Christingles

Noun

Christingle (plural Christingles)

1. A small Christmas gift for children symbolizing Jesus Christ as the “light” of the world. A typical modern Christingle is made of an orange with sweets skewered into it, a candle inserted into the top, and a red ribbon wrapped round it.
   • I lit the three Christingles, / I lit them one by one, / On the merry, merry Christmas Eve, / When all the work was done. / I lit the three Christingles, / And they burned with a joyous ray, / But the faces that bent above them / Were fuller of light than they.1869 January 23, “Christingles”, in Every Saturday: A Journal of Choice Reading, Selected from Foreign Current Literature, volume VII, number 160, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., successors to...
2. A church service for children incorporating Christingles, usually held during Advent.
   • The Christingle service always attracts lots of people so the giving out of the oranges has to be limited little children; otherwise, some big children (i.e., teenagers) have been known to try their luck and line up for an orange too! I always used to take my two daughters, Victoria and Alexandra...2016, Victoria Williams, quoting Rosemary Williams, “Christingle, United Kingdom”, in Celebrating Life Customs around the World: From Baby Showers to Funerals, volumes 1 (Birth and Childhood), Santa...