Many Sources of Light:

A Winter Pageant

Heather Cleland-Host
UU Fellowship of Midland
Midland, MI

Pageant Summary
In this winter pageant, a visitor learns about the many sources of light by visiting with a minister, an assistant, and other individuals who are preparing for diverse celebrations. The visitor's travels are told in a series of 4 vignettes. The first vignette is about Diwali and Christmas; the second is about St. Lucia, Advent, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa; the third is about Winter Solstice, Yule, Epiphany; and the fourth is about the UU tradition of the flaming chalice. Simple props are required for each vignette, which can be performed in succession or with music/carols in between the vignettes.

Roles
There are 3 main characters: the minister, assistant, and the visitor. The minister serves as the narrator – explaining the various holidays. The assistant adds little details and periodically interjects excitement about parties, gifts, and treats. The visitor asks questions about everything (he or she is sincerely confused and trying to understand, though a bit skeptical about there being anything in common between religions). The role of the assistant can be divided into two kids (one who throws in occasional details and one who is always talking about parties, etc). Additional assistants can be non-speaking. Other non-speaking roles include girl(s) dressed up as St. Lucia, candle lighters, tree decorators, etc. Speaking roles would include candle lighters/decorators explaining the symbolism of various displays.

If each of the candle-lighter groups are separate individuals, there are a minimum of 7 roles (if candle lighters double as "others" and if each one reads all the lines for their holiday), and ideal number of 12-14 including adults, and no maximum of roles. (The role of the assistant or visitor can be divided up, more than one St. Lucia can parade through, many non-speaking decorators, candle lighters, tree lighters, etc).

Minister: (adult) – can replace with DRE (adult)
Assistant(s): (child(ren))
Visitor(s): (older child, teenager, or adult – many lines, may divide between 2 or more)
St. Lucia: (child – usually a girl)
Wreath candle lighters: (children – 3 lines spoken)
Menorah lighters: (children – 1 line spoken)
Kinara lighters: (children – 4 lines spoken)
Others/assistants: (Children – 2-3 lines spoken each occasion) – others can be candle lighters with dual roles 

Pageant Text: Many Sources of Light
(The vignettes can be performed in succession or with music/carols in between the vignettes.)

First Vignette: Christmas Lights in November?
(Diwali, Christmas)

Description: Two people (minister and assistant) are decorating the entryway to the hall/sanctuary with electrical lights. (When done, lights should be around the doorway and either side of the aisle). Visitor sees them putting up what he/she thinks are Christmas lights and asks what they are doing since it is only November. They explain that they are putting up Diwali lights and talk about the holiday Diwali. I chose the "Diwali" spelling/pronunciation since it lends itself to confusion – leading the question of what it is. Visitor is still confused since the 2 are UU, not Hindu. This leads them to explain how we draw on many sources and celebrate both the diversity and commonality of various religions. The two then offer to show visitor some things that many religions have in common.

Start: Visitor , Assistant, and Minister stand at the front.

Assistant: Hey, (Visitor's name)!

Visitor: Hey, (Assistant's name)! I thought I'd come check you out!

Assistant: I'm glad you came!

Visitor: Thank you for inviting me. Isn't it a bit early for Christmas lights? It's not even the middle of November. (Adjust the month to be alternatively "end of October" depending on when Diwali falls.)

Minister: These lights are for Diwali.

Visitor: The Wally? I've never heard of a holiday about a god named Wally.

Assistant: Dee-wali – It means "row of lights." (Point to the rows of lights.)

Minister: Diwali is a Hindu celebration. It is also called "Divali" or "Deepavali." It's meaning varies depending on where you are celebrating it. For some, it is a celebration of the goddess Lakshmi and is a celebration of the gift of enlightenment.

Assistant: Others celebrate Rama's victorious return after defeating the demon Ravana!

Minister: That's right. And, in some areas, certain days of the festival are dedicated to celebrating the defeats of other demons like the demon Naraka and Mahishasura.

Assistant: We also dress up in fancy clothes and have a five-day long celebration.

Visitor: Sounds like a lot of fun! Can I join you?

Minister & Assistant: Sure. (Visitor helps them finish putting up the lights.)

Visitor: You know, I never knew that you were Hindu. I thought you were Unitarian Universalist.

Minister: We are. Being Unitarian Universalists means that we draw on lots of different religions for inspiration and understanding as we seek our own religious paths.

Assistant: (in an aside) And, it means we get to have a lot more celebrations.

Minister: And we learn about the ways of other people. We learn about the things that are different, and the things that are the same.

Visitor: If they are different religions, how can they be the same?

Minister: It's like the Diwali lights looking like Christmas lights.

Visitor: Well, yes, but that is only one example.

Minister: Many religions have celebrations that use light, especially in the winter.

Visitor: Well, I am sure there are a few… but I doubt there are that many. I mean, we would not call them Christmas lights if they were not mostly for Christmas.

Minister: You would be surprised. How about we show you?

Visitor: Well, I guess.

Assistant: Come on! It'll be fun!

(They all exit through the entryway.)

Second Vignette: Floating Candelabras!
( St. Lucia, Advent, Chanukah, Kwanzaa)

Description: This part starts with everyone up in front of a table (or tables) set up with various holiday displays (candles unlit). The minister and his/her assistant are standing with the visitor. The minister and assistant are looking in the distance, while visitor looks puzzled. They explain that they are looking for St. Lucia. The visitor sees a light, and they start telling the story of St. Lucia and Sweden. This leads into a discussion of various traditions involving lights: Girls wearing St. Lucia wreathes place one around a central candle to demonstrate the similarity with the Advent wreath. Two other groups (or just one or two people) can light a Menorah (Chanukah) and a Simora (Kwanzaa).

Start: Visitor, Assistant, and Minister stand at the front. Minister is looking back and forth across the congregation toward the back. (Imagine they are standing at the edge of a lake, to get a feel for this one.)

Visitor: So what are we going to see, now?

Minister: Well, I thought we would show you some other festivals of light.

Visitor: OK. So where are they?

Assistant: Just wait – you'll see. It'll be here any minute.

Visitor: What will be… (Visitor glances toward the entryway as if just noticing something.) Did you see that?

Minister: See what?

Visitor: That light. Over there.

Assistant: (jumping up and down) There it is! There it is!

Visitor: (a little nervously) What is it?!!!

Minister: That is the light of St. Lucia. St. Lucia Day is celebrated in December in Sweden. On that day, they mark the Catholic feast day of St. Lucia.

Visitor: St. Lucia ?

Minister: A long time ago, after a poor harvest, the people were facing a long, hard winter with not enough food…

Assistant: Winters are really cold and dark up in Sweden. Around Solstice, their days are only a few hours long!

Visitor: Really?!

Minister: Yes, that's true – and the year of that bad harvest, on the Winter Solstice, they saw a light flickering in the distance over the water. The light moved slowly toward them until they could make out that it was a woman wearing a long white dress and a crown of light. She came on a boat and brought the people enough food to last them through the rest of the winter. (At this point, a girl dressed in a white dress, bearing a basket of bread, and wearing a wreath with candles (unlit) on her head should enter and walk down the aisle.)

Girl: Part of the celebration is for the eldest daughter to dress up like St. Lucia and pass around bread and other food.

Visitor: Like you are!

Minister: So you see how different religions use lights as a way to celebrate?

Visitor: Well, maybe they use lights, but that does not make them AT ALL the same.

Minister: Are you sure? (Nods toward the table where kids are lighting 4 candles on the wreath.)

Visitor: What are they doing? It almost looks like they are putting a St. Lucia crown around a big candle!

Minister: That just looks like a St. Lucia crown. It is an Advent wreath. They are lighting Advent candles. Some Christians light candles on a wreath during Advent on the 4 Sundays before Christmas. They light 1 candle for each week in anticipation of the coming birth of Jesus.

Wreath lighters 1: The circle of the wreath reminds you of God.

Wreath lighters 2: The candle in the center is called the Christ Candle.

Wreath lighters 3: There are 3 purple candles and 1 pink one for the period of waiting.

Visitor: Hmm. (Looks at the table(s) and sees the Menorah and the Kinara) What about those? They look almost the same. They are not for the same holiday?

Minister: They do look very similar, don't they? Look closely – are they exactly the same? (Children move aside so that Visitor can look more closely.)

Visitor: Well, no – one has 7 candles and the other has 9, and, they are different colors… So what are they for?

Assistant: Yup! That one is for Chanukah and that one is for Kwanzaa.

Chanukah lighter 1: This one is a Menorah. It is for the Jewish holiday of Chanukah.

Minister: Chanukah is called a Festival of Light just like Diwali is sometimes called a Festival of Light. It has 8 days not 4, and they light a candle on a Menorah for each day of the festival.

Chanukah lighter 2: Chanukah is not as big a holiday as Diwali or even Christmas.

Chanukah lighter 3: It marks a time that the Jews won a battle against the Assyrians.

Chanukah lighter 4: At that time, a lamp was lit with only enough oil for one day, but it burned for 7 additional days. Each day of the festival marks a day the lamp burned.

Visitor: What about the other one? The one for Kwanzaa.

Kinara Lighter: It is a Kinara. (This should be probably set up on a kaman table.)

Minister: Kwanzaa is a celebration of African American heritage. It occurs between Christmas and New Year's. It focuses on traditional African values of family, community responsibility, and self-improvement.

Kinara Lighter 1: The central black candle represents African heritage.

Kinara Lighter 2: The red ones are struggle candles, representing: past, blood, and courage.

Kinara Lighter 3: The green ones are vision candles and represent: hopes, dreams and promises of the future.

Kinara Lighter 4: Kwanzaa is celebrated by lighting 1 candle each day.

Kinara Lighter 5: Both Chanukah and Kwanzaa are family celebrations with traditional foods, games, treats, and gift giving.

Visitor: Wow! I never realized how many religions use candles to celebrate!

Assistant: Just wait! There's more!

Vignette Three: Lighting the Christmas — er, Solstice Tree
(Winter Solstice, Yule, Epiphany, Christmas)

Description: The visitor starts to get the idea and asks about Christmas trees, which leads to a talk about decorating trees outside and inside, decorating with evergreens, and bonfires.

Start: Visitor, Assistant, and Minister stand at the front.

Assistant: The Christmas tree lights are not on. Shall I turn them on?

Minister: Not quite yet.

Visitor: Why not? You can't celebrate with light unless you turn them on. Right?

Minister: Yes, before we turn on the lights, I wanted you to see the decorated tree as others might see it that do not put lights on their trees.

Visitor: But, you can't have a Christmas tree without lights!

Minister: Actually, even the first Christmas trees didn't have lights.

Visitor: Well, of course! They used candles instead of light bulbs.

Minister: Even before that. When trees were first brought inside for Christmas, they did not even put candles on them. And, before trees were used for Christmas, evergreen trees and branches were used to decorate for other religions. Many Celtic peoples also believed the evergreens were special. They would decorate them where they grew outside, or bring in the trimmings from the trees to decorate inside. (Points to greens displayed as decoration.) And, some would even bring a potted living tree inside to decorate as well. It was not until a few hundred years ago that people started putting lights on them – as many people do now do for Christmas.

Assistant: Can I turn the lights on now?

Visitor: Hold on a second! If they did not light their trees, what does that have to do with religions that celebrate with light?

Minister: The evergreen is cherished because it symbolizes the promise of life and renewal at a time of the year when other trees have lost their leaves and everything seems dead. Even the days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting longer. Winter seems a dark time of the year.

Visitor: Like in Sweden when St. Lucia came. (Name of the Assistant) said that in the winter the daylight was really short there – only four hours.

Minister: Yes – you've probably noticed how short the days get here in the winter.

Visitor: Yeah, of course. It gets dark really early now. I can't wait for summer again!

Minister: A lot of people feel the same way – they long for spring and summer. Also, a long time ago, people did not know why the days got shorter and then longer. They only knew that every year they did. So they created stories about why the days became shorter and longer, and they lit fires – sometimes because the fires were believed to help the days get longer by filling the night with light, and sometimes just in celebration of the return of light.

Visitor: Like a bonfire! My friend's family has a bonfire every year to celebrate Twelfth Day of Christmas and the coming of the 3 wise men. They burn the branches and trees that they decorated with.

Minister: Yes, Epiphany. Not everyone burns bonfires for Epiphany, but it is rather interesting that your friend does. Epiphany is a Christian holiday that marks the day Jesus' divinity was revealed to the Gentiles – or non-Jews. A Christian might describe it as a celebration of enlightenment.

Visitor: I never thought of it that way.

Minister: Yes. And in the same way that Christian tradition has a star leading the Wise Men to the baby Jesus. Other religions also attribute significance to stars and light fires to commemorate Enlightenment found through their religious traditions.

Visitor: Like with Diwali – they light the rows of lights in celebration of enlightenment of knowledge and truth! There are others?

Minister: Yes – and, at least one, which predates Christianity by two thousand years, even specifically includes a story of a morning star bringing enlightenment.

Visitor: Two thousand years before Jesus?!! Which one is that?

Minister: Buddhism. According to tradition, Buddha became enlightened while sitting under a Bodhi tree meditating. One morning he saw the light of the morning star, and its light filled him and all at once he knew the truth and became Buddha. Buddhists mark the date on Bodhi Day or Rohatsu, which means December 8 in Japanese. Some also celebrate it in June or other times of the year as well.

Visitor: Let me guess – they use fire to celebrate it.

Minister: Some do, particularly as part of their many days of meditation in hope of achieving the same enlightenment that Buddha did.

Visitor: I guess you cannot always assume that decorating with electrical lights or candles, burning bonfires, or even seeing the morning star will all be part of the same tradition.

(Assistant turns the Christmas lights on.)

Visitor: But they are always beautiful! (Turns the lights on the tree on.)

Vignette Four: The Flaming Chalice
(UU services / gatherings)

Description: Minister and assistant explain stories of the origins of the Flaming Chalice.

Start: Visitor, Assistant, and Minister stand at the front.

Visitor: So, because you are Unitarian Universalists, you get to celebrate all of the holidays?

Assistant: Well, not exactly – usually we just celebrate the ones that have meaning to us.

Visitor: I think I see. It is kind of like how my family does some things the same as my grandparents and others differently even though we are all of the same religion.

Minister: Exactly.

Visitor: I have one more question.

Minister: What is it?

Visitor: What is that candle for? The one sitting in that bowl… It kind of looks like that necklace you (or the Assistant) are wearing.

Minister: That is the Flaming Chalice. It was created as a symbol of the Unitarian Service Committee during World War II when they were helping people escape Germany under Hitler. Like a lot of things in Unitarian Universalism, it is a symbol that evokes many different traditions. What can each of you tell (Visitor's name) here about the Flaming Chalice?

Assistant: It is like what the Romans or Greeks burned on their altars as a light to peace or truth – kind of like the Olympic fire for the Olympic games.

Others: It represents dedication to protecting religious freedom even at risk of their own lives like the Unitarian workers in World War II.

Others: I heard once that it symbolized the sacrifice of Jan Huss who gave his life fighting to make services accessible to the poor as well as the rich.

Visitor: It represents all that?

Minister: And other things. It really depends on who is lighting it. Would you like to light it today?

Visitor: Can I? (Visitor lights the chalice.)

Assistant: What does it mean for you?

Visitor: It represents all the lights that we all light in celebration or hope.

Minister: I really like that.

Assistant: Yippee! Let's CELEBRATE!!!!!