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The Making Of Christmas

December 8, 2025 | 89:10

The Making Of Christmas
Created by Jim Hanon, "The Making Of Christmas" is a former ad guy's journey to rediscover the humanity of God with us, beyond the God-shaped things or ideas that are often sold to us.
#Christmas #Weakness #PersonalStory #Testimony #Temple #PresenceofGod #Incarnate #Savior #Hope #Movies/Film #ChurchHistory #WorldHistory #LightoftheWorld #MattCrouch #LaurieCrouch

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Show Timecode
| The Making Of Christmas | December 8, 2025
  • [music]
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  • - put your heads down.
  • 00:00:01.024 --> 00:00:03.226
  • Take a few seconds to take some deep breaths.
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  • Remember who you are.
  • 00:00:07.831 --> 00:00:10.266
  • - there's a radical idea at the heart of christmas.
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  • Jesus can now be born within us.
  • 00:00:13.136 --> 00:00:16.639
  • - peace, joy.
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  • We want you here.
  • 00:00:20.143 --> 00:00:21.444
  • - you can see remnants of this radical idea at work in the
  • 00:00:21.444 --> 00:00:25.415
  • Making of christmas on tbn.
  • 00:00:25.415 --> 00:00:29.185
  • - it is movie night here at trinity broadcasting network.
  • 00:00:29.285 --> 00:00:33.089
  • Sitting with me, director jim hanon.
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  • Jim, there's a term that you and i have heard before,
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  • The inciting incident.
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  • Tell us the inciting incident for the making of christmas.
  • 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:48.371
  • - very good.
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  • Well, thank you.
  • 00:00:49.005 --> 00:00:50.340
  • This whole project came out of a very vulnerable time for me.
  • 00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:53.209
  • I had survived 17 days on the respirator with covid,
  • 00:00:53.209 --> 00:00:57.480
  • 64 days in the hospital.
  • 00:00:57.480 --> 00:00:59.582
  • Had a profound experience with god during that time,
  • 00:00:59.582 --> 00:01:01.985
  • But i was in a very weakened state.
  • 00:01:01.985 --> 00:01:04.354
  • And i had always reflected about christmas as this precious
  • 00:01:04.354 --> 00:01:08.391
  • Idea of god being with us, god becoming human,
  • 00:01:08.391 --> 00:01:12.996
  • An amazing concept that he would be that vulnerable and that
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  • Connective to us.
  • 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:18.835
  • So, in my weakened state, i was thinking about god becoming,
  • 00:01:18.835 --> 00:01:22.305
  • In a way, weak so that he understood our weakness.
  • 00:01:22.305 --> 00:01:27.310
  • And so, i went into the subject and began to think about it from
  • 00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:32.148
  • God's perspective.
  • 00:01:32.148 --> 00:01:33.550
  • And that led me to looking at the temple of god because he,
  • 00:01:33.550 --> 00:01:37.554
  • In the old testament, commanded the israelites to build the
  • 00:01:37.554 --> 00:01:41.224
  • Temple, and the ark of the covenant went into the
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  • Tabernacle in the wilderness.
  • 00:01:45.161 --> 00:01:46.963
  • So, god has always desired for us to build a temple that he
  • 00:01:46.963 --> 00:01:51.100
  • Might dwell in.
  • 00:01:51.100 --> 00:01:52.435
  • And then, i thought, "well, if you look at jesus becoming weak,
  • 00:01:52.435 --> 00:01:58.474
  • He's going to become a temple on earth.”
  • 00:01:58.474 --> 00:02:02.512
  • And what did that point to us?
  • 00:02:02.512 --> 00:02:04.614
  • What did that mean to me?
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  • What did it mean to me, and what does it still mean to me to
  • 00:02:06.115 --> 00:02:09.919
  • Abide in that home?
  • 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:11.988
  • So, the idea of the making of christmas from his point of view
  • 00:02:11.988 --> 00:02:15.258
  • Began with him looking at us as the destination for his temple
  • 00:02:15.258 --> 00:02:21.731
  • And that unfolding in very vulnerable and very weak ways.
  • 00:02:21.731 --> 00:02:30.573
  • - i love talking to directors.
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  • You just explained something really important.
  • 00:02:34.677 --> 00:02:39.782
  • You were in a vulnerable position,
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  • And you started dwelling on the vulnerability of god,
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  • The creator of heavens and the earth,
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  • Coming to earth in the form of an innocent child, a baby,
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  • A vulnerable baby.
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  • And so, what we have to share with you tonight,
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  • We're so excited about this, the making of christmas,
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  • Five years in the making.
  • 00:03:06.442 --> 00:03:08.511
  • And what i feel like it did for me is it told the story of how
  • 00:03:08.511 --> 00:03:15.485
  • We got here to a lot of the traditions of what we do.
  • 00:03:15.485 --> 00:03:20.256
  • For instance, a christmas tree.
  • 00:03:20.256 --> 00:03:22.091
  • Why december 25th?
  • 00:03:22.091 --> 00:03:23.559
  • The nativity scene, where did that come from?
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  • Santa claus, how did we get that?
  • 00:03:26.562 --> 00:03:28.531
  • And music and all this.
  • 00:03:28.531 --> 00:03:31.901
  • So, the idea of you, jim, the making of christmas,
  • 00:03:31.901 --> 00:03:36.673
  • Going through years of editing and all of this, just years,
  • 00:03:36.673 --> 00:03:42.645
  • And it is ready, and it's for us.
  • 00:03:42.645 --> 00:03:47.083
  • What are your thoughts?
  • 00:03:47.083 --> 00:03:48.418
  • - you know, it's such a tender, sensitive, beautiful story.
  • 00:03:48.418 --> 00:03:53.523
  • And i never really thought, "well,
  • 00:03:53.523 --> 00:03:55.458
  • How did we start making a nativity?
  • 00:03:55.458 --> 00:03:59.062
  • Or how did the christmas tree come?”
  • 00:03:59.062 --> 00:04:00.897
  • Or all those different things that just lays out the story of
  • 00:04:00.897 --> 00:04:05.501
  • Jesus coming down to look us in the eyes.
  • 00:04:05.501 --> 00:04:07.904
  • God, god himself to come and say,
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  • "i want to be here with you.”
  • 00:04:11.574 --> 00:04:13.209
  • And that the third part of the godhead is with us is such a
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  • Beautiful story.
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  • And what i love probably most about is that your most
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  • Vulnerable spot, we get to benefit from that.
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  • What god was doing on the inside of you during that time,
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  • We get to glean from.
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  • It's a beautiful--
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  • This is just a beautiful, sit down with your cocoa,
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  • Your coffee, whatever you choose to do.
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  • - unplug.
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  • - and unplug and just watch.
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  • And it gets better.
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  • Second time, it gets better.
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  • Third time, it gets better.
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  • Don't ask me how i know.
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  • It's beautiful, jim.
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  • - thank you so much.
  • 00:04:48.077 --> 00:04:49.245
  • - beautiful.
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  • - okay, let's give the audience a preview to a coming
  • 00:04:50.446 --> 00:04:53.116
  • Attraction.
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  • See what i did with that?
  • 00:04:54.050 --> 00:04:55.051
  • You're an old marketing guy.
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  • Give us the story of, let's say,
  • 00:04:56.552 --> 00:04:59.789
  • Where the christmas tree comes from.
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  • What period?
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  • What age?
  • 00:05:03.326 --> 00:05:04.260
  • Where do we get the christmas tree?
  • 00:05:04.260 --> 00:05:06.129
  • - christmas tree, to my surprise,
  • 00:05:06.129 --> 00:05:08.197
  • Comes out of a mass where they would have the paradise play,
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  • 10th century.
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  • And it was that they would recreate christmas time.
  • 00:05:13.870 --> 00:05:17.607
  • They would recreate the story of adam and eve,
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  • The night before christmas, to give context for the
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  • Coming of a savior.
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  • - my goodness.
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  • - and this was the church doing it in latin.
  • 00:05:25.782 --> 00:05:27.517
  • But the people would follow.
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  • They would follow the visuals.
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  • Well, they would use a tree, and the only trees that were
  • 00:05:30.119 --> 00:05:32.789
  • Evergreen in europe at that time were evergreens,
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  • And they would decorate it with apples and with
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  • Communion wafers.
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  • So if you see a christmas tree today and you see that bright
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  • Red bulb on it and you see those lights,
  • 00:05:41.230 --> 00:05:43.833
  • It's actually derivative of a 10th century tradition.
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  • - beautiful.
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  • - the making of christmas, how we got here, okay?
  • 00:05:48.571 --> 00:05:52.175
  • December 25th, how did we set that time or that date?
  • 00:05:52.175 --> 00:05:56.212
  • - there's something beautiful about light coming out of
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  • Darkness that happens at that time.
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  • Now, there are a few.
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  • There was the pope, and then there was charlemagne that kind
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  • Of set the dates for christmas, 3rd century, 4th century.
  • 00:06:04.153 --> 00:06:08.925
  • But then, there was also the tradition that mary had
  • 00:06:08.925 --> 00:06:11.794
  • Conceived in the spring.
  • 00:06:11.794 --> 00:06:13.095
  • And so, a midwinter birth was, you know, a plausible thing.
  • 00:06:13.095 --> 00:06:16.399
  • Well, at that time in history, along any civilizations,
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  • And especially rome, there was a celebration of the winter
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  • Solstice.
  • 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:25.308
  • Winter solstice was really important in the ancient world
  • 00:06:25.308 --> 00:06:27.143
  • Because it was the longest night of the year.
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  • It was the darkest.
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  • And it was a time when people were in most need of some hope.
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  • So, they began to celebrate, and they began to, like,
  • 00:06:33.583 --> 00:06:35.718
  • Come together because that's the longest day of the year.
  • 00:06:35.718 --> 00:06:38.621
  • And after that, the days get longer, the nights get shorter.
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  • The growing season is coming again.
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  • You know, we're coming out of the winter and into life.
  • 00:06:46.028 --> 00:06:49.065
  • So, for christians, though, they looked at it,
  • 00:06:49.065 --> 00:06:51.767
  • And they looked at jesus as being the light.
  • 00:06:51.767 --> 00:06:54.804
  • For he said, "i am the light of the world.”
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  • And they saw jesus in the meaning of the solstice.
  • 00:06:57.807 --> 00:07:01.210
  • So, i thought that was really, really beautiful.
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  • I was coming out of darkness, the darkness of my experience.
  • 00:07:04.046 --> 00:07:07.350
  • I experienced him as a light.
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  • And to know that that's been at play from the first christmas
  • 00:07:09.719 --> 00:07:14.257
  • Was wonderful.
  • 00:07:14.257 --> 00:07:15.825
  • - you know, the vulnerability of 63 days in the hospital,
  • 00:07:15.825 --> 00:07:21.063
  • The tracheotomy, inconvenient time to be making a movie as the
  • 00:07:21.063 --> 00:07:26.302
  • Narrator.
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  • But in your--
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  • God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
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  • The wise.
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  • The very vulnerability that you felt narrating the story,
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  • I think, is a beautiful thing.
  • 00:07:39.181 --> 00:07:40.750
  • - people should realize that as they hear me now,
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  • If they'd heard me two years ago,
  • 00:07:43.185 --> 00:07:45.054
  • It would be an entirely different voice.
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  • If you're having trouble with the gravelness or with the,
  • 00:07:46.622 --> 00:07:49.392
  • You know, with the tone range and with the understanding of
  • 00:07:49.392 --> 00:07:52.695
  • The words, it's really just because of the tracheotomy.
  • 00:07:52.695 --> 00:07:56.332
  • Now, you can imagine, i've been in the film industry for 40
  • 00:07:56.332 --> 00:08:00.369
  • Years, so i kind of understand, you know, professionalism.
  • 00:08:00.369 --> 00:08:03.806
  • So, when i go into this and i feel like i've got a story that
  • 00:08:03.806 --> 00:08:07.777
  • Makes me need to share it, god, how do i do that with a
  • 00:08:07.777 --> 00:08:11.847
  • Tracheotomy?
  • 00:08:11.847 --> 00:08:13.215
  • And the overwhelming sense i got again,
  • 00:08:13.215 --> 00:08:17.019
  • Which is back to god being with us,
  • 00:08:17.019 --> 00:08:19.455
  • Is my strength is made perfect in weakness.
  • 00:08:19.455 --> 00:08:22.625
  • - that's so beautiful.
  • 00:08:22.625 --> 00:08:24.160
  • The nativity scene, i love nativity scenes.
  • 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:27.697
  • And so, where did--
  • 00:08:27.697 --> 00:08:28.965
  • When did that start?
  • 00:08:28.965 --> 00:08:30.533
  • - the nativity scene actually started with st. francis
  • 00:08:30.533 --> 00:08:34.670
  • Recreating the nativity outside of north of rome and at the town
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  • Of greccio, italy.
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  • He had made a pilgrimage to bethlehem,
  • 00:08:42.011 --> 00:08:44.447
  • And francis's thing was pretty interesting.
  • 00:08:44.447 --> 00:08:47.083
  • He was all about poverty.
  • 00:08:47.083 --> 00:08:48.517
  • He was all about poverty, not just from a physical standpoint,
  • 00:08:48.517 --> 00:08:51.887
  • But from this bigger spiritual standpoint.
  • 00:08:51.887 --> 00:08:54.690
  • He was about it from the idea that every one of us is poor
  • 00:08:54.690 --> 00:08:58.227
  • Before god, the poverty of the soul, the poverty of sin,
  • 00:08:58.227 --> 00:09:02.798
  • And god restoring us out of poverty.
  • 00:09:02.798 --> 00:09:06.802
  • And the reason why i'd read that he'd become, you know,
  • 00:09:06.802 --> 00:09:10.673
  • The vow of poverty was partially due to the fact that he could
  • 00:09:10.673 --> 00:09:15.645
  • Access god right now because jesus had said,
  • 00:09:15.645 --> 00:09:18.014
  • "blessed are the poor.”
  • 00:09:18.014 --> 00:09:19.815
  • So, it was this wonderful thing.
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  • Well, out of poverty, he had gone to look at the manger the
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  • Same way that i did on my journey.
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  • He had made it centuries before.
  • 00:09:27.123 --> 00:09:29.058
  • And he wanted to emphasize the humbleness of jesus' birth.
  • 00:09:29.058 --> 00:09:32.762
  • Mary did, you know, travel all that whole distance.
  • 00:09:32.762 --> 00:09:36.732
  • She did go to an inn, hoping to have some place to sit.
  • 00:09:36.732 --> 00:09:40.436
  • And you would think the son of god would be accommodated,
  • 00:09:40.436 --> 00:09:42.438
  • And there's no room at the inn.
  • 00:09:42.438 --> 00:09:43.906
  • And then, she did have to go into the manger,
  • 00:09:43.906 --> 00:09:46.542
  • And jesus had to be born where animals are born,
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  • The son of god.
  • 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:51.614
  • And so, he saw within that a connection to the poverty that
  • 00:09:51.614 --> 00:09:57.353
  • We have, that we would be without him doing that for us.
  • 00:09:57.353 --> 00:10:01.957
  • So, as people imagine that kind of spreading throughout europe,
  • 00:10:01.957 --> 00:10:05.761
  • They decided, well, i love this idea of a nativity,
  • 00:10:05.761 --> 00:10:09.031
  • But we can't travel, we can't do a lot of stuff.
  • 00:10:09.031 --> 00:10:11.100
  • We'll just start building our own little scenes.
  • 00:10:11.100 --> 00:10:14.236
  • And so, they did.
  • 00:10:14.236 --> 00:10:15.838
  • People just started building their own little scenes,
  • 00:10:15.838 --> 00:10:17.707
  • The nativities in their home.
  • 00:10:17.707 --> 00:10:19.508
  • And then, in the french revolution--
  • 00:10:19.508 --> 00:10:21.043
  • - 1700s.
  • 00:10:21.043 --> 00:10:22.945
  • - yeah, they're banned because you can't meet publicly and you
  • 00:10:22.945 --> 00:10:26.282
  • Cannot have, you know, a nativity in your home.
  • 00:10:26.282 --> 00:10:29.218
  • So, they still built it, but they would build it
  • 00:10:29.218 --> 00:10:31.787
  • Without the nativity.
  • 00:10:31.787 --> 00:10:33.122
  • And then, on christmas eve, in the silent place of their own
  • 00:10:33.122 --> 00:10:36.292
  • Homes, they would harken to that longing in their own heart,
  • 00:10:36.292 --> 00:10:40.596
  • And they would place the nativity into that scene as a
  • 00:10:40.596 --> 00:10:43.899
  • Family, as a community.
  • 00:10:43.899 --> 00:10:45.434
  • - wow.
  • 00:10:45.434 --> 00:10:46.502
  • You know, in just a few minutes,
  • 00:10:46.502 --> 00:10:49.171
  • The making of christmas is going to be airing, uncut,
  • 00:10:49.171 --> 00:10:53.876
  • Commercial-free, right here on tbn.
  • 00:10:53.876 --> 00:10:57.446
  • Jim hanon, thank you for what you've done making this
  • 00:10:57.446 --> 00:11:00.950
  • Production, the making of christmas.
  • 00:11:00.950 --> 00:11:03.886
  • It tells kind of the story of all of the traditional things
  • 00:11:03.886 --> 00:11:09.592
  • That we think about today, the christmas tree, december 25th,
  • 00:11:09.592 --> 00:11:14.396
  • Nativity scenes, and then how can you discuss christmas
  • 00:11:14.396 --> 00:11:18.300
  • Without santa claus?
  • 00:11:18.300 --> 00:11:20.836
  • And so, what you've done is you've put historic narrative on
  • 00:11:20.836 --> 00:11:26.976
  • How we got here.
  • 00:11:26.976 --> 00:11:28.511
  • - yeah.
  • 00:11:28.511 --> 00:11:29.278
  • - why--
  • 00:11:29.278 --> 00:11:30.613
  • You know, we have a beautiful studio here, and in this studio,
  • 00:11:30.613 --> 00:11:35.017
  • It feels like a traditional thing.
  • 00:11:35.017 --> 00:11:38.554
  • I have presents here.
  • 00:11:38.554 --> 00:11:40.256
  • I have, you know, festive decorations in front of me.
  • 00:11:40.256 --> 00:11:44.460
  • There's a manger scene there in our foreground.
  • 00:11:44.460 --> 00:11:46.896
  • Behind us, there's snow falling.
  • 00:11:46.896 --> 00:11:49.865
  • There's stars.
  • 00:11:49.865 --> 00:11:50.966
  • There's lights and trees.
  • 00:11:50.966 --> 00:11:52.935
  • How did we get here?
  • 00:11:52.935 --> 00:11:55.204
  • The making of christmas explains all of that,
  • 00:11:55.204 --> 00:12:00.142
  • And it begins on tbn here in just a second.
  • 00:12:00.142 --> 00:12:04.413
  • Give us a little preview before we get into the full movie here.
  • 00:12:04.413 --> 00:12:08.450
  • Santa claus, where did he come from?
  • 00:12:08.450 --> 00:12:11.754
  • - i was fascinated by santa claus because he's such a
  • 00:12:11.754 --> 00:12:14.356
  • Cultural icon.
  • 00:12:14.356 --> 00:12:15.591
  • And because i have an advertising background,
  • 00:12:15.591 --> 00:12:17.426
  • I really have this sense, and i carried around for a number of
  • 00:12:17.426 --> 00:12:21.330
  • Years a bit of conflict at christmas because it's so
  • 00:12:21.330 --> 00:12:23.599
  • Commercialized.
  • 00:12:23.599 --> 00:12:24.733
  • You know, it's about the gift.
  • 00:12:24.733 --> 00:12:26.302
  • It's about, you know, that.
  • 00:12:26.302 --> 00:12:27.736
  • And if it's about the gift from god's perspective,
  • 00:12:27.736 --> 00:12:30.706
  • Then it's about the gift he gave us, which there's no price for.
  • 00:12:30.706 --> 00:12:35.211
  • There's no money you can pay for that.
  • 00:12:35.211 --> 00:12:37.046
  • There's no way you can earn it.
  • 00:12:37.046 --> 00:12:38.380
  • It's the gift of his love in the embodiment of his son.
  • 00:12:38.380 --> 00:12:41.684
  • And so, i wanted to say, well, where did santa come from to
  • 00:12:41.684 --> 00:12:47.423
  • Understand kind of where we got today because he is
  • 00:12:47.423 --> 00:12:52.061
  • St. nicholas.
  • 00:12:52.061 --> 00:12:53.429
  • Nicholas, the bishop of myrna, who was known for giving gifts,
  • 00:12:53.429 --> 00:12:57.533
  • Was given a saint day because he was so popular in the fourth
  • 00:12:57.533 --> 00:13:02.571
  • Century, in the fourth century that he lived.
  • 00:13:02.571 --> 00:13:04.807
  • Then, he was canonized almost a thousand years later by the
  • 00:13:04.807 --> 00:13:08.611
  • Pope, so he became st. nicholas.
  • 00:13:08.611 --> 00:13:11.347
  • And that's the root of santa claus.
  • 00:13:11.347 --> 00:13:13.148
  • He was sinterklaas in the dutch.
  • 00:13:13.148 --> 00:13:16.619
  • And then, it was joseph mohr who wrote
  • 00:13:16.619 --> 00:13:20.189
  • "the night before christmas” in the 1800s
  • 00:13:20.189 --> 00:13:24.126
  • That really broadened that out to this guy
  • 00:13:24.126 --> 00:13:28.030
  • In the reindeer suit that flew around the world
  • 00:13:28.030 --> 00:13:30.666
  • And gave gifts to everyone.
  • 00:13:30.666 --> 00:13:33.535
  • So, i wanted to include that to show that this story of
  • 00:13:33.535 --> 00:13:39.441
  • Christmas, the reason why culturally,
  • 00:13:39.441 --> 00:13:42.378
  • It goes into every culture and expressed a little bit
  • 00:13:42.378 --> 00:13:45.381
  • Differently, there's these common roots of god coming after
  • 00:13:45.381 --> 00:13:49.685
  • Us with his son, that's always the journey on his standpoint.
  • 00:13:49.685 --> 00:13:53.088
  • The journey on our standpoint is kind of try to understand it.
  • 00:13:53.088 --> 00:13:56.325
  • Different cultures understand it differently.
  • 00:13:56.325 --> 00:13:58.160
  • And so, all of these traditions sort of came out of there.
  • 00:13:58.160 --> 00:14:00.996
  • And nowadays, because it's so commercial,
  • 00:14:00.996 --> 00:14:03.499
  • There's this concern.
  • 00:14:03.499 --> 00:14:05.334
  • And i wanted to address that concern and say,
  • 00:14:05.334 --> 00:14:08.103
  • "is that a concern from god?
  • 00:14:08.103 --> 00:14:10.005
  • Or is that just what happened culturally over time with
  • 00:14:10.005 --> 00:14:12.274
  • Everybody sort of adding to this?”
  • 00:14:12.274 --> 00:14:14.810
  • And if everybody's adding to this,
  • 00:14:14.810 --> 00:14:16.345
  • Let's go back to the root of his story through and find his
  • 00:14:16.345 --> 00:14:21.617
  • Expression of christmas.
  • 00:14:21.617 --> 00:14:23.052
  • - simplicity of it all.
  • 00:14:23.052 --> 00:14:24.420
  • - the context of it.
  • 00:14:24.420 --> 00:14:25.955
  • Your thoughts on it were beautiful.
  • 00:14:25.955 --> 00:14:28.824
  • - tender.
  • 00:14:28.824 --> 00:14:30.526
  • - sensitive.
  • 00:14:29.758 --> 00:14:32.194
  • - it's just beautiful.
  • 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.028
  • - i call it unplugged.
  • 00:14:33.028 --> 00:14:34.563
  • And so, what i'm asking you to do is think about unplugging,
  • 00:14:34.563 --> 00:14:40.736
  • Staying right here.
  • 00:14:40.736 --> 00:14:43.172
  • It is commercial free, and it's starting here in just a moment,
  • 00:14:43.172 --> 00:14:46.842
  • But shot around the world over five different
  • 00:14:46.842 --> 00:14:50.579
  • Christmas seasons.
  • 00:14:50.579 --> 00:14:52.181
  • Jim, thank you for traveling the world, doing what you did.
  • 00:14:52.181 --> 00:14:54.883
  • You brought this story to life, "the making of christmas".
  • 00:14:54.883 --> 00:14:57.786
  • And it pulls the thread from god's original intention of
  • 00:14:57.786 --> 00:15:06.495
  • Dwelling with man all the way through to the commercialization
  • 00:15:06.495 --> 00:15:12.134
  • Of what we think about and are concerned about a lot of times.
  • 00:15:12.134 --> 00:15:15.971
  • There's a lot going on here.
  • 00:15:15.971 --> 00:15:17.906
  • It is simply beautiful, and it's "the making of christmas".
  • 00:15:17.906 --> 00:15:22.811
  • - enjoy.
  • 00:15:22.811 --> 00:15:24.613
  • [music]
  • 00:15:24.947 --> 00:15:34.323
  • [music]
  • 00:15:34.656 --> 00:16:26.608
  • - put your heads down.
  • 00:16:27.176 --> 00:16:29.545
  • Take a few seconds to take some deep breaths.
  • 00:16:30.579 --> 00:16:36.385
  • Remember who you are.
  • 00:16:36.952 --> 00:16:41.090
  • Remember that you belong in this world.
  • 00:16:41.990 --> 00:16:45.994
  • You will never be disincluded.
  • 00:16:46.695 --> 00:16:50.299
  • If someone is making fun of you, ignore them.
  • 00:16:51.266 --> 00:16:54.937
  • Think of them as a breeze of the wind.
  • 00:16:55.838 --> 00:16:58.273
  • But when you put your heart towards what you desire,
  • 00:16:59.374 --> 00:17:02.611
  • You can accomplish good things.
  • 00:17:02.611 --> 00:17:05.280
  • You have a dream.
  • 00:17:05.747 --> 00:17:07.683
  • Some people might say that it's never going to work out.
  • 00:17:07.783 --> 00:17:10.919
  • I believe you guys can do it.
  • 00:17:11.620 --> 00:17:16.625
  • Now, repeat after me.
  • 00:17:17.192 --> 00:17:18.927
  • Peace,
  • 00:17:18.927 --> 00:17:20.529
  • - peace,
  • 00:17:20.529 --> 00:17:21.563
  • - joy,
  • 00:17:21.563 --> 00:17:23.565
  • - calm.
  • 00:17:22.664 --> 00:17:25.434
  • - madness,
  • 00:17:24.533 --> 00:17:27.669
  • - sadness,
  • 00:17:26.635 --> 00:17:30.272
  • - fear,
  • 00:17:28.937 --> 00:17:32.307
  • - anxiety,
  • 00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:34.443
  • - leave.
  • 00:17:33.609 --> 00:17:36.845
  • - we don't want you here.
  • 00:17:37.446 --> 00:17:40.415
  • - we don't want you in our life.
  • 00:17:38.947 --> 00:17:45.020
  • - we have a better life with joy.
  • 00:17:43.185 --> 00:17:50.125
  • - but joy,
  • 00:17:47.356 --> 00:17:53.495
  • - peace,
  • 00:17:52.161 --> 00:17:55.864
  • - come.
  • 00:17:54.796 --> 00:17:57.799
  • - we want you here,
  • 00:17:56.932 --> 00:18:00.369
  • - in our hearts,
  • 00:17:59.134 --> 00:18:02.838
  • - in our family,
  • 00:18:01.770 --> 00:18:05.541
  • - in the world,
  • 00:18:04.306 --> 00:18:08.610
  • - in the friend,
  • 00:18:07.009 --> 00:18:12.114
  • - in where we go.
  • 00:18:10.779 --> 00:18:15.350
  • - we want people to see the peace and happiness...
  • 00:18:13.649 --> 00:18:21.557
  • - that we can have inside us.
  • 00:18:18.086 --> 00:18:27.429
  • - now, take a few more deep breaths and a few more seconds
  • 00:18:28.664 --> 00:18:32.267
  • To think about who you are,
  • 00:18:32.267 --> 00:18:35.470
  • To think that you belong in this world.
  • 00:18:36.371 --> 00:18:47.616
  • - we all have dreams.
  • 00:18:48.183 --> 00:18:49.585
  • And many times, it seems like they'll never work out.
  • 00:18:49.585 --> 00:18:54.256
  • It took several years to create this documentary
  • 00:18:54.356 --> 00:18:56.391
  • About christmas.
  • 00:18:56.391 --> 00:18:58.260
  • We filmed bits of it each holiday as we could.
  • 00:18:58.360 --> 00:19:01.697
  • If you're watching this now, it's because the dream
  • 00:19:02.831 --> 00:19:05.834
  • Worked out.
  • 00:19:05.834 --> 00:19:07.069
  • I'm jim hanon.
  • 00:19:07.502 --> 00:19:09.304
  • My first career was in advertising.
  • 00:19:09.404 --> 00:19:11.673
  • I became a vice president at a global ad agency in chicago back
  • 00:19:11.773 --> 00:19:15.844
  • In 1990 before i was 30.
  • 00:19:15.844 --> 00:19:21.383
  • I saw firsthand that through an unrelenting stream of
  • 00:19:22.484 --> 00:19:26.054
  • Advertising, our culture in the us had changed from being one of
  • 00:19:26.054 --> 00:19:30.292
  • Citizens to being one of consumers.
  • 00:19:30.292 --> 00:19:37.332
  • This disturbed me so much that i gradually worked my way out of
  • 00:19:38.600 --> 00:19:41.603
  • Advertising into filmmaking.
  • 00:19:41.603 --> 00:19:47.142
  • I grew up as an artist and was always thinking about
  • 00:19:48.243 --> 00:19:51.346
  • Making things.
  • 00:19:51.346 --> 00:19:53.215
  • As i grew older, i began to contemplate the meaning of
  • 00:19:53.315 --> 00:19:56.285
  • Making things.
  • 00:19:56.285 --> 00:19:57.686
  • For what we make reveals who we are.
  • 00:19:57.686 --> 00:20:02.624
  • [music]
  • 00:20:02.624 --> 00:20:08.497
  • I found that this is true about how we make christmas as well.
  • 00:20:09.798 --> 00:20:38.193
  • The word christmas comes from the late old english phrase,
  • 00:20:39.428 --> 00:20:41.997
  • Cristes maesse, meaning mass of christ.
  • 00:20:41.997 --> 00:20:45.567
  • Many other languages and cultures call the christmas
  • 00:20:46.668 --> 00:20:49.371
  • Holiday by names related to the word nativity.
  • 00:20:49.371 --> 00:20:52.274
  • It's the time of year when christians celebrate the birth
  • 00:20:53.475 --> 00:20:56.778
  • Of jesus.
  • 00:20:56.778 --> 00:20:58.246
  • [music]
  • 00:20:58.246 --> 00:21:05.487
  • There's a consensus among most scholars that jesus was born
  • 00:21:06.722 --> 00:21:09.558
  • Between 4 and 6 bc.
  • 00:21:09.558 --> 00:21:11.460
  • Well, why not 1 ad?
  • 00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:13.795
  • After all, our calendar year is calculated from the birth of
  • 00:21:13.795 --> 00:21:17.432
  • Christ, in latin called anno domini, in the year of the lord.
  • 00:21:17.432 --> 00:21:25.841
  • Well, it's a matter of who figured out what and when.
  • 00:21:26.975 --> 00:21:29.945
  • The ad system wasn't created until 525 ad,
  • 00:21:29.945 --> 00:21:34.549
  • And the bc system wasn't created until 731.
  • 00:21:34.549 --> 00:21:38.587
  • And it wasn't until the reign of charlemagne in the 8th
  • 00:21:39.755 --> 00:21:41.923
  • Century that the bc ad system was ever widely used.
  • 00:21:41.923 --> 00:21:46.862
  • Somewhere in all that, they discovered they had dated jesus'
  • 00:21:48.163 --> 00:21:51.299
  • Birth wrong because they got the year of herod's death wrong.
  • 00:21:51.299 --> 00:21:55.937
  • Well, by then, they weren't going to change the calendar
  • 00:21:56.037 --> 00:21:59.374
  • Again.
  • 00:21:59.374 --> 00:22:06.748
  • Think about this.
  • 00:22:07.215 --> 00:22:09.284
  • Shepherds use mangers to feed livestock and care for newborn
  • 00:22:09.384 --> 00:22:13.054
  • Animals, particularly newborn lambs.
  • 00:22:13.054 --> 00:22:18.660
  • Christmas celebrates the creator of the universe being
  • 00:22:19.795 --> 00:22:24.866
  • Born in a manger.
  • 00:22:24.866 --> 00:22:27.402
  • Jesus is called the lamb of god.
  • 00:22:28.103 --> 00:22:32.107
  • As a filmmaker, i can't help but wonder about the backstory
  • 00:22:33.341 --> 00:22:37.312
  • To that.
  • 00:22:37.312 --> 00:22:39.014
  • So, let's go back to the beginning of the beginning.
  • 00:22:40.115 --> 00:22:44.419
  • The gospel of john starts with...
  • 00:22:45.220 --> 00:22:47.355
  • - "in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god,
  • 00:22:47.355 --> 00:22:51.626
  • And the word was god."
  • 00:22:51.626 --> 00:22:53.762
  • - "all things came into being through him...
  • 00:22:54.763 --> 00:22:58.333
  • In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind."
  • 00:22:58.333 --> 00:23:03.672
  • - and the light shines in the darkness,
  • 00:23:04.539 --> 00:23:05.941
  • And the darkness did not grasp it.”
  • 00:23:05.941 --> 00:23:14.783
  • - in the opening of his gospel, john is echoing genesis 1,
  • 00:23:16.017 --> 00:23:18.787
  • The first book of the bible.
  • 00:23:18.787 --> 00:23:21.256
  • "god said, 'let there be light'; and there was light.”
  • 00:23:21.356 --> 00:23:25.560
  • He also says, "the darkness did not grasp it.”
  • 00:23:26.628 --> 00:23:29.364
  • This is called foreshadowing in story terms,
  • 00:23:29.364 --> 00:23:33.001
  • Setting up that there's going to be some debate over all this.
  • 00:23:34.269 --> 00:23:40.075
  • From the first oral stories in hebrew tradition to the ancient
  • 00:23:41.376 --> 00:23:46.414
  • Writings of the torah and new testament,
  • 00:23:46.414 --> 00:23:48.617
  • There is an historic record of god revealing his glory to his
  • 00:23:49.885 --> 00:23:53.488
  • People and inhabiting a temple they've prepared for him.
  • 00:23:53.488 --> 00:24:02.531
  • The tabernacle in the wilderness was erected exactly
  • 00:24:03.665 --> 00:24:06.568
  • One year after the passover, when the israelites were freed
  • 00:24:06.568 --> 00:24:09.804
  • From egyptian slavery, roughly around 1450 bc.
  • 00:24:09.804 --> 00:24:18.513
  • The ark of the covenant, which held the ten commandments,
  • 00:24:19.714 --> 00:24:21.783
  • Was created to rest inside the innermost chamber,
  • 00:24:21.783 --> 00:24:24.853
  • The holy of holies.
  • 00:24:24.853 --> 00:24:26.821
  • It would be nearly 500 years later,
  • 00:24:27.622 --> 00:24:29.457
  • Before the first temple in jerusalem was completed by king
  • 00:24:29.457 --> 00:24:33.361
  • David's son solomon in 957 bc.
  • 00:24:33.361 --> 00:24:36.765
  • Known as the house of the lord, the temple was where the
  • 00:24:36.765 --> 00:24:40.068
  • Presence of god dwelled in the holy city.
  • 00:24:40.068 --> 00:24:43.738
  • What does all this have to do with christmas?
  • 00:24:44.773 --> 00:24:48.209
  • Well, the birth of jesus involves god becoming human,
  • 00:24:49.311 --> 00:24:52.647
  • Which means god's presence dwelling in a human frame,
  • 00:24:52.647 --> 00:24:56.851
  • Affirming the human body as his chosen temple.
  • 00:24:56.851 --> 00:25:17.572
  • [music]
  • 00:25:17.906 --> 00:25:20.175
  • - all this took place to fulfill what the lord had spoken
  • 00:25:20.175 --> 00:25:23.311
  • By the prophets.
  • 00:25:23.311 --> 00:25:25.146
  • "behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son"
  • 00:25:25.246 --> 00:25:30.518
  • - "they shall call him immanuel,”
  • 00:25:31.353 --> 00:25:33.421
  • Meaning god with us.
  • 00:25:33.421 --> 00:25:35.924
  • [music]
  • 00:25:36.257 --> 00:25:41.529
  • - "and the word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”
  • 00:25:42.664 --> 00:25:47.502
  • [chatter]
  • 00:25:47.836 --> 00:25:51.606
  • [music]
  • 00:25:51.606 --> 00:25:59.147
  • - the first evidence of a feast of the nativity dates back to
  • 00:26:00.448 --> 00:26:04.019
  • Around 200 ad in alexandria, egypt.
  • 00:26:04.019 --> 00:26:08.289
  • The first written mention of christmas as a holiday occurs in
  • 00:26:09.524 --> 00:26:12.927
  • The illuminated manuscript known as the chronography of 354.
  • 00:26:12.927 --> 00:26:26.341
  • For early christians, the most important feast day was easter,
  • 00:26:27.642 --> 00:26:31.312
  • Commemorating jesus' resurrection from the dead.
  • 00:26:31.312 --> 00:26:34.082
  • Easter celebrates the divinity of jesus and holds the promise
  • 00:26:34.082 --> 00:26:38.086
  • That his followers will be resurrected as well.
  • 00:26:38.086 --> 00:26:42.223
  • But there's something about christmas and the human birth of
  • 00:26:43.458 --> 00:26:46.127
  • Jesus that grips me.
  • 00:26:46.127 --> 00:26:53.334
  • If his resurrection speaks of a life to come,
  • 00:26:54.335 --> 00:26:56.805
  • Then his birth speaks to this life, right now.
  • 00:26:56.805 --> 00:27:06.181
  • As an artist, the idea of birth is at the center of everything
  • 00:27:07.482 --> 00:27:10.418
  • We do.
  • 00:27:10.418 --> 00:27:15.323
  • We birth creations.
  • 00:27:15.857 --> 00:27:24.933
  • They can take years to develop, or minutes.
  • 00:27:25.900 --> 00:27:32.941
  • We can labor over them in joy,
  • 00:27:33.641 --> 00:27:36.945
  • Sometimes in pain.
  • 00:27:37.445 --> 00:27:39.914
  • Sometimes with fear,
  • 00:27:40.448 --> 00:27:43.852
  • And more often not, with all the above.
  • 00:27:44.786 --> 00:27:51.159
  • Whether a painting,
  • 00:27:51.693 --> 00:27:54.429
  • A song,
  • 00:27:54.763 --> 00:27:57.499
  • A performance,
  • 00:27:57.932 --> 00:28:01.169
  • A sculpture,
  • 00:28:01.569 --> 00:28:04.105
  • A book,
  • 00:28:04.439 --> 00:28:07.108
  • A poem,
  • 00:28:07.442 --> 00:28:11.980
  • Or a documentary,
  • 00:28:12.447 --> 00:28:16.217
  • Whatever it is, it is either born, or it is not.
  • 00:28:17.285 --> 00:28:35.203
  • [music]
  • 00:28:35.537 --> 00:28:39.107
  • - as far as we decided that christmas would be on december
  • 00:28:40.341 --> 00:28:42.710
  • 25th, there are three basic stories.
  • 00:28:42.710 --> 00:28:46.080
  • In one, in the year 320, pope julius designates december 25th
  • 00:28:46.080 --> 00:28:51.085
  • As the birthday of jesus.
  • 00:28:51.085 --> 00:28:53.054
  • In another, emperor constantine does it in the year 336.
  • 00:28:53.054 --> 00:28:58.059
  • In a third story, christians genuinely thought that mary had
  • 00:28:58.059 --> 00:29:01.596
  • Conceived in the spring, making a midwinter birth the natural
  • 00:29:01.596 --> 00:29:05.200
  • Assumption.
  • 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:06.534
  • And this would put it right around the winter solstice.
  • 00:29:06.534 --> 00:29:11.206
  • [music]
  • 00:29:11.206 --> 00:29:14.576
  • The winter solstice is the longest night of the year.
  • 00:29:15.710 --> 00:29:20.648
  • After that, the nights begin to get shorter as the days begin to
  • 00:29:21.950 --> 00:29:25.019
  • Get longer.
  • 00:29:25.019 --> 00:29:27.455
  • The sun is returning again.
  • 00:29:28.122 --> 00:29:31.626
  • The growing season is coming again.
  • 00:29:32.427 --> 00:29:35.597
  • It is a powerful, natural event that different ancient cultures
  • 00:29:36.931 --> 00:29:39.968
  • Have often associated with spiritual meaning,
  • 00:29:39.968 --> 00:29:44.606
  • The time when the dark night of our soul has been at its
  • 00:29:45.807 --> 00:29:48.076
  • Longest, and we begin to hope in the returning of the light.
  • 00:29:48.076 --> 00:29:55.817
  • The roman world celebrated saturnalia,
  • 00:29:56.718 --> 00:29:58.887
  • Held in the honor of saturn at the winter solstice.
  • 00:29:58.887 --> 00:30:03.391
  • The birthday of mithras, the sun god of the persians,
  • 00:30:04.492 --> 00:30:06.895
  • Was also celebrated at the winter solstice.
  • 00:30:06.895 --> 00:30:09.898
  • When early christians first began celebrating the mass of
  • 00:30:11.132 --> 00:30:13.401
  • Christ, they were, in every sense, a minority.
  • 00:30:13.401 --> 00:30:17.405
  • They didn't mix the celebration of the birth of christ with the
  • 00:30:17.405 --> 00:30:21.209
  • Celebration of other gods.
  • 00:30:21.209 --> 00:30:23.111
  • Rather, they saw jesus as the meaning in the solstice.
  • 00:30:24.245 --> 00:30:29.217
  • Christians understood jesus as being the light.
  • 00:30:30.251 --> 00:30:36.958
  • The oldest known hymn sung in christian gatherings,
  • 00:30:38.026 --> 00:30:41.529
  • Dated back to 200 ad, is the "phos hilaron",
  • 00:30:41.529 --> 00:30:46.634
  • Translated from greek as, "o gladsome light".
  • 00:30:47.669 --> 00:31:02.183
  • Pagan sailors charted their courses by the stars for
  • 00:31:03.284 --> 00:31:06.487
  • Thousands of years before there were any christian sailors.
  • 00:31:06.487 --> 00:31:09.857
  • Pagans might worship the stars, while the christians might not.
  • 00:31:11.192 --> 00:31:15.396
  • But christians still saw the stars as pointing the way home.
  • 00:31:16.664 --> 00:31:21.135
  • [music]
  • 00:31:21.135 --> 00:31:24.572
  • Likewise, there's a long tradition of giving gifts on
  • 00:31:24.572 --> 00:31:27.608
  • December 25th.
  • 00:31:27.608 --> 00:31:29.344
  • Romans exchanged gifts during saturnalia,
  • 00:31:29.344 --> 00:31:32.814
  • And christians saw jesus himself as a gift.
  • 00:31:32.814 --> 00:31:37.719
  • [music]
  • 00:31:38.052 --> 00:31:59.574
  • - "for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.”
  • 00:32:00.775 --> 00:32:08.449
  • - "for god so loved the world, he gave us his only son.”
  • 00:32:09.650 --> 00:32:33.741
  • - another pretty good endorsement for christians to
  • 00:32:34.876 --> 00:32:37.745
  • Give gifts at christmas came from the story of the magi
  • 00:32:37.745 --> 00:32:40.648
  • Bringing gifts to the christ child.
  • 00:32:40.648 --> 00:32:44.252
  • - "the star went ahead of them until it stopped over the place
  • 00:32:45.553 --> 00:32:49.357
  • Where the child was.
  • 00:32:49.357 --> 00:32:51.225
  • When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”
  • 00:32:51.225 --> 00:32:57.832
  • - "on coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother
  • 00:32:59.133 --> 00:33:02.170
  • Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him."
  • 00:33:02.170 --> 00:33:08.409
  • - "then they opened their treasures and presented him with
  • 00:33:09.577 --> 00:33:12.246
  • Gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
  • 00:33:12.246 --> 00:33:29.430
  • - from the nature of their gifts,
  • 00:33:30.231 --> 00:33:31.732
  • We know that they had wealth.
  • 00:33:31.732 --> 00:33:33.701
  • However, the bible never says that there were three of them.
  • 00:33:34.969 --> 00:33:37.305
  • It also doesn't say that they were kings.
  • 00:33:37.305 --> 00:33:40.074
  • ♪ - we three kings of orient are; ♪
  • 00:33:40.074 --> 00:33:44.545
  • ♪ bearing gifts we traverse afar, ♪
  • 00:33:44.545 --> 00:33:48.416
  • ♪ field and fountain, moor and mountain, ♪
  • 00:33:48.416 --> 00:33:52.720
  • ♪ following yonder star. ♪
  • 00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:55.756
  • ♪ o star of wonder, star of light, ♪
  • 00:33:55.756 --> 00:34:00.595
  • ♪ star with royal beauty bright, ♪
  • 00:34:00.595 --> 00:34:04.765
  • ♪ westward leading, still proceeding, ♪
  • 00:34:04.765 --> 00:34:09.003
  • ♪ guide us to thy perfect light. ♪
  • 00:34:09.003 --> 00:34:13.241
  • [cheering and applause]
  • 00:34:13.241 --> 00:34:17.812
  • - whatever the magi were, they were not jewish,
  • 00:34:18.846 --> 00:34:22.016
  • And their search to find jesus indicated that his birth was an
  • 00:34:22.016 --> 00:34:25.720
  • Event for all people.
  • 00:34:25.720 --> 00:34:27.855
  • [music]
  • 00:34:27.855 --> 00:34:31.159
  • Three wise men, or three kings, have become a ubiquitous element
  • 00:34:31.259 --> 00:34:35.163
  • In christmas celebrations,
  • 00:34:35.163 --> 00:34:39.100
  • Alongside, of course, a christmas tree.
  • 00:34:40.001 --> 00:34:48.376
  • In the 5th century, christians started to have clergy pose as
  • 00:34:49.644 --> 00:34:52.480
  • Biblical characters in their sacred services,
  • 00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:55.216
  • Especially around christmas and easter.
  • 00:34:55.216 --> 00:34:57.451
  • By the 10th century, priests performed the paradise play,
  • 00:34:58.653 --> 00:35:02.056
  • Telling the story of adam and eve and the fall of mankind.
  • 00:35:02.056 --> 00:35:08.296
  • They did this the day before christmas to set the stage for
  • 00:35:09.530 --> 00:35:12.700
  • Christ's entrance.
  • 00:35:12.700 --> 00:35:15.403
  • The paradise play included a green tree of paradise.
  • 00:35:16.504 --> 00:35:19.740
  • The only trees that were green in europe in december were
  • 00:35:19.740 --> 00:35:23.778
  • Evergreens.
  • 00:35:23.778 --> 00:35:25.379
  • The paradise tree was decorated with apples and communion
  • 00:35:26.581 --> 00:35:29.884
  • Wafers.
  • 00:35:29.884 --> 00:35:34.255
  • In the 1200s, church mystery plays became very popular,
  • 00:35:35.423 --> 00:35:39.060
  • And the pope became very suspicious.
  • 00:35:39.060 --> 00:35:41.562
  • The concern was that christians should be treating christmas
  • 00:35:41.562 --> 00:35:44.398
  • With reverence, and the church at that time saw theater as
  • 00:35:44.398 --> 00:35:49.136
  • Anything but reverent.
  • 00:35:49.136 --> 00:35:57.078
  • Original mystery plays were performed by priests in churches
  • 00:35:58.312 --> 00:36:01.449
  • In latin.
  • 00:36:01.449 --> 00:36:02.750
  • In 1210, pope innocent iii issued a papal edict forbidding
  • 00:36:02.750 --> 00:36:07.455
  • Clergy from acting on a public stage.
  • 00:36:07.455 --> 00:36:10.658
  • After this, various guilds in europe began producing mystery
  • 00:36:10.658 --> 00:36:14.362
  • Plays in the common language at public sites on their own,
  • 00:36:14.362 --> 00:36:19.133
  • And they haven't stopped since.
  • 00:36:19.867 --> 00:36:21.902
  • [music]
  • 00:36:21.902 --> 00:36:55.369
  • [music]
  • 00:36:55.703 --> 00:37:10.384
  • Around the year 1219, the famous catholic friar francis of
  • 00:37:11.552 --> 00:37:15.256
  • Assisi took a pilgrimage to bethlehem that would have a
  • 00:37:15.256 --> 00:37:18.959
  • Direct impact on how we celebrate christmas today.
  • 00:37:18.959 --> 00:37:32.640
  • He returned to italy with a deep-seated desire to give
  • 00:37:33.808 --> 00:37:36.344
  • People a sense of the authentic humbleness of jesus' birth.
  • 00:37:36.344 --> 00:37:41.415
  • Thirteen years after pope innocent banned clergy from
  • 00:37:42.550 --> 00:37:45.319
  • Having christmas pageants, francis gets permission from
  • 00:37:45.319 --> 00:37:48.856
  • Pope honorius iii to set up a manger with hay and two live
  • 00:37:48.856 --> 00:37:52.893
  • Animals, an ox and a donkey.
  • 00:37:52.893 --> 00:37:56.530
  • You can see the humble ox and donkey prominently featured as
  • 00:37:57.798 --> 00:38:01.435
  • The animals of choice in much of the nativity art through the
  • 00:38:01.435 --> 00:38:04.839
  • Middle ages.
  • 00:38:04.839 --> 00:38:07.141
  • Francis holds the first nativity mass in a cave near the
  • 00:38:08.309 --> 00:38:12.613
  • Village of greccio, perched on the hillside of the riate
  • 00:38:12.613 --> 00:38:17.218
  • Province, about fifty miles north of rome.
  • 00:38:17.218 --> 00:38:30.765
  • Within the next few centuries after this event,
  • 00:38:31.832 --> 00:38:34.635
  • Small versions of the creche display had moved into homes
  • 00:38:34.635 --> 00:38:38.139
  • Across europe,
  • 00:38:38.139 --> 00:38:41.108
  • With a few hiccups along the way.
  • 00:38:41.909 --> 00:38:44.645
  • During the french revolution, churches were forced to close,
  • 00:38:45.913 --> 00:38:48.983
  • And creches were banned, so village in the province region
  • 00:38:48.983 --> 00:38:53.654
  • Of southern france began making little displays that included
  • 00:38:53.654 --> 00:38:57.992
  • The figure of ordinary townsfolk.
  • 00:38:57.992 --> 00:39:02.897
  • To all appearance, these were secular displays,
  • 00:39:03.898 --> 00:39:07.301
  • Which didn't break the rules.
  • 00:39:07.301 --> 00:39:09.203
  • And then, in secret, families would add the nativity on
  • 00:39:09.203 --> 00:39:13.774
  • Christmas eve.
  • 00:39:13.774 --> 00:39:23.918
  • It was as though with the adding of the christmas story,
  • 00:39:25.085 --> 00:39:27.721
  • Simple everyday things begin to echo with greater meaning.
  • 00:39:27.721 --> 00:39:32.726
  • We see this gradual movement of christmas out of the control of
  • 00:39:32.827 --> 00:39:36.297
  • The church and into the realm of everyday life,
  • 00:39:36.297 --> 00:39:39.400
  • Across multiple cultures.
  • 00:39:39.400 --> 00:39:43.604
  • A beautiful example of this can be found today in rockport,
  • 00:39:44.872 --> 00:39:47.641
  • Massachusetts, where an artist colony has been holding their
  • 00:39:47.641 --> 00:39:50.744
  • Own community christmas pageant, without the sponsorship of any
  • 00:39:50.744 --> 00:39:54.615
  • Church, for the past 79 years.
  • 00:39:54.615 --> 00:40:03.557
  • - rockport art colony.
  • 00:40:04.124 --> 00:40:05.626
  • This is the crossroads of traditional painting anyway in
  • 00:40:05.626 --> 00:40:08.462
  • New england.
  • 00:40:08.462 --> 00:40:10.698
  • Everybody who paints things that look like things comes
  • 00:40:11.899 --> 00:40:16.770
  • Through rockport or hangs out here in some way.
  • 00:40:16.770 --> 00:40:19.406
  • Almost everybody's connected in some way to rockport.
  • 00:40:19.406 --> 00:40:28.682
  • - it's been an artistic hot spot for over a hundred years.
  • 00:40:29.917 --> 00:40:38.425
  • You know, fishing and art, really,
  • 00:40:39.193 --> 00:40:41.028
  • That's what the community's known for.
  • 00:40:41.028 --> 00:40:43.664
  • My father had a gallery in town for 62 years.
  • 00:40:44.698 --> 00:40:53.541
  • - the pageant starts in 45.
  • 00:40:54.208 --> 00:40:57.044
  • 45 begins with the battle of the bulge.
  • 00:40:57.044 --> 00:40:59.747
  • Iwo jima is 45.
  • 00:40:59.747 --> 00:41:03.117
  • The japanese surrender in august of 45 on the us missouri.
  • 00:41:04.285 --> 00:41:09.657
  • And the united states government puts together this
  • 00:41:10.791 --> 00:41:12.226
  • Thing called operation magic carpet,
  • 00:41:12.226 --> 00:41:14.929
  • Where they try and bring everybody back.
  • 00:41:14.929 --> 00:41:17.298
  • It's like christmas, but then all of a sudden, there's hope.
  • 00:41:17.298 --> 00:41:20.167
  • There's this wonder, and excitement, and gratitude,
  • 00:41:20.167 --> 00:41:24.371
  • And happiness in the nation because the war is over,
  • 00:41:24.371 --> 00:41:26.840
  • And it's been called america's greatest christmas.
  • 00:41:26.840 --> 00:41:31.178
  • Up against that backdrop, winifred jackman hibbard,
  • 00:41:32.246 --> 00:41:35.816
  • They called her jackie, she is the wife of aldro hibbar,
  • 00:41:35.816 --> 00:41:38.319
  • Who's the leader of the art colony,
  • 00:41:38.319 --> 00:41:39.620
  • Really founds the art colony here.
  • 00:41:39.620 --> 00:41:41.088
  • And the pageant was started by the artist.
  • 00:41:41.088 --> 00:41:44.525
  • Jackie grows up above el paso on the new mexico border,
  • 00:41:44.525 --> 00:41:49.597
  • And there's a spanish tradition there called la posada.
  • 00:41:49.597 --> 00:41:54.335
  • Posada means inn.
  • 00:41:54.335 --> 00:41:55.803
  • - holy family rides their burrow through the streets of
  • 00:41:55.803 --> 00:41:59.406
  • The towns, and they knock on doors.
  • 00:41:59.406 --> 00:42:01.041
  • They're turned away, and then eventually,
  • 00:42:01.041 --> 00:42:03.043
  • They get to the right door.
  • 00:42:03.043 --> 00:42:04.311
  • That has evolved into what we know as the pageant today.
  • 00:42:04.311 --> 00:42:08.449
  • Originally, it was all acted in by the artists.
  • 00:42:08.449 --> 00:42:11.952
  • It's all been thrown open, and everybody in town participates.
  • 00:42:13.253 --> 00:42:16.023
  • Families have been in this thing for generations.
  • 00:42:16.023 --> 00:42:20.060
  • - when i first arrived here and was told, you know,
  • 00:42:21.195 --> 00:42:25.733
  • You don't have to do anything with it.
  • 00:42:25.733 --> 00:42:26.767
  • It's none of the churches.
  • 00:42:26.767 --> 00:42:28.369
  • This is strictly a community thing,
  • 00:42:28.369 --> 00:42:30.571
  • Which to me is fascinating because community pageants have
  • 00:42:30.571 --> 00:42:34.908
  • Been shut down throughout the country.
  • 00:42:34.908 --> 00:42:38.412
  • There is no way i could come close to doing anything as
  • 00:42:38.412 --> 00:42:41.382
  • Beautiful as what they do.
  • 00:42:41.382 --> 00:42:44.952
  • - last year was the first year i was director.
  • 00:42:45.953 --> 00:42:48.055
  • I sent out emails to all the people.
  • 00:42:48.055 --> 00:42:49.823
  • I had lists of everybody that had been in the pageant.
  • 00:42:49.823 --> 00:42:51.291
  • Sent them all out emails and said, "get back to me.”
  • 00:42:51.291 --> 00:42:53.160
  • I got no emails.
  • 00:42:53.160 --> 00:42:55.295
  • I'm freaking out a week before the pageant.
  • 00:42:55.295 --> 00:42:56.630
  • Oh my god, what's going to happen?
  • 00:42:56.630 --> 00:42:58.666
  • And they just all showed up, and everybody knew what they
  • 00:42:59.867 --> 00:43:02.536
  • Were supposed to do.
  • 00:43:02.536 --> 00:43:03.737
  • Found people doing the clothing, laid out the clothing,
  • 00:43:03.737 --> 00:43:05.673
  • And the roman soldiers showed up, and torches got lit,
  • 00:43:05.673 --> 00:43:08.609
  • And everybody formed up out back.
  • 00:43:08.609 --> 00:43:10.077
  • I could have just gone to sleep,
  • 00:43:10.077 --> 00:43:12.913
  • And it still would have happened.
  • 00:43:12.913 --> 00:43:19.586
  • - this was started 79 years ago.
  • 00:43:20.287 --> 00:43:22.489
  • For 79 years, mary has been a secret to the day of.
  • 00:43:22.489 --> 00:43:27.361
  • So, it's really an honor to be mary,
  • 00:43:27.361 --> 00:43:29.863
  • And it's an honor for me to be able to dress mary.
  • 00:43:29.863 --> 00:43:32.900
  • I've been doing this for over 20 years.
  • 00:43:32.900 --> 00:43:37.004
  • - an artist here needed a seamstress to help sew some
  • 00:43:38.138 --> 00:43:41.108
  • Costumes.
  • 00:43:41.108 --> 00:43:42.376
  • So, i brought her over to my house with a couple of other
  • 00:43:42.376 --> 00:43:45.879
  • Girls, and we sewed up some shepherd's costumes.
  • 00:43:45.879 --> 00:43:49.216
  • Then, i realized that we needed new kings, and it didn't stop.
  • 00:43:49.216 --> 00:43:53.654
  • It just kept on going.
  • 00:43:53.654 --> 00:43:55.022
  • I've been doing this for 45 years.
  • 00:43:55.022 --> 00:43:59.660
  • - they go to the inn, which is the art association.
  • 00:44:00.794 --> 00:44:05.332
  • They're turned away,
  • 00:44:05.866 --> 00:44:09.470
  • And the innkeeper's daughter leads them up to the crèche,
  • 00:44:10.704 --> 00:44:13.373
  • Which is behind us on the lawn of the church.
  • 00:44:13.373 --> 00:44:17.311
  • - our participation in the pageant is strictly--
  • 00:44:18.345 --> 00:44:21.048
  • We have a nice big yard, and the manger is put up.
  • 00:44:21.048 --> 00:44:27.354
  • - the local builders designed it.
  • 00:44:28.155 --> 00:44:30.023
  • It does have a plywood floor, so it could have been early 60s.
  • 00:44:30.023 --> 00:44:35.496
  • A few guys volunteer, and some of my guys that work for me,
  • 00:44:35.496 --> 00:44:38.799
  • We work on it.
  • 00:44:38.799 --> 00:44:40.134
  • My wife's out here now, and my son's worked on it many times.
  • 00:44:40.134 --> 00:44:51.512
  • - seven, eight years old, i took over from my father,
  • 00:44:52.646 --> 00:44:55.883
  • Who was in it.
  • 00:44:55.883 --> 00:44:57.151
  • Gets me in the christmas spirit.
  • 00:44:57.151 --> 00:44:58.852
  • Bring my family here, and i see old friends that are in this.
  • 00:44:58.852 --> 00:45:03.624
  • They've been in it for years.
  • 00:45:03.624 --> 00:45:05.125
  • My daughter comes down with her family now.
  • 00:45:05.125 --> 00:45:08.262
  • Now, she's got two babies, but the little girl was in it last
  • 00:45:08.262 --> 00:45:11.965
  • Year.
  • 00:45:11.965 --> 00:45:13.934
  • - my grandchildren were all in it every year,
  • 00:45:14.968 --> 00:45:17.471
  • From four or five years old.
  • 00:45:17.471 --> 00:45:19.706
  • They progressed through the years.
  • 00:45:19.706 --> 00:45:21.308
  • The dove children, and then small shepherds,
  • 00:45:21.308 --> 00:45:24.244
  • And then they get to be maybe tall shepherds.
  • 00:45:24.244 --> 00:45:27.781
  • - the first year, we became the animal handlers,
  • 00:45:28.849 --> 00:45:31.685
  • Going to pick up the sheep and the goats in somebody's car or
  • 00:45:31.685 --> 00:45:34.688
  • Truck.
  • 00:45:34.688 --> 00:45:35.823
  • And then, when i became a teenager,
  • 00:45:35.823 --> 00:45:37.257
  • They had me become a torchbearer.
  • 00:45:37.257 --> 00:45:40.294
  • And then, for one or two years, i was a roman soldier,
  • 00:45:40.294 --> 00:45:43.230
  • And then they needed a new king.
  • 00:45:43.230 --> 00:45:45.866
  • And once you're a king, you stay a king.
  • 00:45:45.866 --> 00:45:49.036
  • - it was the same three kings for every bit of 20 years.
  • 00:45:50.237 --> 00:45:54.274
  • The two other guys that i did it with had been kings since the
  • 00:45:54.274 --> 00:45:58.612
  • 70s.
  • 00:45:58.612 --> 00:46:04.585
  • - the main street in rockport is just off the water on cape
  • 00:46:05.853 --> 00:46:09.156
  • Anne.
  • 00:46:09.156 --> 00:46:10.424
  • The temperature is usually around 20 degrees that time of
  • 00:46:10.424 --> 00:46:13.160
  • Year.
  • 00:46:13.160 --> 00:46:14.461
  • But the wind off the north atlantic sea can easily drop it
  • 00:46:14.461 --> 00:46:17.764
  • Below 10.
  • 00:46:17.764 --> 00:46:23.003
  • None of that stops the kings from offering gifts,
  • 00:46:24.071 --> 00:46:26.640
  • The shepherds from worshipping, and the crowd from singing
  • 00:46:26.640 --> 00:46:31.612
  • "silent night".
  • 00:46:31.612 --> 00:46:34.081
  • The whole event lasting just over 20 minutes.
  • 00:46:35.115 --> 00:46:40.621
  • - the church has a long history of doing a ham and bean supper
  • 00:46:41.922 --> 00:46:45.125
  • Right after the pageant.
  • 00:46:45.125 --> 00:46:54.568
  • - christmas, the whole nativity,
  • 00:46:55.269 --> 00:46:58.639
  • And the birth of jesus has a very deep meaning to me,
  • 00:46:58.639 --> 00:47:03.810
  • But it has a simple meaning.
  • 00:47:03.810 --> 00:47:11.852
  • I mean, shepherds back in those days,
  • 00:47:12.719 --> 00:47:15.555
  • They cared for the wealth of communities, small villages,
  • 00:47:15.555 --> 00:47:21.461
  • Because the sheep, for clothing, for food, for dairy,
  • 00:47:21.461 --> 00:47:26.967
  • All these things.
  • 00:47:26.967 --> 00:47:29.069
  • It was the wealth in some ways of the whole community and how
  • 00:47:29.069 --> 00:47:32.839
  • They existed.
  • 00:47:32.839 --> 00:47:34.441
  • Probably a little different, but maybe no different than some
  • 00:47:34.441 --> 00:47:38.545
  • That work in service industries today.
  • 00:47:38.545 --> 00:47:47.254
  • The thought that they were there to see in that moment and
  • 00:47:48.488 --> 00:47:54.261
  • Find hope.
  • 00:47:54.261 --> 00:48:01.068
  • - i think you have to be hopeful as an artist.
  • 00:48:02.069 --> 00:48:06.106
  • And it's only through hope that you're able to continue,
  • 00:48:07.307 --> 00:48:09.509
  • You know?
  • 00:48:09.509 --> 00:48:12.612
  • - i missed the last two years because i work in a tugboat down
  • 00:48:13.880 --> 00:48:16.683
  • In new york.
  • 00:48:16.683 --> 00:48:18.018
  • And this year, i got the email that said next year was the 80th
  • 00:48:18.018 --> 00:48:20.387
  • Year, and i thought, "next year, i'll be 50.”
  • 00:48:20.387 --> 00:48:22.823
  • I gotta go do it.
  • 00:48:22.823 --> 00:48:35.769
  • [music]
  • 00:48:36.103 --> 00:48:50.550
  • - "the bread of god is he who comes down from heaven and gives
  • 00:48:51.818 --> 00:48:55.822
  • Life to the world.
  • 00:48:55.822 --> 00:48:59.826
  • - "then jesus declared, 'i am the bread of life.
  • 00:49:00.861 --> 00:49:04.197
  • Whoever comes to me will never go hungry.
  • 00:49:04.197 --> 00:49:07.467
  • Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
  • 00:49:07.467 --> 00:49:15.208
  • - special breads have been a part of celebrations and feasts
  • 00:49:16.476 --> 00:49:18.845
  • Since people learned to bake.
  • 00:49:18.845 --> 00:49:25.318
  • Jesus described himself as the bread of life.
  • 00:49:26.353 --> 00:49:31.758
  • Bethlehem, the town of jesus' birth, means house of bread.
  • 00:49:32.993 --> 00:49:44.604
  • As christmas spread across europe,
  • 00:49:45.439 --> 00:49:47.307
  • We began to see breads like stollen from germany,
  • 00:49:47.307 --> 00:49:52.379
  • Panettone from italy,
  • 00:49:52.946 --> 00:49:55.816
  • Christopsomos from greece,
  • 00:49:56.450 --> 00:49:59.686
  • And the egyptian gingerbread made further popular by the
  • 00:50:00.887 --> 00:50:03.490
  • Germans.
  • 00:50:03.490 --> 00:50:07.394
  • [music]
  • 00:50:07.727 --> 00:50:10.030
  • One of the warmest examples of decorative christmas bread today
  • 00:50:10.030 --> 00:50:12.766
  • Can be found in bergen, norway,
  • 00:50:12.766 --> 00:50:16.369
  • Where they've taken it upon themselves to make the largest
  • 00:50:17.604 --> 00:50:20.407
  • Gingerbread city in the world every christmas.
  • 00:50:20.407 --> 00:50:35.222
  • - i'm dawid.
  • 00:50:35.622 --> 00:50:36.690
  • I'm head chef of fish me.
  • 00:50:36.690 --> 00:50:46.466
  • Bergen was the biggest and the famous harbor in norway.
  • 00:50:47.634 --> 00:50:57.911
  • There coming boats with the fishes and selling directly from
  • 00:50:59.146 --> 00:51:02.516
  • The boats.
  • 00:51:02.516 --> 00:51:06.286
  • This area was the fish market.
  • 00:51:06.987 --> 00:51:14.060
  • In the 16th century, when came one boat from germany with the
  • 00:51:15.328 --> 00:51:21.168
  • Pepperkakker dough.
  • 00:51:21.168 --> 00:51:24.538
  • On one barrel was the recipe for this dough.
  • 00:51:25.539 --> 00:51:28.708
  • There was a lot of spices, like exotic spices, ginger, cinnamon,
  • 00:51:30.010 --> 00:51:34.481
  • Muskat.
  • 00:51:34.481 --> 00:51:36.383
  • Nobody before used the spices here.
  • 00:51:36.383 --> 00:51:41.788
  • Only rich people can buy this dough.
  • 00:51:42.622 --> 00:51:45.425
  • Even king also.
  • 00:51:45.425 --> 00:51:47.327
  • King sent this dough to the oslo capital.
  • 00:51:47.327 --> 00:51:53.033
  • In the 19th century, when everybody started having ovens
  • 00:51:54.201 --> 00:51:58.605
  • At home, we started to make real pepperkakker to be like the
  • 00:51:58.605 --> 00:52:02.809
  • Tradition of christmas cake.
  • 00:52:02.809 --> 00:52:05.145
  • We can do together like family.
  • 00:52:05.145 --> 00:52:07.747
  • Everybody sits next to the table.
  • 00:52:07.747 --> 00:52:10.150
  • We roll dough.
  • 00:52:10.150 --> 00:52:11.351
  • We make different shapes like hearts, like houses.
  • 00:52:11.351 --> 00:52:15.422
  • First popular shape was pepperkakker men.
  • 00:52:16.389 --> 00:52:21.595
  • Kids put this cakes on the windows, on christmas tree.
  • 00:52:22.762 --> 00:52:31.705
  • - that's the thing.
  • 00:52:32.239 --> 00:52:33.540
  • When i grew up, we knew that when we started making this huge
  • 00:52:33.540 --> 00:52:36.009
  • Bowls of gingerbread dough, and that smell,
  • 00:52:36.009 --> 00:52:38.712
  • It's just the best thing ever.
  • 00:52:38.712 --> 00:52:40.814
  • Like it's really like now, it's started.
  • 00:52:40.814 --> 00:52:42.716
  • It's started.
  • 00:52:42.716 --> 00:52:43.383
  • It's happening.
  • 00:52:43.383 --> 00:52:43.984
  • It's christmas.
  • 00:52:43.984 --> 00:52:46.853
  • [laughs]
  • 00:52:47.153 --> 00:52:50.724
  • The gingerbread thing, i guess it starts when you're a kid.
  • 00:52:51.958 --> 00:52:54.094
  • We kind of do it with your grandmother and your mother.
  • 00:52:54.094 --> 00:52:56.930
  • And we used to make like giant figures that we put on the wall.
  • 00:52:56.930 --> 00:53:04.037
  • And it was strung up with bread band.
  • 00:53:04.904 --> 00:53:07.707
  • And when the figures eventually fell down, we could eat them.
  • 00:53:07.707 --> 00:53:11.311
  • So, we would kind of wait all through december for it to fall
  • 00:53:11.311 --> 00:53:15.548
  • Down.
  • 00:53:15.548 --> 00:53:17.450
  • We were delighted when we heard a crash from the kitchen.
  • 00:53:17.550 --> 00:53:26.660
  • - wintertime, it's like dark.
  • 00:53:27.360 --> 00:53:29.529
  • Yeah.
  • 00:53:29.529 --> 00:53:30.797
  • But the spices when the whole house smell of the ginger,
  • 00:53:30.797 --> 00:53:34.968
  • Cinnamon, orange, pepper, it's like give us like a bit of sun.
  • 00:53:34.968 --> 00:53:43.009
  • Schools, kindergarten, start baked pepperkakker house.
  • 00:53:44.144 --> 00:53:53.053
  • - when i was still a student, i think rumors got out that they
  • 00:53:54.354 --> 00:53:57.624
  • Were doing this thing with the giant gingerbread city.
  • 00:53:57.624 --> 00:54:01.561
  • And then, me and a few friends, we did as a pre-christmas thing,
  • 00:54:02.862 --> 00:54:05.799
  • Like an advent.
  • 00:54:05.799 --> 00:54:08.368
  • And it just grew.
  • 00:54:08.835 --> 00:54:10.937
  • And we did some amazing creations.
  • 00:54:11.771 --> 00:54:17.510
  • - i founded this gingerbread city in 1991.
  • 00:54:18.411 --> 00:54:21.581
  • We decided to make the biggest gingerbread city in the world.
  • 00:54:21.581 --> 00:54:27.854
  • [applause]
  • 00:54:28.221 --> 00:54:36.796
  • - i'm the architect of the gingerbread city,
  • 00:54:37.797 --> 00:54:39.499
  • And i've been working on it since 1992.
  • 00:54:39.499 --> 00:54:50.810
  • People that have been two, three generations doing it,
  • 00:54:51.978 --> 00:54:54.681
  • They make it at home, and then go by bus, or by train,
  • 00:54:54.681 --> 00:54:58.852
  • Or by car and deliver it to us.
  • 00:54:58.852 --> 00:55:09.929
  • - people grow up, they had kids,
  • 00:55:10.630 --> 00:55:12.298
  • And then it's kind were a few years where we didn't do it.
  • 00:55:12.298 --> 00:55:15.435
  • And then, now, the kids are getting older,
  • 00:55:15.435 --> 00:55:18.304
  • So we can start doing it again.
  • 00:55:18.304 --> 00:55:24.544
  • - i've said hello to some of them when they were five,
  • 00:55:25.678 --> 00:55:27.814
  • Six years old, and now they're bringing their kids.
  • 00:55:27.814 --> 00:55:31.117
  • They deliver all the houses with small notes with their name
  • 00:55:32.352 --> 00:55:35.655
  • And addresses.
  • 00:55:35.655 --> 00:55:38.658
  • Sometimes i recognize a house that i've seen before.
  • 00:55:39.793 --> 00:55:48.401
  • - so many people are doing it.
  • 00:55:49.102 --> 00:55:50.937
  • So, it's like, "oh, have you started yours?
  • 00:55:50.937 --> 00:55:54.073
  • What are you going to do?”
  • 00:55:54.073 --> 00:55:55.008
  • It becomes a topic.
  • 00:55:55.008 --> 00:55:56.009
  • It becomes something you talk about.
  • 00:55:56.009 --> 00:55:59.846
  • And then, of course, eventually seeing it and knowing that
  • 00:56:01.080 --> 00:56:04.484
  • You've been a part of creating this massive thing.
  • 00:56:04.484 --> 00:56:13.660
  • - i'm very happy today.
  • 00:56:14.260 --> 00:56:16.329
  • Maybe there's a special spirit in bergen to do things together.
  • 00:56:17.597 --> 00:56:29.676
  • [music]
  • 00:56:30.009 --> 00:56:39.052
  • - i've lived in london, and i lived in paris,
  • 00:56:40.086 --> 00:56:42.889
  • And i knew a lot of overworked people.
  • 00:56:42.889 --> 00:56:45.358
  • Mom and dad are both working, and grandparents possibly taking
  • 00:56:45.358 --> 00:56:50.263
  • Care of the kids.
  • 00:56:50.263 --> 00:56:57.837
  • And i moved back here because it's a smaller city.
  • 00:56:58.938 --> 00:57:03.676
  • To see people, to do stuff, it's easier to get together and
  • 00:57:03.676 --> 00:57:06.546
  • Make these things.
  • 00:57:06.546 --> 00:57:10.483
  • And i can use my bike to go everywhere.
  • 00:57:11.384 --> 00:57:15.989
  • This is kind of a dream of going back to where things were
  • 00:57:17.223 --> 00:57:18.992
  • A little bit slower.
  • 00:57:18.992 --> 00:57:22.562
  • - it's a strange thing in these days because everybody's sitting
  • 00:57:23.863 --> 00:57:26.933
  • On their screens and being isolated.
  • 00:57:26.933 --> 00:57:30.236
  • A lot of their spare time and free time.
  • 00:57:31.170 --> 00:57:33.907
  • But this is one of the things that brings people together.
  • 00:57:33.907 --> 00:57:43.283
  • It engages the whole city.
  • 00:57:43.917 --> 00:57:59.532
  • - the dream of how things kind of work together.
  • 00:58:00.567 --> 00:58:09.776
  • There's a way of living here, which is called a
  • 00:58:10.843 --> 00:58:14.080
  • [indiscernible].
  • 00:58:14.080 --> 00:58:15.281
  • Families live together.
  • 00:58:15.281 --> 00:58:18.818
  • All the tiny houses.
  • 00:58:19.352 --> 00:58:22.922
  • And the [indiscernible] style of living
  • 00:58:22.922 --> 00:58:25.658
  • Is a gingerbread village.
  • 00:58:25.658 --> 00:58:47.847
  • [music]
  • 00:58:48.181 --> 00:59:10.870
  • - another figure that started in the church and moved out into
  • 00:59:12.138 --> 00:59:14.874
  • Everyday life in about the biggest way imaginable is
  • 00:59:14.874 --> 00:59:18.344
  • Nicholas, the bishop of myra, famed for his fondness of giving
  • 00:59:18.344 --> 00:59:22.649
  • Gifts.
  • 00:59:22.649 --> 00:59:23.916
  • Canonized in 1466, he became st. nicholas.
  • 00:59:23.916 --> 00:59:28.688
  • [music]
  • 00:59:28.688 --> 00:59:33.126
  • ♪ - who very soon will come our way? ♪
  • 00:59:34.127 --> 00:59:35.928
  • ♪ santa very soon will come our way ♪
  • 00:59:35.928 --> 00:59:38.431
  • ♪ eight little reindeer pull his sleigh ♪
  • 00:59:38.431 --> 00:59:41.000
  • ♪ santa's little reindeer pull his sleigh ♪
  • 00:59:41.000 --> 00:59:43.603
  • ♪ reindeer sleigh, come our way ♪
  • 00:59:43.603 --> 00:59:45.972
  • ♪ ho, ho, ho, cherry nose ♪
  • 00:59:45.972 --> 00:59:48.441
  • ♪ cap on head, suit that's red ♪
  • 00:59:48.441 --> 00:59:50.910
  • ♪ special night, beard that's white ♪
  • 00:59:50.910 --> 00:59:53.279
  • ♪ must be santa, must be santa ♪
  • 00:59:53.279 --> 00:59:58.484
  • ♪ must be santa, santa claus ♪
  • 00:59:58.484 --> 01:00:04.590
  • [applause & cheering]
  • 01:00:04.590 --> 01:00:08.327
  • - my feast day was established on december 6th in the year 343.
  • 01:00:08.428 --> 01:00:15.268
  • [music]
  • 01:00:15.268 --> 01:00:17.770
  • 1:01:50
  • 01:00:17.770 --> 01:00:19.138
  • And by the 11th century, it was widely celebrated across
  • 01:00:19.138 --> 01:00:23.276
  • Europe.
  • 01:00:23.276 --> 01:00:27.280
  • The legends about me have persisted, traveled,
  • 01:00:28.281 --> 01:00:31.651
  • And evolved over time.
  • 01:00:31.651 --> 01:00:33.753
  • By 1809, my dutch name had become very popular.
  • 01:00:33.753 --> 01:00:46.866
  • My fame expanded quite a bit more in 1822,
  • 01:00:47.834 --> 01:00:52.338
  • When an episcopal minister, clement clarke moore,
  • 01:00:52.338 --> 01:00:56.976
  • Wrote a christmas poem.
  • 01:00:56.976 --> 01:00:59.545
  • 'twas the night before christmas,
  • 01:01:00.346 --> 01:01:01.914
  • When all through the house not a creature was stirring,
  • 01:01:01.914 --> 01:01:05.384
  • Not even a mouse;
  • 01:01:05.384 --> 01:01:07.053
  • The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
  • 01:01:08.121 --> 01:01:11.557
  • In hopes that st. nicholas soon would be there;
  • 01:01:11.557 --> 01:01:15.995
  • I was flying from home to home on a sleigh pulled by reindeer.
  • 01:01:17.296 --> 01:01:21.701
  • [laughs]
  • 01:01:21.701 --> 01:01:25.738
  • [music]
  • 01:01:26.072 --> 01:01:28.775
  • - the vast commercialization of santa claus would come with the
  • 01:01:28.875 --> 01:01:32.411
  • Advent of my former profession, advertising.
  • 01:01:32.411 --> 01:01:36.949
  • When santa started to be popularized in the 1820s,
  • 01:01:37.984 --> 01:01:41.087
  • Stores had already begun advertising their wares as
  • 01:01:41.087 --> 01:01:44.857
  • Christmas presents.
  • 01:01:44.857 --> 01:01:46.159
  • A christmas economy grew with the rise of industrialization
  • 01:01:47.426 --> 01:01:50.863
  • And the middle class.
  • 01:01:50.863 --> 01:01:56.836
  • Over the course of time, stores became dependent upon christmas
  • 01:01:58.171 --> 01:02:01.541
  • Sales for their profitability,
  • 01:02:01.541 --> 01:02:04.110
  • A dependency that remains at its peak today.
  • 01:02:05.077 --> 01:02:11.450
  • [music]
  • 01:02:11.784 --> 01:02:57.930
  • - the ancient world believed in many gods and goddesses,
  • 01:02:59.131 --> 01:03:02.401
  • And the relationship was built entirely on transactions.
  • 01:03:02.501 --> 01:03:06.239
  • People would perform rites and sacrifices in exchange for
  • 01:03:06.339 --> 01:03:09.876
  • Supernatural favor, or from fear of falling out of favor,
  • 01:03:09.876 --> 01:03:14.580
  • A world where every gift was just as much about the gain of
  • 01:03:15.815 --> 01:03:19.418
  • The giver.
  • 01:03:19.418 --> 01:03:21.354
  • And perhaps the consumerism we are immersed in today isn't much
  • 01:03:21.454 --> 01:03:25.324
  • Different than what our ancestors faced under the gods
  • 01:03:25.324 --> 01:03:28.160
  • Of the ancient world.
  • 01:03:28.160 --> 01:03:35.268
  • [music]
  • 01:03:35.601 --> 01:03:37.136
  • Remember when i mentioned how i had seen america move away from
  • 01:03:38.471 --> 01:03:41.774
  • Being a nation of citizens to a nation of consumers?
  • 01:03:41.774 --> 01:03:45.544
  • That process has a dehumanizing effect.
  • 01:03:46.445 --> 01:03:51.918
  • The supreme irony is that the original christmas story is
  • 01:03:53.152 --> 01:03:56.956
  • Arguably the most human-affirming story ever told.
  • 01:03:56.956 --> 01:04:02.094
  • [chatter]
  • 01:04:02.428 --> 01:04:14.440
  • [applause]
  • 01:04:14.807 --> 01:04:33.526
  • [music]
  • 01:04:33.859 --> 01:04:36.796
  • - the idea of jesus' light extends to his followers that
  • 01:04:37.997 --> 01:04:41.801
  • They should be people of light.
  • 01:04:41.801 --> 01:04:47.640
  • The community of fall river, massachusetts,
  • 01:04:48.641 --> 01:04:51.744
  • Presents a contemporary example of light shining into darkness.
  • 01:04:51.744 --> 01:05:11.530
  • - fall river has had its knocks, for sure,
  • 01:05:12.498 --> 01:05:15.167
  • And it is a tough city still.
  • 01:05:15.167 --> 01:05:18.070
  • I mean, there's lots of grit here,
  • 01:05:18.070 --> 01:05:19.171
  • But when something happens to one of their own,
  • 01:05:19.171 --> 01:05:22.975
  • People respond.
  • 01:05:22.975 --> 01:05:26.712
  • - i've been at fall river for 30 years.
  • 01:05:27.646 --> 01:05:29.882
  • There's so many people that want to help,
  • 01:05:29.882 --> 01:05:31.617
  • So many people that want to do good.
  • 01:05:31.617 --> 01:05:43.095
  • - i work with father rob a lot.
  • 01:05:43.829 --> 01:05:45.297
  • He's quite the mentor when it comes to being a good human
  • 01:05:46.532 --> 01:05:49.101
  • Being.
  • 01:05:49.101 --> 01:05:50.202
  • And he's helped me out quite a bit.
  • 01:05:50.202 --> 01:05:52.405
  • And i'm not a religious person at all, at all.
  • 01:05:53.439 --> 01:05:56.142
  • So, this friendship is kind of bizarre because he's father rob,
  • 01:05:57.410 --> 01:06:01.380
  • And i'm just me.
  • 01:06:01.380 --> 01:06:09.288
  • - we don't want people in the fall river area to have to be
  • 01:06:10.556 --> 01:06:13.492
  • Alone on christmas.
  • 01:06:13.492 --> 01:06:14.860
  • We went down to christopher's, my wife and i, chef alex,
  • 01:06:14.860 --> 01:06:19.899
  • Chef sandy.
  • 01:06:19.899 --> 01:06:21.567
  • - for years, i had been alone on christmas.
  • 01:06:22.568 --> 01:06:24.703
  • It's very painful.
  • 01:06:24.703 --> 01:06:27.640
  • - well, christopher got the word out through his social
  • 01:06:27.740 --> 01:06:30.376
  • Media, and people have been lining up to volunteer.
  • 01:06:30.376 --> 01:06:34.180
  • [music]
  • 01:06:34.180 --> 01:06:41.220
  • - the people who volunteer, while they're not necessarily
  • 01:06:42.455 --> 01:06:45.224
  • The ones that are in need of food or warmth,
  • 01:06:45.224 --> 01:06:49.161
  • They're in need of being around others and serving others.
  • 01:06:49.161 --> 01:06:58.804
  • They get something out of it in addition to the people that are
  • 01:07:00.139 --> 01:07:03.776
  • Being fed and clothed.
  • 01:07:03.776 --> 01:07:06.946
  • A purpose on the holiday, a place of being surrounded by
  • 01:07:08.147 --> 01:07:11.517
  • Other people, and feeling part of something.
  • 01:07:11.517 --> 01:07:22.761
  • - there's a lot of food in our life that kind of brings back
  • 01:07:24.029 --> 01:07:26.799
  • Good memories, right?
  • 01:07:26.799 --> 01:07:28.067
  • It's like smells.
  • 01:07:28.067 --> 01:07:29.335
  • Smells can bring you back 25 years.
  • 01:07:29.335 --> 01:07:31.837
  • It's always about being around loved ones or being around
  • 01:07:31.837 --> 01:07:35.741
  • Friends.
  • 01:07:35.741 --> 01:07:39.778
  • Whenever we do a homeless dinner,
  • 01:07:40.513 --> 01:07:42.414
  • I don't want to just throw pasta or hot dogs at people.
  • 01:07:42.414 --> 01:07:46.252
  • I want to give them an elegant meal so that they feel elegant.
  • 01:07:46.252 --> 01:07:56.562
  • - i got a call from christopher saying someone just delivered 55
  • 01:07:57.863 --> 01:08:01.634
  • Pounds of new bedford sea scallops that just got off the
  • 01:08:01.634 --> 01:08:04.336
  • Boat.
  • 01:08:04.336 --> 01:08:05.905
  • Chef sandy's doing 70 lamb chops,
  • 01:08:06.705 --> 01:08:08.841
  • Some chinese food from mr. chen's,
  • 01:08:08.841 --> 01:08:11.977
  • And fiorentina italian kitchen, tipsy toboggan's american food.
  • 01:08:11.977 --> 01:08:21.554
  • [music]
  • 01:08:21.887 --> 01:08:32.231
  • - if you know you're going to be cooking for people who would
  • 01:08:33.532 --> 01:08:35.801
  • Probably be alone on christmas day or in a tent outside,
  • 01:08:35.801 --> 01:08:40.673
  • You want to give them maximum satisfaction, right,
  • 01:08:40.673 --> 01:08:45.644
  • Validation that they're human.
  • 01:08:45.644 --> 01:09:42.635
  • - jesus brought people together in community to share joy,
  • 01:09:43.869 --> 01:09:47.506
  • To share hope, to share love with them,
  • 01:09:47.506 --> 01:09:51.277
  • Telling us something, teaching us something.
  • 01:09:52.278 --> 01:10:02.888
  • - you know, you can't do it alone.
  • 01:10:03.722 --> 01:10:04.823
  • No one can do it alone.
  • 01:10:04.823 --> 01:10:06.392
  • Events like this allow us to make that connection.
  • 01:10:06.392 --> 01:10:11.730
  • Please come be with us, whether you're sitting at the table and
  • 01:10:13.065 --> 01:10:17.102
  • We're serving you, or whether you're the one serving.
  • 01:10:17.102 --> 01:10:27.046
  • It all comes together.
  • 01:10:27.613 --> 01:10:28.914
  • The reward is felt both ways.
  • 01:10:28.914 --> 01:10:52.504
  • [music]
  • 01:10:52.838 --> 01:10:59.445
  • - it was our good christmas friend, st. francis of assisi,
  • 01:11:00.679 --> 01:11:03.282
  • Who first brought sayings and songs of well wishes into
  • 01:11:03.282 --> 01:11:07.586
  • Christmas services.
  • 01:11:07.586 --> 01:11:09.621
  • The word carol originally came from an old french word meaning
  • 01:11:10.923 --> 01:11:14.626
  • A jolly ring dance.
  • 01:11:14.626 --> 01:11:16.328
  • A surprising number of the carols we sing today had roots
  • 01:11:17.529 --> 01:11:20.332
  • In the 15th century, making them the best preserved examples of
  • 01:11:20.332 --> 01:11:24.870
  • English medieval music.
  • 01:11:24.870 --> 01:11:30.542
  • - in the original meaning of merry christmas,
  • 01:11:31.543 --> 01:11:33.712
  • The word merry didn't mean joyful.
  • 01:11:33.712 --> 01:11:36.448
  • It meant blessed and peaceful, like the phrase merry england.
  • 01:11:36.448 --> 01:11:47.092
  • In the same way, the song "god rest ye merry gentlemen”
  • 01:11:48.293 --> 01:11:53.632
  • Is not addressing joyful gentlemen.
  • 01:11:53.632 --> 01:11:57.302
  • The comma in the original writing is after the word merry
  • 01:11:58.504 --> 01:12:03.742
  • And conveys god's blessing and peace rest upon you.
  • 01:12:04.810 --> 01:12:10.482
  • "god rest ye merry, gentlemen
  • 01:12:10.482 --> 01:12:13.952
  • Let nothing you dismay
  • 01:12:13.952 --> 01:12:15.821
  • Remember christ our savior
  • 01:12:15.821 --> 01:12:17.923
  • Was born on christmas day”
  • 01:12:17.923 --> 01:12:23.829
  • [music]
  • 01:12:24.163 --> 01:12:29.134
  • - george frederick handel had fallen deeply into debt and was
  • 01:12:30.436 --> 01:12:34.206
  • Facing the prospect of a debtor's prison.
  • 01:12:34.206 --> 01:12:37.543
  • Handel's messiah was first performed in dublin on april 13,
  • 01:12:38.744 --> 01:12:42.681
  • 1742.
  • 01:12:42.681 --> 01:12:44.583
  • Hardly sleeping or eating, he composed the original score of
  • 01:12:45.851 --> 01:12:50.289
  • 259 pages in just 24 days.
  • 01:12:50.289 --> 01:12:56.895
  • The very first performance of "messiah”
  • 01:12:57.796 --> 01:12:59.865
  • Was a benefit for local charities,
  • 01:12:59.865 --> 01:13:02.000
  • Including mercer's hospital, which was originally a medieval
  • 01:13:02.000 --> 01:13:05.637
  • Leper house established in 1230,
  • 01:13:05.637 --> 01:13:08.307
  • The charitable infirmary, which was the first volunteer hospital
  • 01:13:09.608 --> 01:13:12.578
  • In ireland and great britain,
  • 01:13:12.578 --> 01:13:14.513
  • And a prisoner's debt relief.
  • 01:13:15.214 --> 01:13:17.816
  • The benefit was such a success that the debt of 143 prisoners
  • 01:13:19.084 --> 01:13:23.255
  • Was paid off, and they were released from that prison as a
  • 01:13:23.255 --> 01:13:26.458
  • Result.
  • 01:13:26.458 --> 01:13:30.028
  • Handel's irish backers returned the favor by paying off some of
  • 01:13:31.363 --> 01:13:34.399
  • His own london debts.
  • 01:13:34.399 --> 01:13:43.342
  • [music]
  • 01:13:43.675 --> 01:13:48.647
  • - "silent night” was composed in austria in 1818,
  • 01:13:49.748 --> 01:13:53.552
  • Not long after the napoleonic wars had taken their toll.
  • 01:13:53.552 --> 01:13:59.358
  • It was christmas eve when the now famous carol was first
  • 01:14:00.559 --> 01:14:03.228
  • Performed as "stille nacht, heilige nacht".
  • 01:14:03.228 --> 01:14:06.965
  • Joseph mohr, the young priest who wrote the lyrics,
  • 01:14:06.965 --> 01:14:09.501
  • Played the guitar and sang along with franz xaver gruber,
  • 01:14:09.501 --> 01:14:13.171
  • The choir director who had written the melody.
  • 01:14:13.171 --> 01:14:18.744
  • An organ builder and repairman working at the church took a
  • 01:14:19.978 --> 01:14:22.881
  • Copy of the six verse song to his home village.
  • 01:14:22.881 --> 01:14:28.053
  • There, it was picked up and spread by two families of
  • 01:14:29.187 --> 01:14:31.857
  • Traveling folk singers who performed around northern
  • 01:14:31.857 --> 01:14:34.593
  • Europe.
  • 01:14:34.593 --> 01:14:37.629
  • The composition evolved and was translated into over 300
  • 01:14:38.830 --> 01:14:42.067
  • Languages.
  • 01:14:42.067 --> 01:14:43.535
  • It was sung in churches, in town squares,
  • 01:14:44.403 --> 01:14:47.172
  • And eventually on the battlefield during world war i.
  • 01:14:47.172 --> 01:14:51.677
  • - the germans said, "tomorrow, you no shoot, we no shoot.”
  • 01:14:52.945 --> 01:14:57.182
  • And the morning came, and we didn't shoot,
  • 01:14:57.182 --> 01:15:00.519
  • And they didn't shoot.
  • 01:15:00.519 --> 01:15:01.954
  • - during a remarkable temporary truce on christmas eve,
  • 01:15:01.954 --> 01:15:06.024
  • "silent night” was sung simultaneously by soldiers
  • 01:15:06.024 --> 01:15:10.028
  • In french, german, and english.
  • 01:15:10.028 --> 01:15:23.642
  • [music]
  • 01:15:23.976 --> 01:15:31.149
  • - the song "o come, o come, emmanuel”
  • 01:15:32.050 --> 01:15:33.785
  • Originated in the early 9th century as one of seven latin
  • 01:15:33.785 --> 01:15:37.956
  • Antiphons, or chants, used in the last seven days of christmas
  • 01:15:37.956 --> 01:15:42.294
  • Advent.
  • 01:15:42.294 --> 01:15:43.528
  • The seven antiphons are o sepentia, o adonai,
  • 01:15:43.528 --> 01:15:49.568
  • O radix jesse, o clavis david, o oriens, o rex genitium,
  • 01:15:49.568 --> 01:15:57.142
  • And o emmanuel, culminating on christmas eve.
  • 01:15:57.142 --> 01:16:06.852
  • Today's popular versions of "o come, emmanuel”
  • 01:16:07.886 --> 01:16:10.522
  • Are extensions of a legacy spanning 11 centuries.
  • 01:16:10.522 --> 01:16:16.028
  • [music]
  • 01:16:16.361 --> 01:16:31.076
  • ♪ - o come, o come, immanuel, ♪
  • 01:16:31.843 --> 01:16:40.652
  • ♪ and ransom captive israel ♪
  • 01:16:41.420 --> 01:16:49.661
  • ♪ that mourns in lonely exile here ♪
  • 01:16:50.595 --> 01:16:59.171
  • ♪ until the son of god appear. ♪
  • 01:16:59.938 --> 01:17:08.947
  • ♪ ♪
  • 01:17:08.947 --> 01:17:12.951
  • ♪ o come, thou dayspring, come and cheer ♪
  • 01:17:12.951 --> 01:17:21.326
  • ♪ our spirits by thine advent here ♪
  • 01:17:22.260 --> 01:17:30.769
  • ♪ and drive away the shade of night, ♪
  • 01:17:31.770 --> 01:17:40.812
  • ♪ and pierce the clouds and bring us light. ♪
  • 01:17:40.912 --> 01:17:52.257
  • ♪ even so come, even so come, ♪
  • 01:17:53.024 --> 01:18:06.004
  • ♪ emmanuel, you're here with us. ♪
  • 01:18:06.905 --> 01:18:17.649
  • ♪ even so come, even so come, ♪
  • 01:18:18.416 --> 01:18:30.762
  • ♪ emmanuel, you're here with us. ♪
  • 01:18:31.663 --> 01:18:49.714
  • ♪ o come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, ♪
  • 01:18:50.916 --> 01:19:03.328
  • ♪ o come ye, o come ye to bethlehem. ♪
  • 01:19:03.328 --> 01:19:16.875
  • ♪ come, let me hold him, born the king of angels. ♪
  • 01:19:16.875 --> 01:19:28.620
  • ♪ o come, let us adore him, o come, let us adore him, ♪
  • 01:19:28.620 --> 01:19:41.333
  • ♪ o come, let us adore him, christ ♪
  • 01:19:41.333 --> 01:19:53.411
  • ♪ rejoice, rejoice, emmanuel ♪
  • 01:19:53.411 --> 01:20:05.423
  • ♪ shall come to thee, o israel. ♪
  • 01:20:06.291 --> 01:20:17.402
  • ♪ even so come, even so come, ♪
  • 01:20:18.169 --> 01:20:31.349
  • ♪ emmanuel, even so come. ♪
  • 01:20:32.083 --> 01:20:58.677
  • [music]
  • 01:20:59.010 --> 01:21:07.719
  • - the journey of christmas to become the largest global
  • 01:21:08.887 --> 01:21:11.523
  • Holiday on earth naturally follows the journey of
  • 01:21:11.523 --> 01:21:14.626
  • Christianity itself.
  • 01:21:14.626 --> 01:21:16.528
  • The greek word christianos means follower of christ.
  • 01:21:17.629 --> 01:21:22.033
  • In terms of population, there were scant few at the time of
  • 01:21:23.301 --> 01:21:27.572
  • Jesus' death and resurrection.
  • 01:21:27.572 --> 01:21:31.643
  • By the year 400, there were 40 million,
  • 01:21:32.510 --> 01:21:36.448
  • And christianity would dominate the next millennium of western
  • 01:21:36.448 --> 01:21:40.185
  • History.
  • 01:21:40.185 --> 01:21:41.753
  • How did this happen?
  • 01:21:42.287 --> 01:21:46.791
  • Historically speaking, given the monumental mistakes of
  • 01:21:47.959 --> 01:21:50.628
  • Christian leaders,
  • 01:21:50.628 --> 01:21:53.098
  • The divisions among christianity,
  • 01:21:53.932 --> 01:21:57.068
  • And the propensity of manipulating religion for
  • 01:21:58.103 --> 01:22:01.172
  • Private gain,
  • 01:22:01.172 --> 01:22:03.441
  • The growth of christianity shouldn't be that big of a
  • 01:22:04.576 --> 01:22:07.112
  • Success story
  • 01:22:07.112 --> 01:22:09.014
  • Unless there's something more to it.
  • 01:22:09.881 --> 01:22:25.997
  • Unless god is prepared to succeed when people fail.
  • 01:22:27.065 --> 01:22:35.507
  • Unless it means that jesus can now be born within us.
  • 01:22:36.641 --> 01:22:49.988
  • Inspiring us to cherish the meaning of the nativity in times
  • 01:22:51.222 --> 01:22:56.494
  • When it's banned,
  • 01:22:56.494 --> 01:23:06.738
  • To feverishly create music to uplift the downtrodden,
  • 01:23:07.872 --> 01:23:15.447
  • To sing "silent night” with our enemies.
  • 01:23:16.381 --> 01:23:28.626
  • There's a radical idea at the heart of christmas that god
  • 01:23:29.861 --> 01:23:33.598
  • Initiates the connection to us out of love, out of grace.
  • 01:23:33.598 --> 01:23:39.771
  • Something no amount of money can buy,
  • 01:23:40.638 --> 01:23:42.740
  • And no amount of effort can earn.
  • 01:23:42.740 --> 01:23:55.787
  • Realigning our understanding of life itself,
  • 01:23:56.788 --> 01:24:02.327
  • Like the missing comma in a medieval christmas song
  • 01:24:03.394 --> 01:24:09.100
  • Revealing god as the initiator of blessing towards us.
  • 01:24:10.268 --> 01:24:25.150
  • You can see remnants of this radical idea at work in the
  • 01:24:26.351 --> 01:24:29.921
  • Making of christmas down through the ages.
  • 01:24:29.921 --> 01:24:40.765
  • - you have a dream.
  • 01:24:41.299 --> 01:24:44.035
  • Some people might say that it's never going to work out.
  • 01:24:45.236 --> 01:25:00.852
  • Peace, joy, come.
  • 01:25:01.319 --> 01:25:07.959
  • We want you here, in our hearts, in our family,
  • 01:25:08.960 --> 01:25:18.036
  • In the world, and where we go.
  • 01:25:18.736 --> 01:25:26.911
  • We want people to see the peace and happiness that we can have
  • 01:25:27.011 --> 01:25:31.549
  • Inside us.
  • 01:25:31.549 --> 01:25:46.698
  • Take a few more deep breaths and a few more seconds to think
  • 01:25:47.966 --> 01:25:52.003
  • About who you are.
  • 01:25:52.003 --> 01:26:02.447
  • I believe you guys can do it.
  • 01:26:03.147 --> 01:26:25.803
  • - beautiful, beautiful story, "the making of christmas".
  • 01:26:27.005 --> 01:26:32.810
  • Remember who you are.
  • 01:26:32.810 --> 01:26:36.748
  • Final thought is yours, jim.
  • 01:26:35.380 --> 01:26:38.683
  • - you know, when we made this film,
  • 01:26:38.683 --> 01:26:40.752
  • I heard the story from a teacher in our neighborhood,
  • 01:26:40.752 --> 01:26:45.089
  • Public school, and she shared how this little girl--
  • 01:26:45.089 --> 01:26:48.626
  • Well, she shared what she wrote for her class as a mindful
  • 01:26:48.626 --> 01:26:52.530
  • Exercise.
  • 01:26:52.530 --> 01:26:53.698
  • That's what you see at the beginning of the film,
  • 01:26:53.698 --> 01:26:55.300
  • And that's what you see the voice in the latter part of the
  • 01:26:55.300 --> 01:26:58.836
  • Film.
  • 01:26:58.836 --> 01:26:59.971
  • I thought it was so beautiful because that line,
  • 01:26:59.971 --> 01:27:01.839
  • Remember who you are.
  • 01:27:01.839 --> 01:27:04.208
  • What i felt in this whole journey as i was looking at
  • 01:27:04.208 --> 01:27:07.578
  • People was god's desire for us to be his temple and the longing
  • 01:27:07.578 --> 01:27:13.651
  • And the love that he has for us.
  • 01:27:13.651 --> 01:27:15.286
  • And then, i saw from everybody that was interacting with in
  • 01:27:15.286 --> 01:27:19.524
  • That precious school class was our desire to be loved.
  • 01:27:19.524 --> 01:27:24.062
  • Remember who you are.
  • 01:27:24.062 --> 01:27:26.631
  • You are his.
  • 01:27:26.631 --> 01:27:27.899
  • - and you are loved.
  • 01:27:27.899 --> 01:27:29.901
  • Thank you, jim.
  • 01:27:29.901 --> 01:27:31.803
  • Bye bye.
  • 01:27:31.803 --> 01:27:31.803