Frankincense

When the Three Wise Men rode from the East into the West on that "first, best Christmas night," they bore on their saddle-bows three caskets filled with gold and frankincense and myrrh, to be laid at the feet of the manger-cradled babe of Bethlehem.

Tom and Mary brought frankincense and myrrh.

What is frankincense, anyway? Some sort of monster?

For millennia, Somalilanders have risked their lives to harvest sap of the frankincense tree for international export to be used in churches, French perfumes and cosmetics. Frankincense grows wild in the Cal Madow Mountains of Somaliland's Sanaag region, but the old trade is under threat as trees die from increased demand for their resin.

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

The glories of Mary held his soul captive : spikenard and myrrh and frankincense, symbolising the preciousness of God's gifts to her soul, rich garments, symbolising her royal lineage, her emblems, the lateflowering plant and lateblossoming tree, symbolising the agelong gradual growth of her cultus among men.

Frankincense, Frankenstein, Francophile, Philistine / Frankly, we are killing time