[Photo of St. John Fisher Church's Nativity Scene on Dec. 24, 2006]
I was reminded recently that some Christians celebrate Christmas Day NOT on Dec. 25th, but either on January 6th, 7th or 19th. Blogger Iva over at squirrelism.net follows Serbian Orthodox Church practices and celebrates Christmas Day on Jan. 7th. As a Roman Catholic, I celebrate the birth of Jesus on Dec. 25th, but I try to respect (depends) other people’s beliefs.
Yes, differences do matter, but I want to believe that most Christians would agree (or should, anyway) that we need to focus on putting the “Christ” back in Christmas. It is not just solely about that jolly fat dude and shiny presents, otherwise it’d be called “Santamas”. Think. Really.
[Photo of Santa Claus statue at HomeSense store last December]
If you’re still scratching your head on “January 6th, 7th or 19th”, I’ll try to unmuddle your thoughts by quoting this long passage from this site which explains those dates quite well:
“Without going into the history of all the pagan window dressing associated with the modern yuletide season, the true celebrations, according to the ancient tradition of the church, was a culmination of events related to God’s Incarnation. This was not called “Christmas” but rather Theophany which means “revelation of God” and was universally celebrated on January 6th by all Christendom, hi-lighted by the remembrance of Jesus’ Baptism. Although, ironically today, Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birthday, it wasn’t until later that the Nativity was incorporated into the January 6th celebrations of the Theophany.
The question about dates must be answered in 2 parts. There are actually only 2 dates for the observance of Jesus’ birth and not 4. They are December 25th and January 6th. The confusion of the other 2 dates, January 7th and 18th are due to the use of 2 calendars, the Gregorian and the Julian. While most of the known world, such as Canada, is on the Gregorian calendar (named after Pope Gregory of Rome), some Orthodox Christians maintain their liturgical calendars according to the ancient Julian calendar. Thus, the January 7th date actually corresponds with December 25th on the “old” Julian Calendar while January 19th corresponds to January 6th on the Gregorian calendar. Those who observe January 7th which is actually December 25th on the Julian calendar are referred to as “old calendarists”. Despite the calendar usage, all these churches observe the Epiphany or the Baptism of Jesus 12 days following the Nativity.”
Also, for more information on the Julian Calendar, check this Wikipedia page. Unmuddled yet? No? Sorry.
Since I use my blog to dump, umm, store photos that I would never ever print (because my effing camera and I both suck at photo-taking), here are more photos I snapped of St. John Fisher Church’s Nativity Scene (also known as crib or crà¨che) after the 5:30 PM mass last Dec. 24.
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge photo.
And lastly, here’s a funny (and endearing, well to me it is) photo of my beloved Mom standing outside the church. After mass, I asked her to pose in front of the Holy Mary statue. Since it was a bit cold (and dark) outside, she wrapped her scarf on her head. She blinked because of the blinding camera flash. When I reviewed the photo on my craptastic digital camera view screen, it dawned on me that her head pose - not done on purpose, sort of mimicked the Holy Mary statue. Cracks me up.
Yes, it’s a tad booooring to still be writing about Christmas… Oh well, it’s my blog. I store stuff in here to remember crap my brain can’t hold. 
Specifically, I want to always remind myself this year to make an effort to strengthen my spiritual centre. Find my light. Find what was lost.
Adieu,
Last crumbs of Christmas fruitycake
Oh, you’re just trying to delay writing the
inevitable (and very late) New Year’s Resolutions blog entry! Haha! Get on with it!
Your Mum looks sleepy and serene.
Hmm, why do I have a sneaking suspicion that you’re going to stretch the New Year’s resolutions into several posts? (One in here - spirituality.) Like your 4-part ornaments entries?
Here we go again with the camera lament!
Just buy a new one already or put up a PayPal donation button on your blog.
My family is not religious at all, so we usually celebrate our Christmas on December 24th. The holiday really doesn’t have any type of religious background for us… it never has.
But still, it’s interesting to see how and when other people spend their holidays.
First of all, I HEART your layout.
And yes, I did know some people celebrate Christmas Day on January 6th. Over here in Dominican Republic, it is a Dominican custom for kids to actually receive their gifts on the 6th, because instead of “Santa” giving them their presents, they celebrate it as if their presents come from the Magic Kings (those that bring the gifts to baby Jesus *your picture above*).
I particularly receive on both dates because my mom likes to follow Dominican culture and I like Santa, lol. xD
xxoo,
Sarah
P.S. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Wow I learn new things every day.
I don’t think your blog is boring, it is very interesting!
First off, I didn’t notice before, but the arm waving anime girls are hilarious.
That aside, I completely didn’t know anything about Serbian or Orthodox Christmas, so this was like a mini culture lesson for me. Hooray, I feel like a dimwit considering modern culture again!
And I agree: Christians need to put the “Christ” back into Christmas. Ask any six-year old who they think of when you say “Christmas” and they’ll say “Santa Claus”, not Jesus.
Very interesting blog.
I never heard before of people celebrating Christmas other than on Dec 25th.
Hmm. I thought your mom was actually a… figure as part of the scene / decoration. Heh.
Hehe. I found out about the celebrating Christmas on January instead of December, awhile ago. It’s quite interesting!
What do you mean by “find the light”? After God knows how many years of looking for this “light”, one would think that you should have found it by now. Just a suggestion - perhaps you should OPEN your eyes and you will “find” this “light”. LOL!
By the way, thanks for “enlightening” me on the different Christmas Day celebration dates.
You’re right. Christmas has lost its meaning as have other holidays. But there’s only so much we can do to try and restore its true meaning, to the true celebration. Most people (children included) don’t care and just want presents.
I never knew that of Christmas. It’s certainly interesting.
Do you have a link-back button somewhere around here?