January 7 is the day of the great, all-solemn feast, “the mother of all holidays,” according to St. John Chrysostom. Christmas is the oldest Christian holiday, established already in the time of the disciples of Jesus Christ – the apostles. On the day of Christmas on December 25 (January 7 – according to the new style) is indicated in the II century by St. Clement of Alexandria. Meanwhile, the fact that people have been celebrating Christmas on the same day for centuries does not mean at all that Christ was born then.
The fact is that the main source of Christian history – the Bible – bypasses the exact date of the birth of Jesus. About the events preceding his birth, there is. About the next after birth – too. But there is no date. More about this and other unexpected facts about Christ read here.
“Due to the absence of a common calendar in the ancient world, the exact date of Christmas was not known,” Father Alexander Men notes in the book The Son of Man. – Indirect evidence leads historians to conclude that Jesus was born c. 7-6 BC”
Advent
The most zealous Christians begin to prepare for the holiday long before its onset – by strict fasting. It’s called Christmas. Or Filippov (because it starts from the feast day of the Apostle Philip). Lent is, first of all, a time of special spiritual composure, prayer, sobriety, curbing one’s evil inclinations. Well, as for food, then, if you follow a strict charter, during the days of Advent (November 28 – January 6):
- do not eat meat, butter, milk, eggs, cheese
- on Monday, Wednesday and Friday – do not eat fish, do not drink wine, food is prepared without oil (dry eating)
- on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday – you can cook with vegetable oil
- on Saturdays, Sundays and major holidays, fish is allowed.
On the eve of the Nativity of Christ, nothing is eaten until the appearance of the first star.
On the night of January 6-7, Christians go to the Christmas service. The liturgy of St. Basil the Great is performed in churches. They sing hymns of the Nativity of Christ. Troparion of Christmas – the main anthem of the holiday – could have been created as early as the XNUMXth century:
Your Christmas, Christ our God,
the world of reason rests in peace,
serving the stars in it
I study as a star
Bow to you, the Sun of Truth,
and lead you from the height of the East.
Lord, glory to You!
On the eve of Christmas, a special dish is prepared called “sochivo” – boiled grains. From this name came the word “Christmas Eve”.
But guessing on Christmas Eve is not a Christian tradition, but a pagan one. Pushkin and Zhukovsky, of course, colorfully described Christmas fortune-telling, but such fortune-telling has nothing to do with real faith.
But the tradition of caroling can be considered harmless enough. On the night before the holiday, the mummers brought home a traditional dish – Christmas kutya, sang Christmas songs, and the owners of the houses they knocked on had to give treats or money to the carolers.
And Christmas days in Our Country (and not only) have always been considered an occasion for charity – people visited the sick and lonely, distributed food and money to the poor.
What is customary to give for Christmas
Giving gifts at Christmas is a long tradition. This is especially true of gifts for children: after all, even the tradition of gifts from Santa Claus or Santa Claus for the New Year originates precisely from the centuries-old Christmas tradition, according to which Saint Nicholas the Pleasant brought gifts to children at Christmas.
Therefore, you can tell children about this saint, read about his life. And give a colorful book about this saint.
As for gifts in general, the main thing is to do without excessive commercialization of Christmas. Gifts can be inexpensive, let it be something made with your own hands, because the main thing is not the gift itself, but attention.