BACK IN THE U.S.S.R

When I began looking for references for the Orthodox celebrations of Christmas for the January 6 post, I had hoped to clarify just which Orthodox church the holiday belonged to, and where these ‘festivities' took place. I wanted this clarity for myself, but also to share. Maybe in the global web-o-verse, I could have a chance of wishing Merry Christmas to some faraway folk. I encountered both clarity and more confusion in that January 7 was also considered as Christmas Day, and there were Eastern Orthodox and Russian Orthodox churches. I used sources from Minsk and also from RT, which I think could stand for Russian Television. A common theme pointed to an increase in such celebrations because there was more religious freedom now than there used to be.
Later in the evening, my husband turned to a program on a local Public Television station called
'How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin'
and I overheard Minsk in the narration. Irony is not befitting enough a word for the story that unfolded. I was immediately transported back in time when Beatlemania ruled all the corners of the free world. It had never occurred to me what it meant to those behind the iron curtain. While I was making fledgling sketches of guitars, there were young people making black-market bootlegs of Beatle records on (of all things) x-rays. Turns out that x-ray of Uncle Chekov’s ribs was suitable material to cut record grooves in. And the Beatles may very well have influenced whether or not there are religious observances of Christmas in Minsk. To learn more about the Beatles influence on the Kremlin, click HERE . I also highly recommend watching the program, and you can find a link to that HERE.
(Merry Christmas!)

From Russia With Love

I tried repeatedly to embed the video from this Russian news article, and was unsuccessful. You can follow the title link to the original site, however.

Orthodox Christmas enlightens hearts

Image by Glotova Ira from rojdestvo.paskha.ru

Published 06 January, 2010, 06:51
Edited 06 January, 2010, 16:35
Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7, and unlike the Catholic holiday, it remains more of a family feast with strong religious meaning.
Although the message of Christmas mainly focuses on the birth of Jesus Christ, that does not preclude the children of the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery’s orphanage 50 kilometers west of Moscow from believing in some basic Christmas magic.
"One Christmas night when nobody was at home, suddenly under the Christmas tree a box full of presents appeared," said Kolya, an orphan. "It was a true miracle, as I still don’t know where it came from."
The kids at the orphanage are hard at work, preparing a puppetry pageant to perform on Christmas Day.
"It’s a fun for me, because I feel hilarious when I manage to perform well," said another foster child, Pavel. "I like nice decorations. It’s also interesting to see how people look at your performance."
Hieromonk Fiofil says that the children feel joy not only because they perform for the orphanage, but because they also play for the whole nearby town of Zvenigorod.
"When our orphanage was open, nothing special was organized on Christmas in the town, so their celebration was rather lean and dull," Fiofdil recalled. "And we decided to make their feast brighter. And so our children present their performance to the town."
As with many Orthodox denominations, the Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7, and while Western celebrations have grown to include some more commercial aspects of the holiday, Christmas in Russia remains more of a religious event.
"Modern Orthodox Christmas is not much different probably from Catholic celebration, as we also have fireworks and so on," said Fiofil. "However, our Christmas is a more cozy and warm family holiday. Even our Christmas carols have the spirit of home."
The difference in dates for Christmas lies in the calendar the two denominations use.
"Catholics, in contrast to Orthodox Christians, celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar, which was introduced later," explained Father Valentin. "When the Orthodox believers celebrate Christmas, one can feel that the Son has indeed risen. All over the world, the counting goes according the Orthodox calendar."
Now as the Orthodox Christmas meshes with the modern Gregorian calendar, both New Year and Christmas fall into one comprehensive period of celebration for all of Russia – a time when communities all over the country can come together.