Advent Calendar: Religion - Chrismons and Jesse Trees

A Chrismon mosaic / Avondale Pattillo UMC / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

It's the annual Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories!  I've participated the past three years (2009, 2010, and 2011), and rather than simply re-post, I'm going to link to the older posts, and - when applicable - post about something else that's somewhat related.

Still running a little behind - the prompt for yesterday was:  December 20 – Religious Services
Did your family attend religious services during the Christmas season? What were the customs and traditions involved?

In previous years, I wrote about Advent and nativity scenes.  Today, I'm going to write a little about Chrismons and Jesse Trees.

Chrismons are Christian symbols representing Jesus Christ.  The term chrismon comes from the Latin phrase "Christi monogramma", meaning "monogram of Christ." An example is the Chi-Rho monogram (the fourth one in the top row in the photo below), composed of the first two letters in Greek of the word Christos (Gk: chi, X = ch; rho, P = r).  The meaning has expanded to include other traditional symbols of Christianity.

Chrismons are done in the Christmas liturgical colors of white (symbolizes God's perfection and purity) and gold (refers to God's majesty and glory), and sometimes silver.  You'll often find a tree decorated with Chrismons and small white lights in churches.  At the top of the page are photos of some examples of Chrismons (and here are the meanings for these and others).

Mosaic of 1. Jesse Tree 01 -- Stump of Jesse,
2. Jesse Tree 02 -- Creation, 3. Jesse Tree 03 -- Adam & Eve,
4. Jesse Tree 04 -- Noah, 5. Jesse Tree 05 -- Abraham,
6. Jesse Tree 06 -- Isaac, 7. Jesse Tree 07 -- Jacob,
8. Jesse Tree 08 -- Joseph, 9. Jesse Tree 09 -- Exodus/Passover,
10. Jesse Tree 10 -- Moses, 11. Jesse Tree 11 -- Rahab,
12. Jesse Tree 12 -- Joshua, 13. Jesse Tree 13 -- Ruth,
14. Jesse Tree 14 -- David, 15. Jesse Tree 15 -- Solomon,
16. Jesse Tree 16 -- Elijah, 17. Jesse Tree 17 -- Micah,
18. Jesse Tree 18 -- Ezekiel, 19. Jesse Tree 19 -- Jeremiah,
20. Jesse Tree 20 -- Isaiah, 21. Jesse Tree 21 -- Jonah,
22. Jesse Tree 22 -- Ezra, 23. Jesse Tree 23 -- Maccabees,
24. Jesse Tree 24 -- Angel Gabriel,
25. Jesse Tree 25 -- John the Baptist,
26. Jesse Tree 26 -- Mary, 27. Jesse Tree 27-- Joseph,
28. Jesse Tree 28 -- Birth of Jesus, all by Eric Westra / CC BY 2.0

A Jesse Tree tells the story, through symbols, of the genealogy of Jesus. It's a poster or a tree (real or otherwise) in the church or home, which is decorated during Advent with ornaments representing these ancestors of Jesus, as well as prophets and other Bible stories, leading up to the Christmas story.  It functions as a sort of Advent calendar, but with a more religious view.

It's based on the Tree of Jesse often seen in art, which originates in the Bible's Book of Isaiah, 11:1: "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots."

Like a tree with Chrismons, there is no one way to do a Jesse Tree.  For one thing, the length of Advent varies from year to year (it's NOT just December 1-24!).   I've included two examples of sets of symbols or ornaments that I found in Flickr.com, and you can see there are some differences.

Jesse Tree / Avondale Pattillo UMC /
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Mosaic of 1. tree of jesse, 2. coat of many colors, 3. noah's ark, 4. star, 5. lamp, 6. harp, 7. nativity, 8. fish, 9. toolbox, 10. crown, 11. apple, 12. lamb, 13. tent, 14. fire, 15. bundle of twigs, 16. ladder, 17. rose of sharon, 18. 5 little stones, 19. loaf of bread, 20. 10 commandments, 21. wheat, 22. donkey, 23. shepherd's staff, 24. mary, 25. lion, all by twentysixcats /
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history 24 different ways during 24 days in December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.