Posted by giveawayboy on October 16, 2002 at 23:13:33:
You know, after sharing about my granmother's altar I came up w an idea. I think from time to time I will come in and share something from Christian tradition that has phased out of common use. Perhaps it's my grass-roots attempt to hopefully rebuild the Christian consciousness a little bit. So, every now and then expect an installment of UOT (unburying our traditions). I think we could all learn alot from looking at our past.
Making small altars to honor our beloved dead is only one Christian custom that has gone the way of the Dodo. There are others too. I am hoping that we can begin to rediscover our own lost Christian heritage. To me it is a worthy work. Here is one more custom I just remembered, which is ofcourse associated with Pesach (Easter). Pesach is the time of the year when we honor our Lord's sacrifice. Therefore, we recall the imagery of lamb sacrifice in the Old Testament. What you are about to see might seem strange since you are not accustomed to seeing it, but this is another Christian tradition that has all but passed away. It was once a normal part of Easter tradition to make a 'lambcake' which was to be a symbolic reminder of Christ as a sacrificial lamb. These cakes are obviously made in the shape of a lamb, whether flat or three dimensional and they usually also unclude a small staff with a banner bearing a cross. This is the typical sacred iconography of Christ. Here are some examples of lambcakes (who knows maybe someone can make us one for Easter?):
Remember, as with anything else, these customs and rituals are all simply 'points of faith' that can help us to focus our spiritual eyes on JESUS. That's all they are. There is nothing magical or superstitious about these things. I'm simply trying to hopefully help restore some knowledge about our own Christian traditions.
God bless, Bill