On the eve of the great holiday, the Nativity of Christ, a lot of information appears in the media about how Orthodox Russians spend the Holy evening on January 6 and how they prepare for it. One gets the impression that these rules are fixed somewhere, and all believers fulfill them, or at least strive to fulfill them.
What is the meaning of the feast of the Nativity of Christ?
The coming into the world of God - the Creator of heaven and earth, the visible and invisible world - is an event of universal proportions. The Bible has the following story: Elijah, whom we now venerate as a great prophet, was persecuted by the Israelites. In a moment of despair, he turned to God for help. And he was given the following answer: “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And now, the Lord will pass, and a large and strong wind tearing mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord, but the Lord is not in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but not in an earthquake the Lord; after an earthquake, fire, but the Lord is not on fire; after the fire there is a gentle breeze, and the Lord is there. ”
No one has ever seen what the Creator of all things looks like, for He never showed himself to people in material form. For the one and only time He came into the world as a man - a weak and defenseless baby, whom he had to hide, because he could be killed. On Holy evening, the Lord came to people to show that he loved them, that there was not a bit of evil in Him, that He understood their burdens, dangers, and temptations. Whatever we are, He will save everyone and help those who need His help and ask for it. All newborns with their helplessness are similar to each other. The Lord, having come into the world as a baby, made it clear to each of us and in the Nativity of Christ confirmed that He did not separate Himself from us, that He created us all in His own image and likeness.
Christmas is the most joyful holiday
We celebrate the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ on January 6 after the rising of the first star in the sky. For the Orthodox, this is a joyful and holy evening. Congratulations and gifts for him are prepared in advance. Often these are Christmas symbols. The story of the birth of the Divine Infant, described in the Gospel, by popular rumors and by talented writers is colored by touching details, which are sometimes given a mystical and superstitious meaning.
On Holy evening, people in the early morning begin to go out and look at the sky. It is considered a bad sign to look out of the window that day. Christians are looking for the first star, and having found, they are accepted to rejoice, congratulate each other on the holiday, after which they rush to return home to the family table in order to start the festive meal.
How did the traditions develop?
What is Holy evening? The traditions of its holding have changed and are still changing. There are reasons for this. Before the separation of the churches into Catholic and Orthodox, Christmas was celebrated in the spring in May. In the 4th century, Pope Julius I moved the celebration to winter time. Before the Julian calendar was translated into Gregorian in Russia, Christmas was celebrated before the New Year. This holiday was more significant, but the Soviet government canceled it.
Celebration preparation
The Orthodox began to prepare for Christmas in advance. Not only did they diligently attend church services, fast and do charity work, they also planned ahead what to prepare for Holy evening. Believers specially fed domestic cattle - geese, chickens, calves and pigs, brought down cow butter to amuse their family with a generous feast on this family holiday.
Observe the post or not?
The change of calendar, communist rule, the decline of Orthodox culture - all this destroyed the patriarchal traditions of our ancestors. Churches changed the order of worship, and in the last year or two they allowed to eat fish, vegetable oil and alcohol during the most severe period of Christmas fasting, which lasts only one week. The priests explain this by the fact that modern people are much weaker than their ancestors, and the New Year's table, like the table on Holy evening, will not do without these products.
It is not easy to agree with this point of view. After all, it was our contemporaries who restored the destroyed temples, built new churches and resumed worship. And this is during the most difficult trials that have befallen our people in recent decades. Be that as it may, all Christians love and look forward to the holy night every year. Traditions have undergone and are constantly changing, however, if you understand the sacred meaning of Christmas, then no changes will be able to overshadow this holiday. And the changes associated with Christmas, the history of Christianity knows a lot.
Can I eat before the first star?
In earlier times, even before the changes that came with the 1917 revolution , services continued in the Orthodox churches and monasteries all day, with small interruptions. Now they are significantly reduced. Monks and priests do not have a tradition to eat food only after the rising of the star. This is understandable. If the first star appears in the middle zone of Russia at Holy evening in the interval from 17 to 18 hours, then in the polar regions at this time of the year the polar night continues. On this day, priests, like others, do not eat food before communion. Well, since strict fasting is prescribed on January 6, after communion they reinforce their strength only with juices (meager food). A festive feast is held the next day - January 7.
Lay people very rarely spend their entire pre-holiday day in churches at services, as they wait for the first star to appear. Up to this point, Christians do not allow themselves to eat even poppy dewdrops.
Well
Sochiva is raw grain or beans soaked in water. In pre-Petrine times, amaranth was the most common cereal in Russia. Peter I banned its cultivation, as he introduced new crops. Today, amaranth can be found in stores. This healthy cereal can again become the basis for the juice. In rich parishes and monasteries, honey and lean milk are added to the juice - in ceramic dishes, the seeds of poppy, hemp or nuts are ground with a porcelain pestle and a small amount of water is added. This is lean milk. At the laity on the Christmas table is always a dish with oozing. It is tasted the first of all holiday dishes.
Strict fasting on Christmas Eve
In general, any strict fasting assumes dry eating, and no more than once a day. And the Holy evening on the eve of Christmas is the time of the most severe fasting. According to the changed Orthodox canons, a strict Christmas fast begins in the last week and captures the New Year. Neither fish nor oil (oil) during this period can be eaten.
Should I cook 12 fasting dishes for the Christmas feast?
It is amazing to read recipes for 12 dishes on Holy evening, which are developed in accordance with lean standards, that is, without oil and heat treatment. If you participate in the prescribed services on this day, then when do you prepare two feasts - fasting and fasting? By the way, food without oil and heat treatment, which believers ate during long fasts, on a holiday can not cause a joyful feeling. Those who observe the fast will not be able to disagree with this. But why waste time and energy on a large fasting feast if, by Christmas, they specially fed and slaughtered cattle? Also interested in the question, when and who should prepare the festive fast food? If you contrive and arrange two large tables, will there be time for spiritual preparation for the holiday?
As Christmas was celebrated during the Soviet persecution
People who worship Christ in those days when Christmas was banned did the following. After visiting the temple, if there was one in the area, people prepared quick, but satisfying 12 dishes. On Holy evening, all family members gathered at the table. And after the rising of the star, congratulating each other on the holiday and giving gifts, they proceeded to a feast. On the table there was necessarily a juiciness as a tribute to the ritual, and in addition, pork or beef jellied meat, meat salad, mushrooms in sour cream, fried poultry, boiled potatoes with butter, cold cuts, cheese, cake, sweets, bread and wine - that there are 12 dishes.
What to cook for the Holy evening in each family decided in their own way. The main thing is that it is tasty and long-awaited. The next day, January 7, was a working day, and asking for a day off or a day off meant bringing a lot of trouble to yourself and your family. The close circle of close relatives gathered together on Holy evening, congratulations and gifts made the family more united and friendly. Indeed, on this holiday it was impossible to congratulate by telephone and send mail.
What the Holy Scripture Says About Holiday Fun and Abstinence
Do I need to cook Lenten meals on Holy evening on January 6? Those who conscientiously abstained all 40 days will not be happy to be at the table on which ritual hay lies and plates with twelve lean dishes are arranged. It may well be that the Lord Himself would have perceived this as a meaningless hypocrisy. Why fast after the post is over?
If we recall the Gospel parable of the miracle in Cana of Galilee, it becomes clear that Jesus Christ was not a stranger to worldly joys and loved when the big holidays were celebrated cheerfully and widely. Maybe Lenten meals on Holy evening are prepared by those who could not resist the worldly temptations of the previous forty days? It is no secret that many church people explain their refusal to observe fasting due to poor health. There is an answer to this in the Old Testament book of the Prophet Daniel about four youths who, eating only raw vegetables and water, became stronger in health and sharper in mind than those who ate fast food.
Why did Christ fast for 40 days?
Is there any sense whatsoever in the posts? Let's turn to the history. After Jesus Christ was baptized, He retired to the wilderness, where in solitude he was preparing for the mission for which he came to this world. For 40 days He was tempted by the devil, but did not succumb to his provocations and promises. All this time, the Lord prayed and ate only wild honey and acridas. We are also haunted by all kinds of temptations, but by God's providence we have been given great power to resist them. A lonely man is nothing. In conjunction with God through baptism and communion, fasting and prayer, he becomes like the Creator Himself. This must be understood.
If you understand the meaning of God’s humanization, if you comprehend his earthly life described in the Gospel, then baptism, communion, fasting and prayer take on a simple and understandable meaning. We are baptized in order to tell the Creator that, consciously, by our will, we choose Him as our guidebook. We partake in order to unite with God in flesh and blood. We rejoice at Christmas because we got the opportunity to join the Creator and break out of the darkness of worldly misfortunes and suffering.
Retribution to God for His Help
Fasting before Christmas is our feat, thanks to God. If He sacrificed us His Only Begotten Son, Himself, to save us, then are we not able to sacrifice his worldly passions to Him? Yes, this is difficult, much more difficult than giving part of the money to charity. For generosity praise others, and if you observe the fast, then no one will notice. You can’t amuse this pride. This is the meaning of abstinence. Fasting is a personal contact with God. Only He alone can appreciate your efforts. He alone understands how difficult it is for you, eating little and poorly, limiting yourself in all pleasures, not to walk with a dull look, but to work hard and have a good mood.
Everything changes. It becomes sad if you imagine that in Orthodox Russia, as in the Catholic countries, the Christmas Lent is abolished, and on Holy evening the festive dinner will not be supplemented with another joy - eating beef jellied meat, roasted piglet with horseradish, goose baked with apples and lingonberries and sponge cake with chocolate cream and whipped cream. Those who preserve and support patriarchal institutions know that, after a long abstinence and pacification of the flesh, a merry Christmas commotion brings incomparable pleasure.