The Schedule of the Festive Christmas Season; Nov-Feb

Recently I was asked in a Waldorf homeschooling group about the Christmastime observance and practice of those in our Eastern traditions, how long and when Christmas is celebrated, and the times around them and how we celebrate (there are variations depending on cultural heritage and which branch/church one follows -- some follow a different calendar of dates).  Such a big question! Below is a very brief summary of how we do things in our family's Slavic based traditions, with a bit of not-Slav thrown in. We also have some family personal patron saints to add in during this time, too.

Preparation for Christmas/Nativity/Incarnation starts on Nov 14th and celebrating big parts of the pre-Nativity narrative, and related story, occur during this time. It is our Advent. It's a fasting period (children, sick, elderly, and nursing and pregnant mothers do not fast), and every night there is a special reading or reflection to do along with a candle lighting ceremony and special candle holder that has a place for each of the six weeks and one special place in the middle for Christmas Eve & Christmas day. Depending on the household this evening candle lighting prayer/reading service might have an Old Testament story focus or a New Testament focus. It is called the Phillipian Fast, or Philopovka (because it starts on the feast day of St Phillip), and it goes for 40 days (weekends do not count amoung the fasting/preparation days). 

Traditionally, these special candle holders are made of wood in the shape of a six pointed star to sit in the center of the table. I made this one to hang vertically on the wall to save space and keep flames away from curious little hands. (click on the pic for instructions)

Our children get their presents on St Nicholas day which starts with discovering their boots that were left outside overnight have a candy cane left in them. Later that day each child gets one big gift wrapped in paper and ribbons that is specific to them. This is about when we start putting Christmas decor up.
 
On Christmas Eve we have Holy Supper: a long meal/prayer service that takes basically from the afternoon till the evening. It is loaded with symbolism in the set up and the amount of vegetarian food (it is still within the fasting period), and is meant as a blessing to family unity, history, and for the year ahead of the family. The day includes preparation and songs, and the meal starts when the children see the first star outside. It includes prayers blessings toasts and rituals interspersed with the meal. Our animals get the first food & first treats of the evening since animals were also witness to the Christ child's birth, and kept Him warm. If the children are old enough to do so, it might also include a play. At the end, our daddy does "fortune telling" for each member of the family from the smoke of a candle they blow out.

 
Christmas is December 25th and holy day full of church attendance and singing and joy. The leftovers from the night before are added to a few new dishes to eat during the day so that momma does not have to do a lot of work. Jolly times with family! and gratitude during this lazy day.
Christmas starts on the 25th and we celebrate Nativity until January 6th.


Jan 6th is Theophany, when we celebrate the Baptism of Christ (in the Western tradition they celebrate this day as Epiphany with a focus on the Three Kings). In preparation we decorating bottles for the kids to take to church. Water is blessed then (churches that are located near a body of water like a river or lake might process there to bless it), and each kiddo gets their own bottle to fill with Theophany holy water, and we also fill big bottles for our home use. We talk about how the whole world is washed clean in blessing.

We celebrate the Wise Men on Jan 7th, and the story of the Magi's journey captures young imaginations in so many ways! There is always something to focus on each year and related crafts to make that help plant the seeds for understanding this important part of the story later on.
We leave the Nativity things up for a little while longer for the children to explore the story a bit more, and then Nativity items get packed away and the tree comes down. The rest of the Christmas decor and lights stay up.

On the Sunday closest to Feb 2nd, the Presentation in the Temple, we bless the candles for our homes for the coming year. We spend the preceding weeks taking inventory of what we need, and making candles. Then we arrange them neatly in a basket to take to church where everyone places their baskets up front to be blessed.

The festive season continues until February altho' within that Christmas season we might no longer be focusing on the Nativity story part of it as strongly after the 6th, there is a lot more story & fun stuff in there. We leave up all our decorations and garlands until Feb when we take most of them down. I still leave up greenery which we can decorate with other fun things until Spring. 

February also begins the season of house blessings! The priest comes to your house and blesses it all, and then you follow to the next house of the person in your area, and end up at one last person's house for a party all together. These prayers are not spoken but sung, so it's a day full of singing, holy water, candles, and then feasting with friends. The priest walks around with holy water, and blesses every bit of it while we sing. I make sure to have all our cupboards and closets open to also get the nooks & crannys blessed. Sometimes there is a toast and some goodies to eat before going to the next house. It can be a lovely community building event. It also encourage not being too dormant during the cold months -- we don't have "Spring Cleaning", we have hurry-and-rush-Winter-house-blessing-cleaning.


When the Christmas season is done, and we pack away the decor, we get a small breather before preparing for the next festal season: Pascha/Easter! 

Making a Vertical, Wall-Hung Phillipian Star for the Advent Fast

In the Eastern Christian tradition we have a six week fast right before Christmas. This Advent time fast is called the Phillipian Fast, or Phillipo Fast or Philopovka, because it starts on St Phillip's feast day, Nov 14th. One of the ways we mark this time is through a candle holder in the shape of a six sided star. A new candle is lit each week, and the special candle in the middle is for Christmas Eve and maybe Christmas day.  Some traditions have a different color candle for each week with a matching quality to meditate on that week, and others have all red candles for the weeks and a gold one in the center. There are lovely readings and prayer services that you can do along with your family during this time and at the lighting of the candles.

In past years, we've a style of candle holder made of wood it holds lovely tapers and makes a striking centerpiece. Nothing compares to the warm, focusing glow of candlelight.  One of my more recently mobile children has not figured out candle etiquette, and altho' we didn't have difficulties with our older children around matches and fire, this little one makes having flame about a problem. We all seven of us live in a very small house (less than 1000sqft of living space), so space is at a premium, especially on the only table.

A friend came up with the thought of having a Phillipian Star that hung on the wall. What a great idea! But how? and wouldn't the flames of the candles on the bottom melt the candles above extra quickly? And how, and of what materials, could you make a wall scone in that shape that wasn't a fire hazard? More importantly, how could I do it with the skills I already have and on a budget?

I mulled it over for a while, and then it came to me: fake candles! Those battery operated candles, some needle and thread, some glue and materials and *voila* easy-peasy. As I went I modified it to be even easier! and I didn't need to whip out a lot of tools, and it took only 20 minutes to make. Even better: I got everything at the dollar store. Yup, you read that right -- super effective & cheap project. 

tools needed: round place-mat, ribbons, hand sewing needle and thread, scissors, glue, battery t

ealight candles

1) The ribbon was glued onto the round place-mat with fabric glue. It took a little math to get the geometry and placement right, and you do need to allow time for the glue to dry. We did some book reading & kitchen cleaning while it dried.

2) I measured ribbon to go around the side of the tealights to make a loop, careful to singe/melt the edges on a real candle (best anti-fray ever). At first I glued the loops together, but it took too much time, Simple tacking them with a needle & thread by hand was much faster.

the loops of ribbon around the tealights are tacked on only at the top so that it can be lifted to turn the candle on & off

3) Sew on the loops in place at the points of the star by just a few stitches only at the top so that the loops hang down. The faux candles are light-weight and not creating a lot of tension/pull so it doesn't take much. This way, too, it's easy to slide them into the loops (or replace them later as need be), and easy to get to the little stitches to turn them on or off.

4)  I used a staple gun to attach it right to the wall. I also added a bit of left over gold glitter paint to the ribbon lines that make the star and to the center candle. Done! and out of the reach of little hands, no fire-hazard, and still visually striking.

the finished product!

We use ours with six red candles around the edged and a golden one in the middle. The tealights themselves are white, so I made the colors by the ribbons, You could also paint the tops of the tealights if you want -- they take paint remarkably well.  I found some tealights that had red glitter on them like little peppermint candies, so I got some of those for the red candle spots after Thanksgiving for the weeks of December -- because glitter makes everything better *wink*.

Orthodox Nativity Study for the Advent Season

This year, I am going through this book of reflections: Orthodox Advent Study by Sylvia Leontaritis who is the blogger at Orthodox Mom. Our season of preparation towards the Feast of the Nativity, The Incarnation, begins mid November so we have a little extra time in our Eastern tradition to get into things.

Described as, "This 66-page eBook was created with the hope of assisting us to overcome the spirit of secularism by offering some simple things to ponder every day during the next six weeks.  We’ll also discuss some common misconceptions (Was it a stable or a cave? Were Mary and Joseph betrothed or married?) that will help us gain a better understanding of what really happened that holy night so many years ago in the city of Bethlehem.  
Included in this Advent Study are weekly devotionals, daily readings, and activities to help us remember who and what we are really celebrating at Christmastime."

The thing I like the most is that each reflection is _short_.  I'm a busy mom of five kids with a husband who provides for us by working many many hours -- getting time for basic self-care like a shower is nearly impossible so I am definitely not going to be able to get into depth with deeper readings, nor get all tied into learning & researching some deeper theology (much tho' I would love to).  The things presented here are partly reading scripture and writing your own short reaction/reflection to it (right on the page in the book -- no extra work or finding other pages or journal), and also thrown in are learning thing form our holy tradition (like, what is the symbolism of a particular related icon, and there are even some recipes for festive treats at the end.

Halloween While Being Eastern Christian

I really don't know why this question comes up in Orthodox circles, but for some reason it does:  Should Orthodox Christians celebrate Halloween?   I think the real question that needs consideration is: What exactly is going on with the holiday and it it an actual threat to your way of life and the Eastern perspective? Let's also remember that this is a Western holiday in a Western cultural context, so when engage in the debate of whether it's appropriate for you or not, you'd better come at it from the actual perspective & understandings of your religion; not some other kind of Christianity.

Some people are concerned that Halloween is a Pagan religious holiday (modern style Paganism, not ancient), and so don't want to participate in another religion. This article from an Orthodox blogger, Recovering Pessimist, is an interview with a modern practicing pagan who discusses their celebrations at this time of year, and shows that Halloween has nothing to do with it. 

The priest at St Mary's Orthodox Church would exhort people in this article to not be paranoid or superstitious -- don't give things power that have none. In your merriment, don't profane death, do not mock other people's sufferings, and remember: "let’s be honest: no one was ever possessed by the devil because he or she dressed up for Halloween or passed out licorice".

A short episode (number six) of Be the Bee states my perspective perfectly. Christians don't need to be afraid of Halloween -- there is no threat there. We can celebrate it as a day for fun, friends, and silliness, and use it as a chance to grow closer to God and each other through communal activity.

Make an Inexpensive Waldorf Birthday Candle Ring

There is a lot to love about Waldorf inspired birthday traditions. No matter how you decide to modify and adjust things to your family needs, the focus is on an important life in your growing family and relationships. Even the focus of the table is not the cake, and certainly not the presents. The below idea & technique could be easily adapted for any kind of count-down celebration, too, like Advent or the Nativity Fast.

I really like the use of a candle ring, a circle or spiral candle holder with places for the age number of candles, and you can decide the fill the rest of the spots or not to your liking and needs.  I have seen beautiful examples of these, and many handcrafted wood ones that are well worth buying, but outside of my budget. So I decided to make one that was within my budget and skill set.


I got this wooden, blank 11.5" clock face from Michael's (also available at Hancock Fabrics), and some wooden candle cups at Hobby Lobby. (Note: those stores give a teacher discount, so don't forget your homeschool teacher id card)

I decided on candle cups that would take a standard size taper, which in the US is 7/8", because it will always be easy for me to find candles in the future. I would have preferred something smaller, but I'm trying to make this easy on myself. I used stain, sealer, and scraps of sandpaper I had left over from other projects, so the cost for the new supplies (wood pieces and wood glue) was about $13.

Many people will drill the candle holes right into the ring, but I opted to just glue wooden handle holders right on. I chose a wood glue that would accept stain just in case it became messy (which it usually does).

I started by marking my circle in quarters, then pencilled a rough idea of the center circle to cut out. I used my rotozip to do the cutting, and I am comfortable with the lines not being perfect -- in fact, I think it adds to the charm.

Then we took the cut pieces in and sanded them. In general, I have found there's always at least one kiddo who wants to help with the sanding, maybe more. It is so important to model and share making things by hand with your children. The center piece got sanded and added to the wood building blocks/toys.

The next part was staining it. I thought about all kinds of color schemes and ideas that would be fun, but in the end I decided to stain and seal it with things I had on hand. Reminder to self: keep it simple & fast & doable.  Note: to save time I just dipped the pieces right into the stain and then wiped off the excess. Although this did work, and was fast, it took way longer to dry than if I had just rubbed the stain on with a cloth. Then, I just glued the candle cups in place and let it dry. 

Ta da! I'm actually quite proud of the finished project, and I expect it will contribute to many celebrations in the coming years. It took less than an hour of my actual time (not counting letting things dry and set in between steps). I love how it can be arranged in many different shapes/configurations.


(It was suggested that this would make a great project as a candle holder for the various feasts and fasts of the year, especially the Nativity/Christmas Fast, or Phillips/Phillipo Fast. Simply put on the number of candle holders you need.)