lit up by the candles, a visual symbol of the Christ-child (Christkindl) who is the light of the world.

Slowly, the symbolism developed. Nuts, raisins, and sweets on cocktail sticks were stuck into the orange to represent God's goodness in providing the fruits of the earth. The Christingle service was a feature of many, but not all, Moravian churches in Britain and Ireland, and a similar service was held in some Moravian churches in Canada and the USA.

Christingle services on the BBC

Slowly, people outside the Moravian community became aware of it. In 1947, the BBC's Northern Ireland Home Service featured a Christingle service at Gracehill Moravian Church in Ballymena, County Antrim.

In 1953, a Christingle service at Westwood Moravian Church in Oldham, Manchester, was broadcast during Children's Hour on the BBC North of England Home Service. This was so popular that it was featured again in 1954 and 1956. Then in 1958, it reached a large audience when this Moravian Christingle service was included in the "Royal Prologue: Christmas at Home", a special film by the BBC that preceded the Queen's Speech on Christmas Day.

The first Anglican Christingle

Until 1968, the Christingle service was a peculiarity of the Moravian churches in Britain and Ireland.

Alan Le Cras of Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, was the local secretary of the Children's Society. He had witnessed a Christingle Service and thought it would be a great idea to hold one. He obtained details from the Moravian bishop, who gave him permission to replicate the idea. On Saturday, 7 December 1968, the Children's Society held their first Christingle service at 2:30 pm at Lincoln Cathedral.

The Lincolnshire Echo on 6 December 1968 explained that the christingle was "an orange representing the world, into the top of which is stuck a candle (The Light of the World) decorated with nuts and raisins (the Fruits of the Earth) and a broad red band (Christ's blood)." It was attended by 1,200 people, mainly children from parishes across the diocese, and each child received a christingle made by ladies of the Lincoln Committee of the Church of England Society. It was organised by John Pensom of the Lincoln branch of the Children's Society. The event raised £192 13s 5d.

Each child who presented some money was given a christingle. The lights were lowered, and the cathedral was illuminated by the lit candles as the children paraded around the nave.

The event generated interest locally and nationally, and other churches adopted the idea. It was repeated in 1969 and was held in seven places of worship, including Southwell Minster, St Wulfram's Church in Grantham, Peterborough Cathedral, Birmingham Cathedral, and St Saviour's in the Strand. By 1970, it had spread around the country, mainly in Anglican churches. A few Methodist churches adopted it as well, given their historic links with the Moravians. In 1973, London Weekend Television (LWT) filmed a service as part of its Treasures of Britain series.

In 1997, the Children's Society held 250th Anniversary Christingle services in different cathedrals, including Liverpool and Coventry, celebrating the first Moravian children's candle service held in 1747. The organiser John Pensom died in 2005, aged 78, and his obituary in the Church Times said that he was affectionately known as "Mr Christingle". On 7 December 2018, a special 50th anniversary Christingle service was held at Lincoln Cathedral.

Christingle services today

This Christmas, Christingle services will be held across the country and across denominations to the delight of children. Few people realise that the service is an old Moravian tradition, popularised by the Anglican Children's Society, and that the word "christingle" is an English corruption of the German word "Christkindl", meaning small Christ-child.