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WHITEFIELD HOUSE DISPLAYS CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS

Morning Call - Allentown, Pa. Author: ALYCE TEMPLETON (A free-lance story for The Morning Call)

Copyright Morning Call Dec 13, 1998

Alyce Templeton is a free-lance writer. If you have information to share through this column, please write to: Alyce J. Templeton c/o The Morning Call, 35 S. 3rd St., Easton, Pa. 18042.

Moravian Advent stars, trimmed beeswax candles and Christmas cookies are the focus of small displays at the Whitefield House in Nazareth.

The scenes, which are interspersed throughout the permanent exhibits on the museum's second floor, tell of the background and practice of a number of Moravian customs and other Christmas customs popular in the Lehigh Valley.

Many of the displays double as holiday decorations, such as an Advent wreath created several years ago by museum volunteers Jackie Bauder and Peg Magargee. The red and white Advent star on display was brought from Herrnhut, Germany in the 1980s and donated by Katherine Hill, a resident of Moravian Hall Square.

Also on display this year are scenes from a Christmas putz, which uses a number of original pieces of a putz built and donated by Joe Morris a few years ago. The original figurines from Morris' putz were imported from Germany by an ancestor in the 1860s and had been in the family ever since.

A Pennsylvania German Christmas trau, a wooden framework covered in greens to resemble a Christmas tree and a "Holiday Treasure Hunt" game in versions for both the young and old, which will help visitors find each of the scenes, round out a portion of what the public will find at the museum for their holiday enjoyment.

A number of local authors who have published books recently which focus on Moravian culture will have their books available for sale in the museum gift shop. Included in the new book collection will be "An Ecumenical Theology of the Heart: The Theology of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf" by the Rev. Arthur Freeman; "Moravian Women's Memoirs: Their Related Lives, 1750-1820" by Dr. Katherine M. Faull; "Memories of Old Nazareth" written by Donald Repsher, and "Common People, Uncommon Community: Lenape Life in Moravian Missions" by Mark Turdo.

This year's Christmas displays were created and assembled by Susan M. Dreydoppel, director of the Moravian Historical Society, and Mark Turdo, curator of the Moravian Historical Society, along with Wendy Darrohn, administrative assistant, and volunteer Jackie Bauder.

The exhibit continues through Jan. 10.

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