Orthodox observance of Christmas

[Momzilla]

This is one topic that I haven't been able to find much information on. Could y'all tell me how the Orthodox observe Christmas--including the preparatory fasts, observances particular to the Orthodox Church, etc.?

I feel kind of silly worrying about Christmas, but ... I love Christmas, and I would miss my tree.

[Suzannah]

Beware !!! The pagans worship their Christmas Trees and we must be different. Woe to him who worships his Christmas Tree!!!!
LOLOL

Seriously, Momzilla, I think some jurisdictions just do not have them, because they are observing on the Feast of the Nativity on Jan. 7. Mine celebrates the holiday with the "pagans" as a secular expression and buildup to the "real" holiday in Jan. I think this is very sensible! :bow: to the Great Bunny!

[Oblio]

Trees are cool. Not to worry :) They just aren't ubiquitous in Orthodoxy. We have a small tree to appease our non-Orthodox youguns.

[Oblio]

Could y'all tell me how the Orthodox observe Christmas--including the preparatory fasts, observances particular to the Orthodox Church, etc.?


We have a 40 day fast prior to Nativity. In some ways it is easier as the rules are not as strict as for Great Lent. In others it is more difficult as there are all the secular holiday excesses, office parties, footbal games, Thanksgiving etc. that are put forth in temptation.

[Philip]

The prepatory fast for the Feast of the Nativity is Advent. If you would like to have a "Western style" Orthodox Advent, consider this site (http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/xmas/advcal.htm).

We do have Christmas trees, but we do not place them in the temple.

[Matrona]

Many Orthodox living in the West have Christmas trees--all the families in my parish do, I think. When I have a family of my own, I will have one. It's just that most predominantly Orthodox countries never developed a tradition with the Christmas tree, so Orthodox immigrant families and their descendants won't always have a tree. They just didn't grow up with it.

The Advent fast begins right after St. Philip's day on November 14th (St. Philip, of the twelve) and ends on Christmas Eve. It's not as strict as Great Lent and is meant to prepare us to celebrate the Nativity on December 25th.

The American tradition of Thanksgiving is greatly admired by the Orthodox hierarchs in this country, and for this reason, the Nativity fast includes a special dispensation--we can eat meat for Thanksgiving. So you don't have to worry about giving up your Thanksgiving turkey, either! I love Turkey Day, so I was very happy to learn this!

(I think the dispensation extends to turkey leftovers, too. ;) )

[Iacobus]

This is one topic that I haven't been able to find much information on. Could y'all tell me how the Orthodox observe Christmas--including the preparatory fasts, observances particular to the Orthodox Church, etc.?

I feel kind of silly worrying about Christmas, but ... I love Christmas, and I would miss my tree.

When we were in Greece last December, we noticed one thing about their observance of Christmas that we thought was very interesting. Christmas Day itself was not the day for gift giving. It was a day on which everyone went to church, had family dinners and the like. But the days after Christmas were full of Santa Claus type festivities, leading to gift giving on New Year's Eve. Prodromos can fill in the gaps on all of that, but we thought it was very cool. It seemed to have the advantage of letting one celebrate Christmas itself as a holy day, and then still participating in the jollity that we associate with Christmas.

We are thinking about changing our practice this year, but are meeting some resistance from our youngest, so we'll see. In any event, we still put up our tree a couple of weeks before Christmas. We've never seen a reason to change that.

And about that Easter Bunny.....

James

[Oblio]

And about that Easter Bunny.....


Tastes just like chicken ;)

[Sergius_Lucius]

Firs are usually associated with The New Year Day in Russia (Communists' work).

Orthodox use in worship tree branches among many other material objects. Birch at Pentecost (at least in Russian tradition), palms (and pussy willow in Russia) at Palm Sunday, firs at Nativity (though it was adopted from the West). Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice (Ps 96:12) all the trees of the field shall clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12). We just use God's creation to praise Him as people of Jerusalem did. The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted (Ps 104:16) So Treeism is cool! :)


For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees! Jeremiah 6:6

[ufonium2]

Hey Momzilla!

I would check with your individual church about Thanksgiving, as I know of at least one around here that doesn't relax the fast for it. (No hints, but was it Thanksgiving in 19th-century Russia? No it was not!)

Honestly, I can't imagine anything about Orthodoxy would change your Christmas. Even if it does, kids get used to anything. For instance, several of my family members are in law enforcement, and obviously not every officer gets Christmas off, so they always volunteered to work the 25th and we celebrated Christmas on the 24th. I thought it was great because I had the toys before my friends :)

[Sergius_Lucius]

I would check with your individual church about Thanksgiving, as I know of at least one around here that doesn't relax the fast for it. (No hints, but was it Thanksgiving in 19th-century Russia? No it was not!)


:) :) :) I wish we had such a website in Russian (and Thanksgiving with dispensation too ;) ).

[prodromos]

Tastes just like chicken ;)

Everything tastes like chicken (more or less) :D

[prodromos]

When we were in Greece last December, we noticed one thing about their observance of Christmas that we thought was very interesting. Christmas Day itself was not the day for gift giving. It was a day on which everyone went to church, had family dinners and the like. But the days after Christmas were full of Santa Claus type festivities, leading to gift giving on New Year's Eve. Prodromos can fill in the gaps on all of that, but we thought it was very cool. It seemed to have the advantage of letting one celebrate Christmas itself as a holy day, and then still participating in the jollity that we associate with Christmas.

In Greece, the exchanging of gifts is traditionally associated with the feast day of Saint Basil (Agios Vassilis) on January 1st. I believe the same was once the tradition in the West, but on the feast day of Saint Nicholas instead on December 6th. Christmas day in Greece, as James mentioned, is all about Christ. He is the focus, not what loot you are going to get from Saint Basil (or Saint Nicholas) and it is something I love about Orthodox tradition. The same with celebrating name days instead of birthdays. Birthdays are egocentric whereas name days are Christocentric because we are remembering the saints who became true icons of Christ. Traditionally, the person celebrating their name day buys biscuits, cakes or pita to offer to their friends, family and collegues on that day. They do not receive gifts themselves.

John.