Christingle

My children brought these home from school and I didn't know their meaning so I looked it up:

A Christingle is a symbolic object used in advent services in churches of many Christian denominations. It has its origins in the Moravian Church , with the first recorded use, in Germany, in 1747.

This is the story of the first Christingle:

One Christmas time back in 1747 at a town in Germany, Pastor John sat at home in front of his fire. He was thinking how he could explain the love of Jesus, and what Christmas really meant to the children in the church. He decided to prepare a simple symbol to help make the message of Christmas fresh and lively for them. Pastor John gave each child a lighted candle wrapped in a red ribbon, with a prayer that said "Lord Jesus, kindle a flame in these dear children's hearts". This was the first ever Christingle service.

Many years later, in 1968, Christingle services were introduced to the Anglican Church in Britain by John Pensom of The Children's Society, and the custom spread quickly; each year there are more and more Christingle services in England and Wales, although today's Christingles are a little different.

The Christingle consists of:

an orange representing the world with a red ribbon around it representing the blood of Jesus,
fruits and sweets (usually dolly mixtures) are skewered on 4 cocktail sticks which are pushed into the orange representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons, and a lighted candle is pushed into the centre of the orange representing Christ, the light of the world