Comments on: At The Spitalfields Nativity Procession

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 01:08:22 +0000

Many people around the world today, held prayer vigils for the children slaughtered in Pakistan by their co-religionists. I received several emails and links from Indian Hindu friends also doing so. This article and the photographs of the children here joining together, is all the more poignant and moving.

By: Melanie Williams

Melanie Williams — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 09:39:24 +0000

I taught at Christchurch C of E Primary for ten very happy years in the 80’s. The school community was 98% Bengali then and very popular with parents, as to have a school ‘without God’ was an anathema to them. Wonderful pictures and lovely memories- thank you. Merry Christmas children!

By: Victoria

Victoria — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 08:51:50 +0000

Loved reading this and seeing pupils, teachers and parents take part in the procession and a donkey from the city farm. So refreshing to see different parts of the community come together to demonstrate the nativity. Such a different and refreshing approach to the bland ‘winterval’ celebrations which skirt around the elements. It would be lovely to see this approach used in some of the other festivals from other religions as the children looked so obviously to enjoy it. Thanks so much for sharing.

By: John

John — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 01:01:37 +0000

That is all soooo beautiful! A new generation of Spittlefields Nippers struts their stuff!

By: Brother John

Brother John — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 16:15:10 +0000

Lovely pictures, only children are capable of the true warmth of human togetherness. Nice to see an event like this can still take place without muck raking by various groups of opposing ethnicities. I think multi culturism has eroded the old ways of thinking and that can only be a good thing. I do think though that ‘a level playing field’ is still not acceptable to some and their views will rumble on and agitate for decades to come. Good to see the CofE can still worship and rejoice in what I believe should still be considered a christian country.
Happy Christmas Kids!

By: Jane

Jane — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 16:03:17 +0000

Thank you for posting these pictures – a joy! They celebrate the birth of a child and in turn, it is a time of year that many of us try to bring joy to children and give thanks to the joys that they bring us.
Saddened to read of GJM’s anguish and doubts about this. We spent 5 years in India in the ’80’s and believe me, the populations up and down the country very much joined in and shared each others faith festivals and celebrations. Many from that time wouldn’t recognise their kinfolks in modern-day Britain – living in segregated bubbles in virtually sealed off communities – through choice!
Easter is the deepest and most seriously observed event in the Christian calendar. Christmas however, it must be remembered, is not an *exact* birth date of the infant Jesus. The date was chosen in the west to represent a mid-point of the chill and dark of mid-winter, having been previously the time of a pagan festival.
In celebrating Christmas, we celebrate our/all children. The wider message, I feel, is to include rather than exclude. These pictures remind me of many happy, shared times in India when neighbours and neighbourhoods invited others (and us) to join in Diwali, Holi, Eid, Christmas, Vesak, etc etc.

By: Elizabeth M

Elizabeth M — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 13:05:42 +0000

Absolutely wonderful! I will be showing this to our children at another Tower Hamlets School this week. Thank you!

By: joan

joan — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 11:28:12 +0000

Really appreciated GJM’s thoughtful response to this. Yes they are really beautiful pictures which certainly brightened my day but I do hope that parents of the children involved feel comfortable with what their children were taking part in. I know that it is a Church of England school and so I am sure that there has been much consultation about the way in which Christian values and stories are shared in the school. I am a white, Catholic raised, mother of three children who have been educated at non-faith state schools in Newham (a neighbouring borough with a large Asian population which, incidentally helps greatly to improve exam results especially in the sciences). Over the years our children and their friends have appeared in various celebrations and representations of feast days such as Christmas, Diwali, Eid, Guru Nanak’s birthday, Harvest and some confusing mash ups of these. I don’t know what the children have made of this though there is, I suspect, a degree of tolerance – and knowledge – which is missing among the older generation. I know that as a parent my great sadness is that whenever I take my children into the National Gallery their comprehension of events portrayed in great art (the nativity, the passion, the arrival of John the Baptist etc.) is seriously limited. And I do know that it is my job to rectify this! Thank you again GJM. As our children grow up and their lives become ever more intertwined these questions of how we get along and yet retain our cultural identities become ever more important.

By: Achim

Achim — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 10:21:20 +0000

The Children take these Procession very seriously and with much fun. Very expressive is the Angel! — A very happy Christmas time to all!

Love & Peace
ACHIM

By: Glynis Hughs

Glynis Hughs — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 10:02:34 +0000

I love your blog, there are always so many interesting things to read about every morning over my coffee, but this was special. Thank you, and thank you to Spitalfields for sharing the true meaning of Christmas.