Last weekend we celebrated Orthodox Christmas. For the last 12 years I've celebrated Christmas, not on the 25th, as was the tradition in my youth, but rather on January 7th.
Over the years I've been asked many many questions about this.
- Why do you celebrate Christmas two weeks later than everyone else?
- Is it a different kind of Christmas?
- What kind of traditions do you have for your Christmas?
Most ask with genuine curiosity. I thought I'd share a little bit about Orthodox Christmas. I'll start with the questions.
Why do you celebrate Christmas two weeks later than everyone else?
Fair question. :) The Orthodox Church uses the Julian Calendar. It is reported that the Julian Calendar was created in 45BC as a reform of the Roman Calendar. The Gregorian Calendar is the calendar utilized in most countries.
The reason the Gregorian Calendar came into existence was because the Julian Calendar assumes each year is 365.25 days with every 4th year being a leap year. The Julian calendar assumes that the vernal equinoxes is 365.25 days with every 4th year being a leap year. The vernal equinox however is approximately 11 minutes shorter than that. This results in an accumulated value of 3 days every four centuries. Thus a new calendar was created to save us from the 3 day error every 400 years. :)
The Orthodox Church over the years have relaxed their opinion on this. A few years ago the Metropolitan of our diocese (similar to a Roman Catholic Cardinal in my opinion) indicated that the churches could elect which calendar to follow. Many of the churches in our diocese still follow the Julian Calendar. There are a few that have adopted the "new calendar" but there are many Priests and parishioners that are happy to continue using the traditional calendar of the church.
There are several other countries that still celebrate Christmas on the 7th so we aren't all alone! =)
Is it a different kind of Christmas?
This one is easy. Nope. It's the same Christmas everyone else celebrates. There's a Santa. Presents. Family. Fun. Good stuff.
We do however have the perk of getting Christmas goods at a discount since everyone else is "finished" with the holiday. ;)
What kind of traditions do you have for your Christmas?
The same as you do. On Christmas Eve there are church services and family dinners. Christmas Eve is a day of fasting so there is no meat allowed. Our traditional dinner is pirohi, stuffed cabbage, mushroom soup, palacinke (crepes), macaroni and cheese and shrimp. There's usually some other dishes that make the menu each year that aren't on that list, but those are the traditional ones on the table each year.
 |
| Santa arrived in Raleigh |
The Aleksza tradition is to open presents on Christmas Eve. This started (as the story is told by my hubby) when they were little. They'd come home after Christmas Eve services and open presents. This was primarily because there wasn't time enough to do so the next morning before Christmas Day services. As a parent of a 3 year old... It makes for an early morning to do it on Christmas Day! =) In our family we do a little bit of both. On Christmas Eve we open presents from the immediate family. Christmas night Santa comes and brings Katherine her presents. She opens them on Christmas morning before church. Of course, since we spend Christmas Eve/Day in NJ she doesn't get very many presents on Christmas morning. Just a token or two from Santa with a promise of more to come when she gets back to Raleigh. I, for one, am grateful for Santa's willingness to come a few days later because it could be rather difficult to get all of Katherine's things back home on the plane. ;)
Why I love it...
There a simplicity about the holiday being celebrated two weeks later that is lost with the commercialism of the 25th. Everyone else is "over" the holidays, including New Years, and has moved on. So much so that this year there were no lights still up and on in our neighborhood after the New Year. While this makes me sad, particularly because of the reason for the holiday and the seemingly forgotten arrival of the Wise Men at the Crib, it gives us a chance to revel in our own holiday spirit. And get good bargains. ;)
In the next blog I'll tell you all about our holidays this year!
