On Christmas Eve, Heilige Abend, Anna’s household watched curiously as she set up a little fir tree in the hall, and decorated it with apples, nuts and some paper flowers she had made.
‘Martin Luther may be a heretic,’ she told them, fixing candles to the branches, ‘but he started a delightful custom that we in Kleve like to observe. One night, he was walking through a forest when he looked up and saw thousands of stars twinkling through the branches of the trees. It inspired him to set up a fir tree in his house, lit with candles, to remind his children of the starry heavens whence our Saviour came.’
From one of my current reads, Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir.
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Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it!
Thanks, Helen! Merry Christmas to you, too!
Merry Christmas, Helen – have a good one!
Merry Christmas, Helen! I hope your holidays are filled with love and laughter. π
Merry Christmas Helen- have a lovely and bookish time! ππ
Nadolig Llawen, Helen, as we say here in Wales! And the very best into 2020 as well.