[Michael]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z0XoS2LJQs

English Translation

Oh, holy night, the stars are brightly shining, it is the night of the dear Savior’s birth

Long lay the world in sin and error pining, until he appeared, and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morning

Chorus

Fall on your knees, oh hear the angel voices, oh night divine, oh night when Christ was born, oh night, oh holy night: Oh night divine

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming with glowing hearts by his cradle we stand

So, led by light of a star sweetly gleaming here come the wise men from Orient land

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger, in all our trials born to be our friend

Chorus

He knows our need, to our weakness no stranger, behold your King before Him lowly bend, behold your King your King your King before him bend Truly

He taught us to love one another

His law is Love and His gospel is Peace

Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name all oppression shall cease and in his name all oppression cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful Chorus raise we, let all within us praise his Holy name

Chorus

Christ is the Lord, then ever praise we
His power and glory, evermore proclaim
His power and glory, evermore proclaim

German Translation

Oh, Heilige Nacht
Oh, heilige Nacht, die Sterne funkeln hell,

Es ist die Nacht in der der Retter geboren wurde!

Lange suhlte sich die Welt in Sünde und Irrtum,

Bis Er erschien und seine Seele ihren Wert erkannte.

Ein Gefühl der Hoffnung und die erschöpften Seelen frohlocken,

Denn in der Ferne bricht ein neuer Morgen an.

Fallet auf eure Knie, oh, höret der Engel Stimmen!
Oh, göttliche Nacht, oh Nacht, in der Christus geboren wurde!
Oh, Nacht, oh heilige Nacht, oh, göttliche Nacht!
Geführt vom Licht eines lieblich funkelnden Sterns
Kamen drei Weise aus dem Morgenland.

Da lag der König der Könige in niederer Krippe,
Geboren, um uns in allen Prüfungen Freund zu sein!
Fallet auf eure Knie, oh, höret der Engel Stimmen!
Oh, göttliche Nacht, oh Nacht, in der Christus geboren wurde!
Oh, Nacht, oh heilige Nacht, oh, göttliche Nacht!

[Michael]

OK here we go. The Advent wreath just became a Christmas wreath. The 12″ inner diameter wreath is the same for Advent and Christmastide (the optimization effect). The wreath’s basic operation doesn’t essentially change when transitioning from Advent to Christmastide, and this setup fits fine into the fireplace to guard against the fire hazard challenge.

The wreath sure looks great, and I’m tickled to get 12 more days out of it (or however long the 3″x9″ test candle lasts). As discussed, I’ll adjust the bees wax candle dimensions according to how long it lasts through this year’s Christmastide, which is for the next 288 hours.

As you can see from the below photographs, I set the timer at 0001 hours this morning.

There are 12 days to do as best I can for the MLT Club and band in keeping the right spirit. As most people are aware, you have to set yourself aside to serve others, and like a musical instrument, it takes practice and it’s a great time of year to practice. Am I the best Advent instrumentalist? Probably not but you guys sure make me feel like it.

It’s a great thing. I can’t tell you how different it is to have one of these candle wreaths in the household that’s the real thing. It’s so much better running it than just watching someone else. It does something to you when you take charge of putting the wreath together and operating it, and the whole mood of the house is uplifted.

Lasty, it’s worth mentioning that it’s the right kind of pride to have if you worked hard at getting the Advent and/or Christmastide wreath operational, but it’s also easy to become proud in the wrong way. You have to catch yourself. When someone comes along with a variation, they’re trying to say the same thing with their Advent wreath tradition, so be prepared to appreciate and take delight in the difference. If you do that, I can only say my experience in life in these moments is a big smile and unbelievable joy.

My hope is in eternal life because life on Earth is like a vapor, here and gone. It seems I was a kid only yesterday and that’s gone. The Christ in Christmas is where I place my trust, and I do sense eternal life in each and every Advent. I hope you do too.

Mike

[Michael]

https://www.noradsanta.org/en/map

[Michael]

The last hours of Advent 2021.

[Michael]

You’ve got it. I’ll take some photographs of the candle lighting at midnight and how it all looks through the twelve days.

A lot of thought went into it, sure, but I’m getting more life. I get a six week display with the same ingredients that go into what we call an Advent wreath in the states. Plus, it’s got the right spirit. It changes you, yes, but you don’t lose anything either. It’s goodness added to what’s already there.

It reminds me of the 60s television ad “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony”. This does exactly that! Something akin to the old Coke Adds Life expression (remember that?) that’s instead being carried to the power of infinity with the Advent/Christmas wreath. The medieval elves of European lore were trying to picture the Incarnation. They did a great job.

I like candle wreaths anyway. To me, photographs are OK, but no match for actually performing your own candle lighting order of these Christmastime wreaths. It’s out of this world.

Have yourself a Merry, Merry, Christmas.

And three cheers for the two MonaLisa Twins!!

[Michael]

OK, on Friday, Christmas Eve, I’ve committed to expend all 4 remaining Advent wreath candles before midnight. That’s just the ideal time for doing that. At a minute past midnight early Saturday morning, I light the Christ candle and set the timer. My Advent wreath just became my Christmas wreath.

Which raises the big question, how to run a continuously burning candle safely.

In my case, I can do that because I have an automatic constant updraft fireplace. I set the expended Advent wreath into the fireplace, throw the updraft door switch to the “on” position, light the white candle and put the glass screen over the front. Let’s see if I can get 288 hours out of the bees wax candle (calculations show that the 3″x9″ bees wax Christ candle will only get through Day 7 of Christmastide under ordinary conditions). I’ll have to remove some things, but the 12″ wreath fits fine, as you can see. Just walking around, can I see it easily through the glass? Yes. It looks great.

Once I can get a system going, and the ideal wreath procedure rote memorized, it slowly becomes second nature.

Based on how the candle burning test goes, I’ll adjust the wreath diameter and pillar candle dimensions (candle height and/or candle base diameter) next year in order to get the intended 288 hour continuous burn time for the center candle. You don’t know until you try. If I leave the fireplace area for any length of time and get to worrying about it, I also close the steel curtain to make sure.

Problem solved.

Christmas wreath, here we come!

[Michael]

Christmas Eve is fast approaching.

What do I do about the Advent wreath?

There’s no household Advent wreath redundancy; there should be only one wreath per household. Given that, I want to get it down to a science, lock it in to the hard drive, and run this contraption every year until I’m gone. My life on Earth is but a vapor. Like candlelit Advent wreaths, it’s here and gone.

Arbitrary doesn’t work with Advent wreaths. Everything on the wreath has a purpose.

First of all, Advent wreaths are localized. They are immobile, and conform to the time zone that they occupy. A guy in Japan lights his first wreath candle starting at midnight, and 23 hours later some guy in Hawaii lights his first wreath candle because of how the world turns and the times and seasons of the various recognized conventions.

Given that reality the next question is which of the slew of times and seasons conventions work globally? Rather than GMT or UTC, would I not at least zero reference my time zone to Bethlehem in zero AD? Fair question. It’s important only insofar as the eternal entered time and space in the Incarnation. That’s it. Be ready to have an answer for that, but also appreciate the intensity involved in these optimization efforts.

As long as the wreath does the job adhering to some recognizable convention, it’s acceptable.

There are some things I felt necessary to know about Advent wreaths and to improvise an entire season with a single wreath. I’d want to transition only one wreath. That wreath is optimized when it allows transition from Advent to Christmastide.

A while back I sensed that order is the most prominent feature about these wreaths. After a careful study of the history of Advent wreaths it was determined that the most important aspect is order. This reality strikes me as a very ordered tradition. Also, I really do like candle wreaths in general.

OK, so the result of the research is that I sense the German tradition is strongest because — with the exception of the candle color(s) — the order is properly aligned. That is to say, similar Advent wreath traditions align 3 of 4 of their candle colors to the liturgical colors (the one exception is the 3rd Sunday pink “Shepherd’s” candle in SOME traditions). Advent is purple. If your candle colors don’t conform to the liturgical color in force, it’s OK, but, there’s no reason to not use purple and align it. Alright, so the pink color of the Shepherd’s candle comes into conflict with the liturgical color in force. That’s OK so long as the explanation is a good one but understand the German tradition aligns more things about the Advent wreath better.

This gets really interesting at this point.

Ideally, you’d want an Advent wreath to align to the calendar, the clock, and the liturgical color when it comes into force. Keep it simple. This would increase the wreath’s unifying power. In traditional German culture, the Advent wreath has no white center pillar Christ candle. That’s more true to the meaning of Advent. Advent is precursory only. When it comes to Advent wreaths, it’s all about the proper order of things, so eventually even the candle colors become aligned in the view I’m thinking of implementing.

This is interesting because there’s a substance to it that’s absolutely fascinating. Alright, so if you look at the photograph below, you’ll notice that the outer candles didn’t burn equally. That’s the result of the order assigned; the first candle stayed lit for more Sundays than the fourth candle. You’ve got this ascending effect to the 4 candle heights. That’s a good thing. Which brings us to the point:

What’s 12 O’clock on an Advent wreath, and where is it best to point my 12 O’clock?

I believe it’s best to point the Advent wreath’s 12 O’clock due East, for a number of reasons. This really comes in to play when you use the pink Shepherd’s candle because your 12 O’clock candle (1st Week of Advent) has to be opposite (6 O’clock) of the Shepherd’s candle, or it’s all going to be arbitrary.

The main question left to answer is what to do with the remaining — and different height — outer 4 candles. They all haven’t been used up and should be if I’m going to use the Advent wreath to become my Christmas wreath.

The plan is to use up the remaining Advent wreath candlestick wax on Christmas Eve.

That way, I’m left with a white Christ candle by itself, surrounded by a wreath that is lighted on Christmas Day. This same wreath melts away from Advent into a Christmastide wreath and I’m getting more display time and usage out of the wreath because it’s taken out of view the rest of the year.

For Lisa, I’d like to mention here that it’s a providential circumstance that the last tour concert for The Beatles was at Candlestick Park in 1966.

[Michael]

There’s the Hot Jazz of France style Django Reinhardt is famous for, and then there’s Hot Dog of Led Zeppelin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7so9VJCGEw

[Michael]

Thanks, Jung all their videos are of great workmanship and MLT’s Starman video is extra interesting. To me, its location is ideal for a drone camera, dramatizing the available near and wide Field Of View (FOV) and Depth of Field (DOF) optics.

I remember seeing a behind the scenes MLT video where the drone went down, I think it was the shooting for the Songbird tune. It reminded me of the Insight

What I’m thinking is with the sci-fi flavor of the recent “Why?” release, it sci-fi possibilities. I’m stoked to see what they come up with next. It’s great being a MLT fan and your fellow Club member.

Mike

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Michael Walker.

[Michael]

Why thank you kind sir, Mr. Jung. Gosh, Mona and Lisa really like you, and appreciate what you do for MLT Club. That’s worth more than anything.

Thanks again, because I was worried it wouldn’t turn out well, but it’s a test candle to mark time from anyway, but it looks great as you noticed. For sure, it will take more than a 3″ x 9″ beeswax candle to get to 288 hours. This candle already burned half an inch in 12 hours.

Here are some initial projections:

1st Week Advent Candle Continuous Burn Time Requirement is 4 Sundays * 24 Hours = 96 Hours
2nd Week Advent Candle Continuous Burn Time Requirement is 3 Sundays * 24 Hours = 72 Hours
3rd Week Advent Candle Continuous Burn Time Requirement is 2 Sundays * 24 Hours = 48 Hours
4th Week Advent Candle Continuous Burn Time Requirement is 1 Sunday * 24 Hours = 24 Hours

Question: Can identical appearance and identical dimension (Advent) candlesticks yield a significantly different end-state (speed of burn) to accomodate expected candle unevenness caused by the order of when they are to be lighted? Answer: Yes.

This might work, but will require further testing —

Candle 1: 3″ x 12″ Purple or Prußen Blue (51% bees wax)
Candle 2: 3″ x 12″ Purple or Prußen Blue (25% bees wax)
Candle 3: 3″ x 12″ Pink or Prußen Blue (100% Stearine)
Candle 4: 3″ x 12″ Purple or Prußen Blue (100% Paraffin Slow Drip Type)

Christ candle continuous burning requirement is 12 days * 24 hours = 288 Hours for wreath optimization (Advent + Christmastide using the same wreath)
Christ candle: White 100% bees wax 6″ x 12″ for 288 hours (future estimated candle dimension needed for 288 continuous hours)

[Michael]

Thanks, Mr. Fones and a Merrrrrrrrrry Christmas to you !!!

A few years ago I lucked up on a CD with most of Sissel’s tunes, and wow what a message it is in O Holy Night even in another language she sings it in, you know why Sissel selected that tune. The notes are spot-on, and the message is like no other. The CD had several of her Christmastime recordings from back in the 1980s and is the version I’ve settled on for the moment. A well-done vocal of that song by any artist is going to bring Christmas cheer.

One day, I think the MonaLisa Twins will record a duet of this song, O Holy Night.

Gosh, I would melt to hear the voice of Mona and Lisa sing O Holy Night. Here is an interesting video of a young Mona and Lisa playing a Merry Christmas tune that I ran across on their YouTube channel, and I also bought their Christmas CD. I am grateful to MLT for making the Christmas CD. It’s like the yearly Beatles Christmas albums. That’s what MLT reminds me of doing this stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIDS2WELPMk

[Michael]

Jack Houlihan, thank you, kind sir. It’s not perfect by a long shot, but a bit more in tune with the Reason for the season to have a working knowledge.

As noted, I’m very respectful of these Advent wreath traditions when they are of the handful of known faithful renderings. I grew up one way, and someone else grew up in another tradition, but they’re all trying to say the same thing; namely, the Advent wreath melts away, but the song remains the across the various wreath variations.

Whenever the mutable and immutable meet, there’s going to be mystery.

To me, that’s what makes it profound. I don’t understand how the alignment of the Shepherd’s candle works for the different liturgical color in force, but am in awe of the tradition, and ever-learning. I’m somewhere in the middle between the purple/Shepherd’s candle arrangement and the solid blue (all 4 candles are the same). I understand there is a solid red candle arrangement also, but as far as I can tell, it’s not associated with royalty, to the extent of my knowledge. There may be a good reason for red. At this point, it seems only purple and blue are valid starting points for aligning colors to calendars. Blue is difficult to substantiate, but there is enough there to make the case. Personally I like both variations, and could explain either of those 2 arrangements adequately and adopt both. They’re like twins. I could alternate years. Odd years are purple/Shepherd’s candle arrangements, and blue only candle wreaths are for even years (or something like that).

Purple is not a pure (not a primary) color. It’s a mixture. Yet it’s still expressive of royalty. It makes for good research questions.

That’s a neat comment about attention to detail. There are good reasons to get a strong Advent wreath tradition going if it’s out of practice. Among other benefits, it’s going to help spot a heresy, or, if someone is trying to make an Advent wreath into an idol. To me, Advent wreaths are intended to be anti-idolism but people are usually quite talented at idol-making. The Incarnation is mysterious. It almost goes without saying to practice gentleness and gracefulness in having an answer for the hope that’s in you when encountering Advent or Christmas wreaths, and you’ll experience joyfulness.

Blue is a pure (primary) color, as you know. I lean toward blue only candles because of the Chalcedon definition among other interesting aspects in support of blue.

There are 2 valid royal colors described throughout the Bible: Purple (as you know), and Blue (surprise). A lot of people aren’t aware of blue as a royal color these days, and there may be more to it but that’s the extent of my knowledge. However, knowing that really throws a curve ball at Advent wreath design or practice. If blue checks out (so far, so good), the overall approach to the Advent wreath has 2 variations of equal validity in regards to royalty as a concept expressed through color. As a result, I’m turning up some really, really neat research on blue as an alternative royal color for Advent wreath candles.

I’ve even seen blue Advent candles with the pink Shepherd’s candle arrangement.

As best as I can tell, royal blue was an Advent liturgical color in force as early as 800AD, but it wasn’t a plain Jane shade of blue. It was Sarum Blue, which we know today as Prussian Blue. That’s helpful in order to visualize it. The royal basis for blue comes from among others, Ezekiel 23:6. Several other places using blue for an expression of royalty confirms the validity of the Ezekiel narrative. There is some discrepancy with the Ezekiel passage, but it’s a language translation rule thing causing the apparent contradiction. Some translations have purple in that reference, but under closer scrutiny, it’s not an issue in the Hebrew.

The Incarnation defies mathematic explanation. How can He be 100% God and 100% Man at the same time? That’s a mind bender. It’s a fantastic historical development that has no compare. It may very well be that purple is the most appropriate. I take delight in the differences among the traditions.

Blue as an indication of royalty really has me thinking.

When we examine a shade of a primary color like blue, we can instantly isolate the wavelength at the nanometer level if it’s reflective, like white light reflecting off the surface of a blue candle. It would be a different matter if it were a light source. With reflective color, white light striking a colored surface is reflected to the eye minus the wavelength absorbed. The brain instantly sees all wavelengths at once and detects the missing wavelength (in this example 462nm) and interprets it as Prußian blue. You see blue.

It’s a great exercise to study Advent wreath traditions, and I gain a lot from it. It’s also great having you as a MLT Club neighbor. It’s almost Christmas Eve….

[Michael]

Thanks, neighbor Tom Fones, and a M e r r y Christmas to you too.

It sure is great being a MLT Club member with you!

[Michael]

Yes, I’d prefer watching MLT behind the scenes over Pierce because they are better looking and both of the girls are better mannered than Pierce in their speech. That’s a big reason I really liked Nesmith or The Monkees over time. Pierce is no doubt a good guitarist.

Mona and Lisa EARNED my respect. It makes all the difference in the world.

[Michael]

Los Angeles session electric lead guitarist Tim Pierce is strong at bringing out Jimmy Page’s cut-above lead work.

Here is some heavy studio guitar work on faithfully rendering the electric lead guitar for Led Zeppelin’s tune, Black Dog.

The neat thing about Led Zeppelin’s Black Dog song is, as you know, the bass line follows the driving electric lead guitar line, note-for-note. The effect is the sound of pure energy set to a melody line.

As you can see early into the recording session, Tim Pierce is plugged-in and hits the driving electric lead guitar line to start the process. The studio engineer gives Tim some feedback on the first take, but another lead guitarist (the producer) eventually comes in to try and reconcile Page’s legato effect to Tim Pierce in the middle of the driving melody/lead line to that song. Apparently, Pierce learned the driving lead guitar line with a mix of push and pull guitar pick against the strings, but gets the sharpness to sound off better on a push of one if the lead guitar notes. It’s super interesting to study how the instrumentalists find their proper textures. Pierce brushes off the ego and allows a push pick attack on the strings for that note and it’s a match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54L9_g3_Yds