Moravians understood the importance of audio-visual educational techniques centuries before the first overhead projector or interactive Smart Board was invented. Always vitally interested in instructing future generations, especially in the realm of history, early Moravians developed a series of repeated sights and sounds to reinforce each lesson.
The annual Candle Tea played a vital role in that early educational process, and members of Mayodan Moravian Church continued that tradition last Thursday by hosting second-grade classes from Dillard Elementary School for a tour of the church.
Started by early Moravians as a special arts and crafts fair, the Candle Tea now represents an opportunity for children to learn key elements of Moravian history and beliefs. Second-graders touring the church last Thursday made six stops along the way, each providing a visual history lesson.
Divided into small groups to make the learning experience more personal, the second-grade classes circulated through the 115-year-old church. Mayodan Moravian member Mike Fox spoke to the students seated on the steps outside the main sanctuary, explaining the history of the Moravian movement and church they were about to enter.
The cornerstone for the Mayodan church was laid July 26, 1896, with about 200 people present to witness the ceremony. But Fox said the story behind that beginning went back a few years earlier.
“The story actually began in September, 1890, when the Home Church Sunday School took an excursion on the new Roanoke and Southern Railroad to the falls of the Mayo River,” Fox said. “They had a picnic there and held a Moravian lovefeast that afternoon.”
Fox said Col. Francis Fries, a member of Home Moravian Church in Salem (now Winston-Salem), must have remembered the location from that picnic. It was the location he chose to build his textile mills, Avalon Mill and Mayo Mill. Fries was also instrumental in founding a new town, Mayodan, near the convergence of the Mayo and Dan rivers.
Fries contacted his Home Church pastor, Bishop Edward Rondthaler, and invited him to visit the area to help select a site for a new Moravian church. The bishop’s son, Howard Rondthaler, was appointed as the first pastor when the new 225-seat church building opened in November 1896.
Entering the sanctuary of the church, the students first noticed the large Moravian star hanging high above the pulpit area. The first multi-pointed star originated more than 150 years ago in christmas flowers germany , apparently as part of an evening handicraft project.
The star is lit at the beginning of Advent season and proclaims a three-point message.
“It’s a reminder of the star that led the wise men to the baby Jesus,” Mayodan Moravian member Julie Joyce told a group of second-graders from Dillard Elementary.
The star also portrays Jesus as the Divine Star, “the bright and morning star,” and is seen as the star of promise and of hope.
Dressed in traditional 18th-century Moravian clothing, Joyce also explained the tradition and meaning of the Advent candle wreath on the table in front of the pulpit. Each of the four candles represented a different element of the Christmas story told each week during the Advent season. The four candles represented love, hope, peace and joy.
Heading from the sanctuary to the fellowship hall, the students made a stop at a glass case in the hallway holding several items of historic value. They were able to see and hear about hymnals and Bibles printed more than 100 years earlier and hear stories of the early days of the Mayodan church.
Passing into the fellowship hall, the students made a stop in the kitchen to watch the preparation traditional Moravian cookies. The students learned that the secret to the unique cookies was to “roll them so thin you can almost see through them” and that the dark brown color came from using molasses as a key ingredient.
Still munching on samples of the crisp, thin cookies, the students stood at their next station watching Bonnie Connelly explain how to make beeswax candles – a Christmas tradition for Moravians.
Like the Moravian star, the candles also have special significance.
“They were first used in a Christmas Eve service for children in christmas flowers germany blog around 1747,” Connelly said.
The candles are still made with the same formula of beeswax and tallow in tapered molds designed by early Moravian settlers. The traditional red paper wrapped around the base of candles represents the blood of Jesus and the candle itself represents Christ as the “light of the world.”
Circling the fellowship hall, the students heard more about the history of the Moravian church and saw a Christmas tree decorated the way colonial families would have done it. Most of the students quickly identified a couple familiar items not normally associated with Christmas trees – candles and popcorn. A third item – bright, red berries – was also present.
“Those were the only things available for people to use for decorations a hundred years ago,” Connelly said. “That’s why they waited until Christmas day to cut the tree and decorate it. The tree and decorations didn’t last long in those days.”
The final stop on the tour took the second-graders to the top floor of the Moravian church, to a darkened room holding several miniature displays – the traditional Moravian Putz (pronounced “puts”). The German word putz means “decoration” and that’s how the original displays were used.
Early Moravians created miniature depictions of the story of Jesus’ birth, ranging from simple manger scenes to elaborate villages that filled a room. The Putz at Mayodan Moravian contains five scenes – two from the story of Jesus’ birth, one historic representation of Old Salem, a scene from Mayodan in 1896 and a historic rural scene from Rockingham County.
With the lights out, the children enjoyed the scene over ancient Bethlehem illuminated only by lights from candles, hearth fires and the brilliant star hanging above the stable where the baby Jesus lay in a manger surrounded by Mary, Joseph and the shepherds.
The 1896 view of Mayodan shows the original Mayodan Moravian Church building as one of only a handful of buildings present then, including Mayo Mills and the train depot.
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