ADVENT  CANDLES

You could divide your meeting time into four and light one at the start of each period.

If you are having a special supper at your guide meeting, you could MAKE AN ADVENT CROWN as a centrepiece.

You will need: 2 potatoes, 4 tall candles, aluminium foil, small branchlets of greenery or lengths of ivy, small pine cones, apples and oranges, a tray.

1. Cut the potatoes in half.  Use an apple corer to make a neat hole in the rounded side of each half. Wrap them in foil and place them on the foil covered plate or tray.
2. Arrange greenery to cover the potatoes, pushing the ends of the stalks into the potatoes to keep them alive longer.  Fill in the gaps with the pine cones and fruit or other ornaments.
3. Push the candles into the holes on the potatoes.  Make sure they are firm and upright before you light them, first one burning, then two and so on. 

A large star, often lit with electric light, is placed in the window of many Swedish homes.  It is called the ADVENT STAR, after the star that guided the Wise Men.  These are usually six-pointed stars, like the ancient symbol for the sun, to remind Christians that Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness.
To make an Advent Star for your window, cut two triangles exactly the same size out of gold or silver cardboard.  (Cover plain cardboard with foil, or spray the finished star with silver or gold paint.)  Mark the mid-point of the base of each triangle.  Cut from that point towards the opposite point but not right through.  Now slot one triangle into the other to make a star.  Tape thread to the back of one point to hang the star.
 

On the morning of 13 December, one girl in the family is chosen to play the role of St Lucy.  She wears a white dress with a red sash round her waist.  On her head is a green crown of leaves holding five tall white candles, (or special slim torches).  This is in memory of St Lucia, a Christian girl who carried food through the darkness to starving Christians hiding from the Romans. You might decide to have someone play the role of St Lucy at your meeting. There are lots of ways of using paper or cardboard to make imitation candles but if you want to use real candles, remember,DON'T LIGHT THEM!

As part of your Swedish Christmas, you could also

• learn to make tea and coffee and practise carrying it safely
• make some pepparkor biscuits
• organise a St Lucy relay in your unit
• make a St Lucy's Crown for your table centrepiece
• invite your parents, and provide them with tea/coffee and ginger biscuits
• make food parcels to be given to refugees or poor families
• find out about religious persecution today

400 g sifted plain flour                                                            230g butter or margarine
1 tsp bicarb soda                                                                    230g dark brown sugar
1.5 tsp ground ginger, ground cloves and cinnamon              2 egg whites

Sift the flour, soda and spices together.  Cream the butter and sugar till very fluffy then beat in the egg whites. Add dry ingredients and mix together.  Roll out the dough on a floured board till 0.5cm thick.  Cut into fancy shapes and bake for 10-12 mins at  180 degrees.  When cool, decorate with piped designs using royal icing.


INSTRUCTIONS FOR A ST LUCY'S CROWN

Use plasticene or similar to fasten five slim white candles in a circle on a metal tray or large foil-covered plate.  Make a wreath of green leaves around their bases.  Fill the centre with ginger biscuits but DON'T LIGHT THE CANDLES until they are all eaten!