Merry Xmas, today, for Orthodox who celebrate

 It's orthodoXmas today, so that means that my fam's holidaze is finally coming to a close, though we have 2 bdays in about a month, including mine. Our schedule of festivities include starting to seriously celebrate at Solstice, aka Yule, (for me) then catholic/protestant xmas for some of the fam, (& work & school gigs & days off) w xmas eve the most important. My sister flies in from Canada, after Boxing Day, which is a thing there, sometimes her husband does good works then (12-26) & stays til after New Year's. Then it's quiet until Jan 6+7, when various locals get together, because everyone out of town is busy back at work/school.

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It was actually super fun as a kid, having 2 xmas's, & the "BIG" haul was usually on the 25th, partly because the rest of the culture did it then, plus mom's Catholicism basically overrode Dad's (& thus the kids') Orthodox Christian schedule. But still a gift or 2 on orthodoXmas, usually with a BIG chocolate St. Nic cuz mom, ever the bargain hunter, could get STEEP discounts.
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Orthodox Christianity is way old, before Protestantism, when the epicenter was at Constantinople, before Catholicism moved to Rome. Current practitioners are primarily Eastern Europeans and Greeks. My fam is Ukrainian; Ukraine marked 2k years of xianity in 1989; and just WEEKS AGO un-aligned itself from the Russian Orthodox church. They've had representation in Rome, but it wasn't an inherited Bishopric, so couldn't be passed down to the next Bishop. Because there weren't m/any other Ukrainian fams here in the small midwestern US city where we live, and mom was Ukrainian Catholic (like the Poles/Poland, which allies itself with Rome & the Roman calendar) & grew up in a (Ukr) Catholic school, with nuns as teachers, we attended various Roman Catholic churches with her, or went out of town with the whole fam for Orthodox services. Meanwhile, I basically rejected the heteropatriarchy (& esp some of the hypocrisy I saw of the born agains who were often SUCH haters! in my experience) of all of it & was atheistic/agnostic, until I discovered nature-based & divine-Feminine affirming spirituality, which actually harkens back to ancient prehistory, 40-80k years ago, & that much of the Abrahamic religions were based on, 2k years ago....

Next up: turn of the circle/wheel of the year: candleMas; many neo-pagans call it Imbolc, the Celt/Gaelic world for ewe's milk/cleansing; I actually prefer the Catholic/Christian name Candlemas, because I'm a bit of a pyro! (plus I like the idea of everyone coming together, & find language-specific words alienating); the vestigial holiday is groundhog Day.
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THEN there's Spring Equinox, in March followed by 2 Easters (in 2019 they are only a week apart), based on the Goddess Eostre/Ostara. Mom bought us BIG chocolate bunnies for orthodox Easter (-90% off sometimes)
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Happy Holidaze

Member Comments About This Blog Post
  • vWOUBBIE
    My kids absolutely LOVED having two Christmases! I'm 100% ethnic Ukrainian, and we joined my grandparents' Orthodox church when the boys were 1 and 2. That was an interesting Baptism!

    Now that they're 22 and 23, I feel free to be my old Pagan self again!

    I do plan to go back now and again once I'm retired, because the spirituality of the space and the service and the singing still takes me out of time and I miss that. But those 9am services are for the birds, and most of the other parishioners are too conservative for me. Keep the politics out of church, and bleep the Patriarchy (literally, lol!)

    I was, however, THRILLED that my younger son went to church on Monday all on his own!
    945 days ago
  • vno profile photoCD4994568
    Where I live the Amish celebrate Old Christmas on 6 January.
    949 days ago
  • v1CRAZYDOG
    Hope you have a beautiful Christmas celebration!
    949 days ago
  • vno profile photoCD15936081
    emoticon
    950 days ago
  • vKPHEALTHY4LIFE
    Blessed be
    950 days ago
  • vDEBIGENE
    WOW, thanks for such interesting history of the holidays. Enjoy yours, Merry Merry and Happy Happy !!

    Stay blessed and full of love and kindness to all.
    950 days ago
  • vNELLJONES
    Have a Great Christmas celebration.
    950 days ago

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