Critter Carols 10 by olivetreeann

Critter Carols 10

Away in a Manger is a Christmas carol that was originally published in the late 19th century. For a long time it was attributed to Martin Luther, even being called "Luther's Cradle Song" but like several other Christmas Carols, that detail has been proven to be wrong. Although we don't know who wrote the lyrics, we do know who wrote the two most popular melodies for them- William J. Kirpatrick (the more well-known of the two in 1895) and James Ramsey Murray (in 1887).

Interestingly, even though most of us would say a manger is a wooden trough nestled inside of a barn, if you went to Israel, particularly Bethlehem where Jesus was born, you would have a hard time finding either one of those things! There's not a lot of wood there. If you look above you will see a picture of a typical manger of Jesus' day in Harold's hand. Yes, they were made of stone! But don't worry. Mary did not put Jesus in there without the proper padding of fresh hay. She was a good mom!

Secondly, although our Christmas scenes are quite lovely, they are based on how a scholar named Jerome translated one Greek word in the story of Jesus' birth. He used the word stable but it actually means "guest room". Houses in Bethlehem were small and families were large. But each house had one room where guests would stay if they were passing through and needed to sleep somewhere. Since there was a census going on at the time of Jesus' birth, many of Mary and Joseph's relatives were probably staying together until the numbers were collected. Houses also had a small room for the family to keep animals for the sacrifices at the Temple. These sacrificial animals had to be kept perfect and unblemished so there was no running about in the yard for them. These little stable rooms were usually separated from the rest of the house by a manger- sort of like an open counter area between your kitchen and the family area. With the guest room full and a baby on the way, Mary sought some peace and quiet among the sacrificial animals and laid her baby in a manger. No wonder He is called the "Lamb of God".

So Harold hopes you'll still enjoy the typical creche scenes, but when you look at them now,he wants you to remember this manger and how the Baby Jesus ended up in one much like it.
Interesting information.
December 20th, 2018  
Interesting shot and information. I had the best chicken meal ever in Bethlehem
December 20th, 2018  
Very interestin information
December 20th, 2018  
Harold looks really nice in this photo and I love the picture of the cradle. It’s great to hear this information.
December 20th, 2018  
Great information. I love Harold!
December 20th, 2018  
Thanks for the info Ann.
December 20th, 2018  
Beautiful editing and capture. Thanks for the interesting info.
December 20th, 2018  
Great picture. I will definitely renting the manger. Thanks for the information.
December 21st, 2018  
@randystreat @onewing @haskar @grammyn @mandygravil @robz @pyrrhula @henrir

Thank you Kathy, Babs, Haskar, Katy, Mandy, Rob, Ferry and Henri! After learning this on one of my trips to Israel it made the Christmas story even more special to me! Thanks for letting me share it with you.
December 22nd, 2018  
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