It’s that time of year when traditions get dusted off and proudly used once more in celebration of another year of love, friendship, community, and family.
The celebration of the Christian Christmas story has been enjoyed for many years, amplified by the Victorian Era who introduced many of the things and some songs we still use today.
I think it’s fair to say that my exposure to Christian musical accompaniment for Christmas these traditions was pretty much formal most of the time; the church organ or piano being the main instrument of choice. You might have been lucky to get the odd keen guitar player volunteering or the plucky tambourine player wanting to annotate each beat and line. Apart from the influence and talent that my dad’s musical talents brought to save the day this was the lot.
I believe for a lot of parishioners there was some comfort in having the same tunes and organ bashing out the same tunes week in, week out. Looking forward to this time of year to start singing Advent songs or that extra verse of a carol or two reserved for Christmas morn itself.
So you might start to understand the impact that Jon Anderson’s album “Three Ships” had on my family life when we first got the Vinyl LP record and started playing it around Christmas time. In particular whenever we decorated the house.
Jon Anderson is probably best known for his work with the band Yes. Three Ships was released in 1985 and while it contains covers of Christmas carols it also has original songs which capture some of the threads of the stories themselves.
So whilst it’s an unashamed Christian album I think it’s just an important reminder of the stories but mainly it’s a flashback to things we did as families together which ultimately is all that tradition is.
I could go on at length about my relationship with religion, as a great believer and participant in science and technology, Santa, and the true meaning of belief but for now I’ll leave you with a YouTube link that should allow you to dip into the whole Three Ships experience.
Even if it doesn’t speak to you, use this tale as a reminder that the things you do together, consistently, will form the backbone of tradition regardless of how or what you choose to celebrate at this time of year.
