Page 30 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 11 2022

Food for Thought

WE WISH YOU A BLESSED

CHRISTMAS, AND A

FIGGY PUDDING

BY PETER STOFFBERG JOY
to the world
t’s that time of year when we bring out the the Lord has come
Christmas pudding to cool and top it with creamy Let earth receive her
Icustard. And perhaps inside, it’s laced with coins. KING
I’m glad the latter tradition seems to be waning.
Why on earth would you bury hard metal coins in a
soft dessert? Christmas pudding, first known as figgy
pudding, even has its own song. Maybe you never
noticed? Search for the lyrics to “We wish you a merry
Christmas”.
Another thing about figs that’s scarcely noticed, are
their flowers. You’ve probably seen fig flowers, but
won’t be able to describe them. That’s because they
are kind-of-inside-out-flowers. It’s sounds like some-
thing that Bruce the shark and his mates from ‘Finding
Nemo’ would chant, but figs are flowers, not fruit.
(Search ‘fish are friends’). Sunday 25 December
When you sample a syrupy fig with a good strong CHRISTMAS FAMILY SERVICE
cheese this Christmas, take note of the crunchy, stalky
bits inside. That’s what makes the pollen and gets pol- - 9h30 -
linated. To bear fruit, plants need pollination, so how Dainfern College Auditorium
does a fig get pollinated when all that stuff is locked
away in the middle of what we thought was the fruit?
Well, there’s a tiny one-way passage under the fig, and
that, quite literally, is where the wasp comes in.
www.familychurch.online
Each fig species has its own wasp. The female, already
covered in pollen is drawn by the pheromone scent
produced by the fig to attract her species. She crawls chewing through the fig to make escape tunnels for
through the passage, pollinates the fig from the inside, the females. Then they turn around, and get dissolved
lays her eggs, breathes her last and is dissolved by the just like their mum. The females collect pollen and then
enzymes secreted for that very purpose. That’s why you leave through the newly chewed tunnels in search of
don’t have to worry about biting down on a wasp as their own fruit-like-flowers. That’s the inside story on
you might a shiny coin in a pudding. figs, without wasps there would be no figgy puddings.
Her eggs don’t get dissolved, though. The fig encases You can eat Christmas figs without knowing about this
them in shells that provide nutrition for the hatchlings. wonderful process, but can you really celebrate Christ-
The males hatch first and fertilise the females before mas without knowing why? The inside story of how
the Creator God chose to be born as a human being
in the person of Jesus Christ is critical and wonderful
knowledge and the source of all hope. If you know it,
meditate on it, and share it. Imagine going through life
without it? If you don’t, find out. Visit a Church this
Christmas or open a Bible and read the book of John. It
proves that God is love, God is good, and God is more
wonderful than we could ever have imagined.

There’s no Christmas without Jesus, we wish you a
blessed one.

28 DPL issue 11 2022