TWO altitudinous ears face forwards. Then, they swivel sideways to better absorb the melodious rendering of The First Noel by 200 voices. Eyes the colour of coffee observe the scene: the wool-wrapped congregation, exhaled-breath clouds that linger on the cold December air, the coal-black backdrop, the flickering star-like tealights and the straw on the stone floor.
Biblical scenes such as this one play out throughout the Christian world in the weeks before Christmas. Although St Matthew and St Luke didn’t mention the sheep, the ox and the ass in their Gospels on the birth of Jesus Christ, history-filled in the animal gap. Now, a small number of Britain’s 30,000 donkeys (some 20,000 of which are in private hands, with the rest in sanctuaries) assist in recreating the Christmas story in barns, churches, and cathedrals during Advent.
Equally, the presence of the allegedly intractable, curious, characterful and cuddly creatures—master mimickers with ponylike bodies, cow-like tails, stand-up, zebra-like manes and some of the biggest ears, relatively speaking, in the animal kingdom (developed for cooling the body in the desert) —enhances many a Palm Sunday procession and pet service, as well as lending a traditional feel to glitz-and-glamour public displays, such as London’s New Year’s Day Parade.
Petal, the donkey with the swiveling ears —akin to errant wings, according to G. K. Chesterton in his poem The Donkey—is taking part in a Biblical tableau in a stable in Rudgeway, Gloucestershire, one of 14 sell-out services organized by kindly and welcoming Jean Fooks, a former primary-school teacher and clergyman’s wife.
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