Christmas is Coming Songs of Praise


Christmas is Coming

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'To celebrate the beginning of the festive season,

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'I've come to the Isle of Man in the middle of the northern Irish Sea.

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'I'm in Peel, on the west coast of island, where the Christian

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'message is said to have been brought by St Patrick.

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'Irish monks who followed in the sixth century

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'established a monastery here.'

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In fact, this place is crammed with thousands of years of Manx history,

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including the ruins of Peel's first cathedral.

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'But for this Advent Sunday, as the winter darkness draws in,

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'our congregation has gathered in the warmth and candlelit intimacy

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'of their present-day cathedral of St German in the centre of Peel.'

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'As festive preparations begin across the UK, I find out about some

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'distinctively Manx seasonal traditions,

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'meet a concert pianist who remembers her childhood in Soviet Russia

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'and a student looking forward to coming home for Christmas.'

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TINKLING

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'All sorts of emotions are stirred in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

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'The warmth of nostalgia, excitement and anticipation, perhaps sometimes

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'sadness at the thought of those no longer around to celebrate with us.

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'But whatever your own private feelings this Advent Sunday,

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'let's remember the joy to come in celebrating

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'the birth of Jesus as saviour of the world.'

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We begin with a favourite Advent Carol

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and also one of the oldest, written by an unknown hand in medieval times.

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Its haunting melody evokes a yearning for the light

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of Christ to break into a darkened world.

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MUSIC

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'The Isle of Man has its own distinctive culture,

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'its own government and also its own language.'

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Manx is a form of Gaelic which, for centuries, was spoken

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throughout the island, but the first writing in Manx was religious text.

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In the 18th century, a Manx Bible was published.

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At around that time, people began writing down verses that were

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traditionally sung in church on Christmas Eve.

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These were called carvals.

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'The word carval clearly comes from the English word carol.

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'But they aren't jolly hymns'

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primarily about the birth of Jesus and the Nativity.

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Carvals are more in the tradition of the Advent period

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and they look towards death and judgment. Some of the carvals

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'dwell quite heavily on the sufferings in hell that await

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'the unrepentant sinner'

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and they urge the listener to consider their life throughout

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the year, how they've behaved and how they can repair their life

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and repent for their sins.

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'They were intended to be chanted or sung without music initially.

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'None of the books contain any music, although some of the carvals

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'have become associated with particular traditional tunes.

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'All the carval books in the archive and in the collection

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'were written down by people who were actually collecting them

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'rather than writing them.'

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They commonly sign their name at the bottom of each carval.

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You have "John Bridson of Portabella, his book 1793"

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and a bit of a motto there, "When this you see, remember me."

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The carvals were traditionally performed on Christmas Eve,

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often after an earlier Christmas Eve service

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when in some churches, the clergy left the church.

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MAN SINGING

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'There was no electricity at the time so the church would be candlelit

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'and carval singers, mostly older men, would have their carvals prepared

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'and begin to recite them at the back of the church.'

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CHOIR JOINS SINGING

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'They represent such an outpouring of religious fervour.

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'If they're telling you about hell, they're really telling you about it.'

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A carval known as She Sho Yn Laa, which means This Is The Day,

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is atypical of the carvals because for one reason it's quite short,

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it has 12 verses and most of them have at least 30, sometimes 60.

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'And although it does bring in its usual warnings to repent

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'and to think of things, it is mostly concerned with Christ's birth

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'and that we should rejoice at this time of year.'

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She Sho Yn Laa - "This is the day, why should we not rejoice?"

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It goes on to say.

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Every year, the Isle of Man's Ronaldsway airport

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hosts a festival of trees in aid of Save The Children.

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Local companies, schools,

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organisations, businesses, shops...

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are invited to create exhibits that are loosely trees.

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They can use as much imagination as they choose.

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The Isle of Man airport is busy at Christmas,

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loads of family and friends having reunions.

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Something like 80,000 people walk through the airport

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during that six-week period.

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Every year, we think, "It can't be as good as last year."

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And every year, they come up with the most wonderful ideas.

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When Jesus was talking about the Good Samaritan,

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he was giving help to someone he didn't know.

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And that's what Save The Children's doing.

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We're helping people we don't know.

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This year, pupils at Fairfield Primary School in Douglas

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have been working hard at creating their tree.

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I think when children participate in this,

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they become very aware

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that although they may have problems in their lives, as all children do,

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other children have worse problems.

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It makes them think beyond themselves,

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beyond their "I Want" Christmas list

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and actually think, "Gosh, I'm quite lucky really."

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We have had so much variety of material

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which is transformed into these beautiful exhibits.

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And I quite often think that is what we're trying to do -

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transform the opportunities for children

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in some of the most impoverished areas of the world.

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ORGAN MUSIC

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Olga Stone came to the Isle of Man 15 years ago.

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She was the first person from the former Soviet Union

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to settle on the island.

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I was a bit concerned that having not seen anybody from Ukraine before,

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actually in the community,

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the local people might be a bit aware of my being different.

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However, I couldn't have wished for a more friendly welcome

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than I received. Trying to do something for the community,

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I started playing organ straightaway, which helped me to integrate a lot.

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Music obviously means a lot to you.

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I've wanted to be a concert pianist since I was five.

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And I went to music school in the Soviet Union,

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then I went to musical college in the Crimea, where I grew up.

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And then I went to the conservatory in Odessa.

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So, up to my coming to the Isle of Man, 15 years ago,

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it was the major part, I'd say, of my working life.

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How did you view Christmas?

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I didn't, because I was brought up as an atheist, in a way.

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Our religion was not very much celebrated

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and it wasn't openly allowed.

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We were celebrating Soviet holidays, things like Victory Day, for example.

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But then, when collapse of the Soviet Union came about,

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this huge revival of churches

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and the resurrection of this faith - that suddenly became acceptable.

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And you started understanding more what it's about

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and what important part it can play in people's lives

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and I came to it myself.

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Tell us a little bit about the music, the culture

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and the traditions of the Orthodox Church.

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The Orthodox Church has very strong singing tradition and, of course,

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there is no instrumental part to it, it's a cappella singing,

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which means you have this heavenly sound of well-balanced choir.

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A congregation seldom joins,

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and it has been like this throughout centuries.

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Congregation didn't join like it does in Britain,

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singing hymns and singing carols.

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We don't have Advent, in the same way.

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We have two Christmases at home because your Christmas comes first,

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but Orthodox Christmas comes later, on the 7th January.

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That means we have our Christmas tree probably longest on the island,

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as we keep it up until the 19th January.

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Orthodox religion is built on help.

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I do go to our churches when I am in Ukraine.

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I feel I need to put a candle for good hope,

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and need to see that I ask certain saints certain things.

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And that's what it means to me.

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I ask that there will be some good in the world.

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Not just in a sense that the whole world will become wonderful,

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but that good will prevail generally.

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That people will have good in their souls.

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Living on the Isle of Man,

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you're never more than six miles away from the lapping of the waves.

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Isn't that wonderful?

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It's a close-knit community with a unique way of life.

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Becky Bannister had to leave all this behind when, earlier this year,

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she headed off to the mainland to study Law at York University.

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This is probably one of the biggest years I've had in my life.

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I've flown the nest and I've moved on into an independent life.

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It's been great,

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but very daunting at the same time.

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This is the first time I've lived away from home.

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Just the pace of life here is so much faster.

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It's such a busy place here,

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so it's fun to get into the hustle and bustle of things.

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It's actually quite hard to reflect and feel homesick,

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looking back at the Isle of Man,

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because I'm so caught up in university life.

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But when I do think about it,

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there are certain aspects of the Isle of Man that I miss.

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Like the countryside and surroundings on the Isle of Man.

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One minute you can be at the beach

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and five minutes later, you can be in the middle of nowhere.

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Just that different variety of landscape, I miss that.

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Growing up there was such a privilege.

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Moving to university has been quite hard

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and my friends often asked me, "Why are you always calm?

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"Why you always happy? How do you cope with university life so well?"

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And I just say, "Well, it's my faith, to be honest."

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It's just carried me through.

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I don't how I would live without being a Christian now.

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It's embedded in my whole character and personality.

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As term comes to an end here at York,

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the Christmas cards are rolling in from all my housemates,

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so it's great to have some Christmas atmosphere

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with people that I've not experienced Christmas with before.

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So, I'm going to miss them over the three weeks I'm back at home.

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But, I'm certainly looking forward to going home and seeing my family.

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Writing Christmas cards to my family has been a big reflection for me

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and I have felt quite homesick while writing them,

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because I just want to get there now

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and talk to them about my whole university experience.

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Throughout Advent, I get this spiritual warmth,

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something to look forward to.

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It's a big birthday bash on Christmas Day, if you put it in simple terms,

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to celebrate this one, miraculous event.

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The weeks leading up to Christmas emphasise the fact

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that Christ's birthday isn't just about one day,

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it's about a whole season.

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And throughout that season, we're told that a star shone out

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to guide wise men on their long journey towards Bethlehem.

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Howard, can you tell me about the Star of Bethlehem?

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What was it and when did it appear?

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Well, that's a great question,

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because there are so many theories about what it could've been,

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and it's been researched by hundreds of thousands of people over history.

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Did it really happen?

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I say, yes, it was real.

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Would you think it was?

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In my belief, the Star of Bethlehem

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was what astronomers call a "grand conjunction"

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in the constellation of Pisces.

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A grand conjunction is when two planets come close together,

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three times in succession.

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Over, in this case, a period of six months in the year 7 BC.

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The wise men, I believe, saw this conjunction -

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the first conjunction - from far away in the East.

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They then travelled to Jerusalem.

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It took about three or four months to get there.

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Then the second conjunction occurred,

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then they journeyed from Jerusalem to Bethlehem

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to see the baby Jesus in the manger.

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And that takes us into the period of Advent

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and that's when the third and most spectacular conjunction took place.

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Jesus had been born in Bethlehem, in a manger and the kings arrived.

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How far away would that event have been seen?

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It would have been seen from all over the world.

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It would have been seen, for instance, from the Isle of Man.

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We do have fantastically clear skies in the Isle of Man,

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so, they would have seen this conjunction, I am certain.

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In ancient times, astronomy would've been really important.

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Why is it still important today?

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The simple answer to that question, it tells us where we're coming from.

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It tells us where we're going,

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it tells us everything about the universe in which we live.

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When the 27 people went to the moon

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on the Apollo missions all those years ago,

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and they first looked back at the planet Earth from space,

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they were absolutely amazed.

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We all were amazed, those pictures of Earth from space

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made us full of awe about the majesty of the Earth,

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and how it sits there in the inky blackness of space.

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That's what astronomy is about.

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It's about us, a species on the planet,

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who have got the amazing ability to explore,

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wonder and ask questions, and want to learn more.

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When you look at the universe and you look at the things within it,

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and we look at the planet, and you look at a tiny baby,

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or you look a flower, there's no way that has just come about by chance.

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Somebody...somewhere...something has created it.

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And, to me, that was God.

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Christ, the Sun Of Righteousness, shine upon you.

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Scatter the darkness from before your path

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and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory.

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HE SPEAKS IN MANX

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ALL: Amen.

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Over the next four weeks, many of us will be preparing

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for present-giving and parties, or perhaps a family reunion.

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But that doesn't mean we can't remember the real meaning

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of the Christmas season, which is to celebrate

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not just the birth of Jesus, but to look forward to his returning.

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That's the subject of our final hymn, by Charles Wesley.

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More carols for Advent next week

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as Aled talks to singer and Radio 2 presenter, Paul Jones,

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about his remarkable career in music, his devout faith

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and why Christmas is so important to him.

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There are questions from his fans

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as well as some festive songs and favourite carols.

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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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