hmmm, interesting.
The reformed don't usually put up a Christmas tree as it's about Jesus' birth and a tree has nothing to do with that.
I suppose they're all about sober, -their Christmas celebration tend to be more sober-, and possible because historically the tree is a Pagan thing.
The Protestants -which to me are also reformed/Christians- do not put out a nativity set as they do not revere statues.
I think that's where my confusion with Mary came from because during a war between protestant and Catholics the protestants ruined our churches and even trashed statues of Mary. I remember being taught about this at school as a young child and being horrified that they could do that. It had great impact on me, I was actually scared of protestants which we fortunately for me didn't have many in our province. I think I was only around 6 at the time. Just goes to show what such stories do to a child...
This is from a recount by a quite strict (Dutch) Reformed woman:
"A female religious heroine or example is too much for many reformed people and the minimum of attention for Mary reveals a protestant sexism."
She says there is some mention in their bible of Mary but very limited, and mostly related to her being a mother/the mother of Christ. She thinks how the Catholics feel about Mary is exaggerated.
So... I think maybe there's a difference between the reformed -and branches of that- in the US and the ones over here.
Edited by
SparklingCrystal 💖💎
on Tue 11/24/20 09:42 AM