The guardian angel with sheep is 7 inches tall and sits on a mahogany colored, wooden base that is 5 inches long by 3¾ inches across. The guardian angel has 5 inch long pale blue and pale pink wings, with iridescent glitter accents. The guardian angel is wearing a long, pale blue and pale mint green dress with long sleeves that are puffed at the shoulder. The guardian angel has pale yellow and pale peach flowers in her hair. She is kneeling next to a young sheep with pale yellow, pale peach and pale lilac flowers around her. The guardian angel with sheep has curly, light brown hair.
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A cherub.
A cherub is an angel of great knowledge and a symbol of heavenly wisdom or justice. The plural of cherub is cherubim. The cherubim rank just below the order of angels called the seraphim.
In art the cherubim are usually represented by children’s heads, with one, two or three pairs of wings. In the earliest religious paintings they have thoughtful and intelligent faces. The early painters also followed strict rules for color schemes when representing cherubim. In a picture of angels in circles, called a “Glory of Angels”, the second circle, that of the cherubim, was always blue. This color stood for light and knowledge. The inner circle of the seraphim, was red. Later artists painted the angels with more freedom. Such paintings as the Sistine Madonna by Raphael and “Coronation of the virgin” by Perugino show this change. In the Raphael picture, the Madonna stands on clouds made up of heads of many cherubim. At the base of the picture rest two cherubim which are noted for the serious beauty of their faces. In the Perugino picture, the floating cherubim have wings of various colors. Another painting by Perugino, “Assumption of the virgin”, also contains famous cherubim.
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Apples.
Apples were a magical fruit to the ancients. Its juices fermented into a liquor, its fruit outlived other fruits, thus tha apple gave food and cheer at a time when, in the depths of winter, man had neither. The apple also represented man’s fall from Paradise, as the forbidden fruit of Eden.
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Balthazar.
One of the Three Wise Men, King of Sheba or Ethiopia or Chaldea. He was tall, dark skinned, bearded, 40 years old and his gift to Christ was Frankincense, a token of divinity and which depicts the Son of man.
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Bells.
The first bells came from China, but all ancient religions and societies used them for their ceremonies. Bells evolved from rattles into the sweet toned silver bells we have today, though the church did not use bells until the 6th century. The bells used by Santa’s helpers for charity came from the middle ages when the poor rang hand bells for alms.
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Candles.
Man has been using candles since 3000 B.C. The ancients used them to prolong the day. Candles became a symbol of expressing joy. The Romans exchanged glowing tapers as expressions of goodwill and affection. The use of candles for Christmas celebrations was absorbed into the symbol of Jesus as the light of the World, and as a symbol of everlasting life.
The tradition of putting candles in the windows comes from Ireland. When Christianity was suppressed in Ireland, the priest had to travel secretly, through the night, to visit his parishioners. Irish Christians left their doors unlocked and candles in the windows to show the priests where there was a friendly place to stay and to guide them through the dark night. When the English authorities questioned the people, they explained that the candles were for Mary and Joseph.
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