Holiday Prep and celebrations

[CellarDweller]

https://www.pexels.com/@olia-danilevich/

 

[CellarDweller]

https://www.pexels.com/@karolina-grabowska/

 

[reader3]

Buon Anno

 

[4everchan]

https://www.pexels.com/@karolina-grabowska/

max is still mine in 2024... just thought we would start the year properly

 

[iluvtodd]

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

[Diana Delafield]

Bliadhna Mhath Ur!

I hope all skaters master a new skill, retain their old skills, and have an injury-free year in 2024! And for all fans, I hope your favourites skate their best and win!

 

[CellarDweller]

Little Christmas / The Epiphany

Little Christmas, also known as Old Christmas, Green Christmas, or Twelfth Night, is one of the traditional names among Irish Christians and Amish Christians for 6 January, which is also known more widely as the Feast of the Epiphany, celebrated after the conclusion of the twelve days of Christmastide. It is the traditional end of the Christmas season and until 2013 was the last day of the Christmas holidays for both primary and secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland.

Owing to differences in liturgical calendars, as early as the fourth century, the churches of the eastern Roman Empire were celebrating Christmas on 6 January, while those of the western Roman Empire were celebrating it on 25 December.

In October 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar as a correction of the Julian calendar, because the latter has too many leap years that cause it to drift out of alignment with the solar year. This has liturgical significance since calculation of the date of Easter assumes that spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere occurs on 21 March. To correct the accumulated error, he ordained the date be advanced by ten days. Most Roman Catholic countries adopted the new calendar immediately and Protestant countries followed suit over the following 200 years. In particular, the British Empire (including the American colonies) did so from 1752 with the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, by which time the divergence had grown to eleven days.[a] This meant that Christmas Day on 25 December ('New Style') was eleven days earlier than it would have been but for the Act, making "Old Christmas" [25 December ('Old Style')] happen on 5 January (NS). In February 1800, the Julian calendar had another leap year but the Gregorian did not, moving Old Christmas to 6 January (NS), which coincided with the Feast of the Epiphany.

For this reason, in some parts of the world, the Feast of the Epiphany, which is traditionally observed on 6 January, is sometimes referred to as Old Christmas or Old Christmas Day. (Although 1900 was also not a leap year in the Gregorian calendar (and thus the Julian 25 December has since that year coincided with 7 January in the Gregorian calendar) the custom of celebrating Little Christmas on 6 January did not change.)

In Ireland, Little Christmas is also called Irish: Nollaig na mBan, or Women's Christmas. The day is so called because traditionally, men would take on what would have been seen as the traditional "female" household duties for the day, giving women the day off. Goose was the traditional meat served on Women's Christmas.

Many women hold parties or go out to socialize with their female friends and relatives on the day. As a result, parties of women and girls are common in bars and restaurants on the night. While the tradition had been dying off in some parts of the country, the hospitality industry now specifically advertises events aimed at those celebrating Nollaig na mBan.

In Ireland, it is the traditional day to remove the Christmas tree and decorations, as it is seen as bad luck to leave them in place past the twelfth day of Christmas.

 

[CellarDweller]

I know a lot of people who aren't Irish who take down their Christmas stuff on January 6th, I did just that today. While not as fun as decorating, it's nice to see my living space back to its usual appearance, and it looks bigger with everything packed away.

I actually posted about Women's Christmas on my FB page, I think it's a good idea, and would love to see other countries pick up that tradition. My opinion, most households it is the women who do most of the holiday prep, and for them to have a day off and get together to officially end the holiday season is a good way to end it.

 

[Diana Delafield]

Little Christmas / The Epiphany

Little Christmas, also known as Old Christmas, Green Christmas, or Twelfth Night, is one of the traditional names among Irish Christians and Amish Christians for 6 January, which is also known more widely as the Feast of the Epiphany, celebrated after the conclusion of the twelve days of Christmastide. It is the traditional end of the Christmas season and until 2013 was the last day of the Christmas holidays for both primary and secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland.

Owing to differences in liturgical calendars, as early as the fourth century, the churches of the eastern Roman Empire were celebrating Christmas on 6 January, while those of the western Roman Empire were celebrating it on 25 December.

In October 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar as a correction of the Julian calendar, because the latter has too many leap years that cause it to drift out of alignment with the solar year. This has liturgical significance since calculation of the date of Easter assumes that spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere occurs on 21 March. To correct the accumulated error, he ordained the date be advanced by ten days. Most Roman Catholic countries adopted the new calendar immediately and Protestant countries followed suit over the following 200 years. In particular, the British Empire (including the American colonies) did so from 1752 with the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, by which time the divergence had grown to eleven days.[a] This meant that Christmas Day on 25 December ('New Style') was eleven days earlier than it would have been but for the Act, making "Old Christmas" [25 December ('Old Style')] happen on 5 January (NS). In February 1800, the Julian calendar had another leap year but the Gregorian did not, moving Old Christmas to 6 January (NS), which coincided with the Feast of the Epiphany.

For this reason, in some parts of the world, the Feast of the Epiphany, which is traditionally observed on 6 January, is sometimes referred to as Old Christmas or Old Christmas Day. (Although 1900 was also not a leap year in the Gregorian calendar (and thus the Julian 25 December has since that year coincided with 7 January in the Gregorian calendar) the custom of celebrating Little Christmas on 6 January did not change.)

In Ireland, Little Christmas is also called Irish: Nollaig na mBan, or Women's Christmas. The day is so called because traditionally, men would take on what would have been seen as the traditional "female" household duties for the day, giving women the day off. Goose was the traditional meat served on Women's Christmas.

Many women hold parties or go out to socialize with their female friends and relatives on the day. As a result, parties of women and girls are common in bars and restaurants on the night. While the tradition had been dying off in some parts of the country, the hospitality industry now specifically advertises events aimed at those celebrating Nollaig na mBan.

In Ireland, it is the traditional day to remove the Christmas tree and decorations, as it is seen as bad luck to leave them in place past the twelfth day of Christmas.

And that change of the calendar now makes a real headache for amateur genealogists who find an ancestor born, married, or died in the first quarter of 1752. Or is that 1753?

Back on topic, one of the first compromises we had to make upon marriage was when to take down the Christmas decorations the first year. His family of mixed Scottish, Irish, and English ancestry took them down on December 31 and temporarily put up New Year's ones for their big family party on January 1. My Scottish family kept them up until Twelfth Night. We compromised on leaving them up until January 2, but I held out for then putting up Scottish-themed decorations for the rest of the month until Burn's Night, January 25.

 

[4everchan]

A while back, I lived with some folks who did celebrate twelfth night. I don't myself anymore because by then, I feel like I already gained a kilo or two and it's enough

 

[el henry]

I was reminded while researching "Bol on Ice" in Bologna, where Jason is skating in a show, (among others, but I was researching Jason ) that this is La Befana (the feast of the Epiphany and the visit of the Epiphany witch) in Italy.

Spousal Unit lived in Italy as a boy/young teenager, and as an American, received gifts both la Befana on Epiphany Eve and Santa on Christmas Eve. Pretty sweet. Since his family was not of Italian descent, they did not continue la Befana upon returning to the US.

Although I celebrate Epiphany as a religious holiday, it does not affect my Christmas decorations. We don't have any. We have five cats. They would find a tree with ornaments and other hanging things to be most delightful, and wish that the feline Santa and Befana would gift them with many.

 

[4everchan]

I was reminded while researching "Bol on Ice" in Bologna, where Jason is skating in a show, (among others, but I was researching Jason ) that this is La Befana (the feast of the Epiphany and the visit of the Epiphany witch) in Italy.

Spousal Unit lived in Italy as a boy/young teenager, and as an American, received gifts both la Befana on Epiphany Eve and Santa on Christmas Eve. Pretty sweet. Since his family was not of Italian descent, they did not continue la Befana upon returning to the US.

Although I celebrate Epiphany as a religious holiday, it does not affect my Christmas decorations. We don't have any. We have five cats. They would find a tree with ornaments and other hanging things to be most delightful, and wish that the feline Santa and Befana would gift them with many.

we had 3 cats as a kid and we just didn't put too many ornaments lower... they often would just play a bit with them but never broke them... i guess my cats were well-behaved aristocats

 

[CellarDweller]

My family had a few cats over the years, they all left the tree alone, except for one, and it only happened one year.

He was a kitten, but he had a long tail that he eventually grew into. However, the first Christmas we had him, he seemed to not realize how big his tail was.

I had an ornament on the tree, given to me by a friend, that had little bells on it. He would walk under the tree, and his tail would brush the branches, making the bells ring. He'd then jump into the branches, looking for the bells.

It stopped after I took the ornament off the tree.

The following year, he wasn't interested in it, and never climbed the tree.

 

[LolaSkatesInJapan]

To all who celebrate!

I missed this post, so Happy very late Chanukah to you!
Here is a photo of part of

my very crowded home office/work desk

 

[iluvtodd]

^ Very beautiful! Chanukah 2024 will be very late (as we are currently in a Jewish Leap Year. The Jewish calendar being a lunar one, during which we add a whole leap month to even up the calendars, and so that the Jewish holidays occur in the right season). My birthday is in late December, and will occur during Chanukah 2024! Now , that's unusual!

Cellardweller, Diana, 4everchan, & el henry, thank you for the discussion of Epiphany/12th Night/3 Kings Day. I sort of knew about the observance of 3 Kings Day from my ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) students from Puerto Rico, but most of the rest of the information was new for me. As a little Jewish kid for years I thought Christmas was a 12 day holiday based on the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (with gift giving for 12 nights in a row). Now I understand it as more of a season.

 

[LolaSkatesInJapan]

^ Very beautiful! Chanukah 2024 will be very late (as we are currently in a Jewish Leap Year. The Jewish calendar being a lunar one, during which we add a whole leap month to even up the calendars, and so that the Jewish holidays occur in the right season). My birthday is in late December, and will occur during Chanukah 2024! Now , that's unusual!

Cellardweller, Diana, 4everchan, & el henry, thank you for the discussion of Epiphany/12th Night/3 Kings Day. I sort of knew about the observance of 3 Kings Day from my ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) students from Puerto Rico, but most of the rest of the information was new for me. As a little Jewish kid for years I thought Christmas was a 12 day holiday based on the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (with gift giving for 12 nights in a row). Now I understand it as more of a season.

Thank you!!!!!!!
My birthday is in the beginning of December and happily coincides with Chanukah in some years, but not this year and not next year either!

 

[CellarDweller]

I missed this post, so Happy very late Chanukah to you!
Here is a photo of part of View attachment 7472my very crowded home office/work desk

I love the way you decorated for Hanukkah!

 

[CellarDweller]

^ Very beautiful! Chanukah 2024 will be very late (as we are currently in a Jewish Leap Year. The Jewish calendar being a lunar one, during which we add a whole leap month to even up the calendars, and so that the Jewish holidays occur in the right season). My birthday is in late December, and will occur during Chanukah 2024! Now , that's unusual!

Cellardweller, Diana, 4everchan, & el henry, thank you for the discussion of Epiphany/12th Night/3 Kings Day. I sort of knew about the observance of 3 Kings Day from my ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) students from Puerto Rico, but most of the rest of the information was new for me. As a little Jewish kid for years I thought Christmas was a 12 day holiday based on the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (with gift giving for 12 nights in a row). Now I understand it as more of a season.

I've talked to some people who were under the impression that Christmas Day is the 12th day of Christmas, which would make the 1st day the 13th of December.

Because so many people decorate so early, a lot of people have forgotten the tradition of putting up and decorating your Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. That's because Dec 25th is technically the start of the season, running through Jan 6th.

 

[LolaSkatesInJapan]

I love the way you decorated for Hanukkah!

Thank you!!!!!
The flag and the hamsa are always there all year round, I just put the chanukiyah, some sevivonim and chocolate coins around it
The place we're now is really, really small, I barely have space for my home office/desk (I work remotely), so anything I put for holidays goes in that same spot. We're moving apartments next week (5 minutes walk from the rink, and I'm thrilled about it) and it's going to be twice as big as this one, so finally space to decorate better and display Jewish objects I got my my grandmother

 

[LolaSkatesInJapan]

I've talked to some people who were under the impression that Christmas Day is the 12th day of Christmas, which would make the 1st day the 13th of December.

I'm from the only country where we Jewish population the majority, and lived in an area without Christians. I only came into contact with Christmas when we went to live in a country where Christians were the majority. as small kid I thought the Christmas holidays were for about a month given the durations I saw the people's decorations everywhere and thought Christmas lasted longer than Chanukah. I was quite surprised to find out it was only one day