It’s that time of year again. As Christmas edges closer, it is likely that you have already begun collecting festive crafts from your children’s school activities. Here at our independent primary school, we love getting involved with Christmas arts and crafts and decorating our classrooms with all of our pupils’ creative work.
If you are thinking of getting crafty and spending quality time with your kids this Christmas, Christingles are a brilliant thing to make. Not only are they a great way to celebrate the festive season and learn about traditions, but they are also fun to create and easy to do at home with the whole family.
What is a Christingle?
A Christingle is a lighted candle that symbolises Christ as the light of the world. They are mainly held by children at a special advent service in a church at Christmas or in Epiphany services of many Christian denominations.
They are thought to have first been used in Germany in 1774 when a Bishop was taking a service during Advent and handed all the children a candle with ribbon wrapped around it.
What Do Christingles Symbolise?
A Christingle starts with an orange, which is used to represent the whole world. The lit candle symbolises Jesus’s light in the world, this is to bring hope to all individuals who are living in darkness.
The sweets and dried fruit symbolise all of God’s creations, and the red ribbon or tape represents the blood and love of Christ.
What Do You Need to Make a Christingle?
Christingles are made with various household items, making them incredibly simple. All you need is:
- An orange
- A taper candle
- A small piece of silver foil to catch the melting wax
- Ribbon or red tape to go around the orange
- 4 cocktail sticks
- Sweets and dried fruit (12 pieces per Christingle)
How to Create a Christingle
- Take an orange and wrap a piece of red ribbon or red sticky tape around the middle of it.
- On the top of your orange, cut a small cross.
- Place a small square piece of silver foil over the cross (around 6cm by 6cm). This will catch the dripping wax.
- Get a candle and wedge it into the cross of the orange.
- Add soft sweets and dried fruit such as raisins, cherries etc. onto four cocktail sticks.
- Insert the four cocktail sticks evenly into the orange around the base of the candle.
Store your Christingle upright in a cool, dry place. To keep it upright, we recommend taking a thin slice off the bottom of the orange to create a flat base to balance on.
Thinking of gifting your child’s arts and crafts to friends and family this Christmas? Use our Christmas craft guide to create the very best gifts and find some fun activities for the festive period.
