On Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Nostalgia

[strannik01]

We don’t celebrate Christmas in Russia - at least not the way Americans do.

To start with, because Russian Orthodox Church didn’t recognize the Gregorian calendar (because that change was imposed by the very Catholic Pope, whose authority it  obviously didn't recognize), Russian Christmas gradually shifted from December 25 to January 7 as Julian

Comments

[tilia_tomentosa]

New Year's Eve was the winter holiday of my own childhood, and I never got used to Christmas myself (amazingly, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrates it on 25 December). And now I miss my late grandmother's new year's pastry although I couldn't stand the taste of it. :) We would go to my grandparents' village to visit them some time around New Year's and now there is nobody left to visit.

I do hope you manage to spend at least a little time with some of your family members this year. :)

[strannik01]

See, I used to think that celebrating Christmas according to Julian calendar was a universal Orthodox Christian thing. But as I was writing this post, I vaguely remember that I read somewhere that it wasn't the case, so I decided to qualify it. It's a good thing I did :)

А так... That is so sad... though, I suppose, inevitable. Time is merciless in its необратимый, ever-forward march. But I hope you have a Happy New Year! С Новым Годом,с новым счатьем - or whatever the Bulgarian equivalent is.

[tilia_tomentosa]

"Нова година - нов късмет!"

Think of късмет as "luck" rather than "fate"; it's the same Turkish-from-Arabic "kismet" but the nuances of meaning don't seem to be the same in English. So basically that's a wish for better luck in the new year (especially if the old one was unlucky in some way or other) or just a chance at a new and hopefully better beginning. I wonder if it's actually different from the Russian version.

And of course Bulgarians wouldn't be Bulgarians if they didn't obsessively wish each other good health. :)

[kaffy_r]

To new happiness, indeed. I'm glad I read this post; it helped remind me (as all of us North Americans cursed with obliviousness should regularly remind ourselves, frankly) that many things we think of as universal simply aren't.

What should always be universal are the things you talk about here - being together with the people you love, the people you care for; sharing happiness. It is through that fellowship that we are most apt to grasp a moment of grace, and such grace is to be treasured.

[strannik01]

Hmm... I suppose that's true.

[kaffy_r]

Don't mind me. I tend to wax both prolific and slightly purple-prosed about the turn of the year.

[jur4anie]

Кстати, да, печально, но и у нас День Победы, 9 мая хотят сделать рабочим. (бывшая МССР) Очень огорчает это. Ветеранов все меньше, но и тех хотят забыть ((

Зато, наша страна, по-моему, единственная, вот уже несколько лет официально празднует два Рождества. Выходные дни у нас и 25 декабря, и 7 января.