www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Christmas - East and West

Dear All,

Every day I log onto a great site I've found that describes all the feasts, saints, traditions, and customs (especially FOOD ) associated with the days on the Catholic calendar.

Here's the link:

http://www.catholicculture.org/

My only disappointment with this fine webpage is that it is only from a Latin or Western perspective.

So... I did some searching on Google and found this site that details Orthodox/Byzantine/Eastern Christmas practices and customs:

http://orthotracts.org/christmas.html

Does anyone know of any other informative sites?

PAX

Enjoy!

http://www.iarelative.com/xmas/index.html

I found a great book at a local Catholic church's flea market- for 25 cents!!!. Its called "My Name Day Come for Dessert". Its full of suggestions for desserts to commerate one's Name Day. Like Bishop's Punch for St. Nicholas Day. Or a cake decorated with a plastic knight on horseback for St. George's day. Unfortuneately, most of the sources listed on the back no longer exist. But perhaps a search on the internet will be fruitful.

If interested,

Here's a link to an article about the celebration of the Nativity in the Armenian Church written by my pastor:

http://www.stjohnsarmenianchurch.org/

Benedictine,

The Orthotracts link causes my IE to freeze every time. Anyone else having trouble with it? Or, has my PC become a Feeneyite?

djs and Ghazar,

Thanks for those links. Very nice.

Many years,

Neil

Sorry Neil

but my Mac can get it on both Exploder/Exploiter and Safari - abosolutely no problem at all.

Wonderful things these Macs

Hmm, should have known Macs would be popular in Scotland

Actually Macs are also quite popular among Byzantines, both Catholic and Orthodox. The reason, I would think, is that Mac pioneered the use of icons. Incognitus

Dear All,

Thanks for the responses, especially the link that describes the Christmas Eve supper. We always had that when I was growing up. All my childhood friends - even the Catholic ones - thought it was weird that we had fish and other meatless dishes on Christmas Eve. I mean unless it fell on a Friday that is [even then they said you had a dispensation to party anyway! :p ] I guess with a Slovak mother and a Polish father there would be some incorporation of each others customs.

I hope I don't scandalize, but even here in our monastery with its Germanic/Swiss background we have a BIG meal on Christmas Eve with meat, wine, and everything then take a little rest before Midnight Mass.

PAX

P.S. Neil, sorry about the link freezing your computer

Dear Benedictine,

I know that the Italian Catholics have a meal of fish on Christmas Eve. Does anyone know why? Does it have anything to do with fasting?

In Christ,
Alice

The Vigil of Christmas (Dec. 24th) was a meatless day for Roman Catholics, before the IInd Vatican Council, and so traditionally a fish dinner was eaten.

Yes, Italian americans have the "Meal of the 7 Fishes" I was in Rome for Christmas 5 years ago. They never heard of it.

Actually, the practice seems to vary a bit from place to place in Italy. I'm told by Italian friends that it is really a southern Italian tradition, strongest from Naples southward and in Sicily.

The number of fish types involved also varies considerably, although 7 is probably the most often cited. The numbers cited range from 3 to 13, and virtually every number in between. The symbolism varies from the Three Magi (3) to the Apostles plus Jesus (13). The possibilities for 7 are multiple: the days in Genesis; the days of the week; the sacraments; the deadly sins; and, I forget what else.

For a couple of discussions about the tradition, see:

Feast of the Seven Fishes [sicilianculture.com]

The Tale of the Fishes [neuronet.pitt.edu]

Many years,

Neil

My dad's Sicilian family did this. They also ate only fish on every Friday of the year, both before and after Vatican II, even though they were technically Presbyterian because of my Highland Scottish grandmother.

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