Best-selling author Theresa
Crater brings ancient temples, lost civilizations, and secret societies back to
life in her visionary fiction. Learn more about her books and short stories at
her website.
My favorite Christmas
tradition as a child was the Moravian Christmas Eve Candlelight and Love Feast
service. I was raised in a small Protestant church with the oldest history
starting way back in 1415 in Prague with Czech national hero Jan Hus. It’s a
long story how we ended up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but that’s where I
come in.
Each Christmas Eve, I looked
forward to the special service of music, treats, and candles. After a few hymns
and the reading of the Christmas story, the Love Feast began. The doors to the
side of the pulpit would open and out would come the women dressed in crisp,
white aprons, carrying baskets of buns, each decorated with a big ‘M’ standing
for Moravian. After the buns were passed from hand to hand down the pews, the
men came out carrying trays of white mugs filled with sweet coffee. It was the
only time I was allowed to drink coffee as a child, plus we were eating in
church. We listened to the choir sing and enjoyed our little communal meal.
Then my favorite part came toward
the end when the beeswax candles decorated with red crepe paper at the bottom
were carried out on trays and passed to the congregants. The lights in the
sanctuary were dimmed and the only light was the big Moravian star hanging in
the front. These stars began in a geometry class in one of the German
settlements in Neisky in the mid-1800s. The one we hung at home had 26 points,
but the star in our church was bigger and had many more. It was glorious.
I sat in breathless
anticipation until I received my candle. I immediately put it up to my nose and
took a deep breath of the best beeswax you’ve ever smelled. Once everyone had a
candle, the server lit the minister’s candle, then that light went to other
servers who lit the candles of the first person in each pew. The light was
passed until each person’s candle was lit. The sanctuary grew lighter until it
was filled with the golden glow of candlelight. Then we sang the final hymn and
on the last stanza, we held our candles in the air.
Each year a child led the
congregation in a hymn called “Morning Star.” The child sings the first two
lines, then everyone sings it back. Everyone sings the chorus. One year, I was
picked to sing. Mother bought me a beautiful green velvet dress with little red
roses on the bodice. I remember holding up my candle and singing, “Morning
Star, O cheering sight. Ere thou camst, how dark earth’s night.” My favorite
line.
As an adult, I discovered
the Moravians had taught mysticism in the 1740s. I was fascinated. The
teachings echoed metaphysical ideas I’d studied in Vedanta and then in Western
Mystery schools. After a good deal of research, I wrote a novel about it called
The Star Family. This novel ends with
a Christmas Eve Love Feast and Candlelight service.
The Star Family
A secret spiritual group, a recurring dream, a
400-year-old ritual that must be completed before it is too late
Jane
Frey inherits a Gothic mansion filled with unexpected treasures. A prophecy claims it hides an important artifact – the key to an
energy grid laid down by the Founding Fathers themselves. Whoever controls this
grid controls the very centers of world power. Except Jane has no idea what they’re
looking for.
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