Christmas for dummies?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Feanaro_s_Wife
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

Feanaro_s_Wife

Guest
**OK, Christmas used to seem pretty straightforward to me when I was a non-Catholic. Jesus’ birthday. Put up some decorations, wait for Santa, have some good food with friends and family…

Now there’s Advent, Epiphany, St.Nicholas, stuff about and for Mary, 12 days of Christmas, something in February …:confused:

Now I am just plain old confused, lol. Anyone here willing to write a new “Dummies” book so that converts like me can have a step by step guide for celebrating the season???😃

Malia
**
 
I’m right there with you, Malia! I was looking at advent wreaths and had to google what they were about! Then, everybody said they leave their decorations up until the epiphany! I thought an epiphany was a sudden bright idea until I had to google that too!

Oh, my. Soooooo much to learn. Can anyone help us please?:confused:
 
dale(name removed by moderator) said:
I’m right there with you, Malia! I was looking at advent wreaths and had to google what they were about! Then, everybody said they leave their decorations up until the epiphany! I thought an epiphany was a sudden bright idea until I had to google that too!

Oh, my. Soooooo much to learn. Can anyone help us please?:confused:
Click to expand...
**LOL, I’m glad I’m not the only one. And to top it off, my hubby’s name is Jesse… I was quite confused when I heard of a “Jesse tree”.

Like I said, we need a step by step (in chronological order please:D) guide to everything having to do with Jesus’ birth. When does advent start? What do we do (as a minimum)? What are the 12 days of Christmas? Are they before or after? When does the Christmas season officially end???

My head is going to explode, lol. I need to educate myself quick before my DD is old enough to realize how clueless I really am;)**
 
A quick run down:

A Jesse Tree is a reference to Jesus’s genealogy. One of the prophecies about him refers to Him as the root of Jesse. It is a tree, usually a bare branch, that includes images of Jesus’s ancestors including such people as King David who is represented typically by a harp.

Advent this year starts December 2. It runs for 4 weeks. An Advent wreath with three purple candle and a pink/rose candle represents the time that the Israelites waited for the coming of the Messiah. Purple is the color of repentence since Advent is a penitential and joyous season. Pink, the third week of Advent, it Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday, because we are close to the time that Christ came.

The 12 days of Christmas starts oddly enough on Christmas and goes through Epiphany, January 6. Christmas season officially ends on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord which is January 8th or 9th, I don’t have a calender in front of me.

Hopefully this helps in the short run. Let me know if you have any other questions.
 
It should also be noted that the celebration of “Epiphany” is the celebration of the day that the Three Wise Men arrived to visit the Holy Family. In many places in Latin America, this is actually the day that children receive their presents, since the Wise Men were the gift bearers. The more European tradition holds that Santa Claus (St. Nicholas, who was an actual bishop in Turkey in the 3rd century that gave out simple toys to poor children) gave out presents on Christmas Eve night.

Most Catholics will also have a Nativity set. These can be as fancy or as simple as you like, but the main tradition is to leave the manger empty until Christmas Day. Many people also leave out the Wise Men until Epiphany.

Some Catholics also like Advent calenders, which are a European tradition (very common in France and Germany). You hang it on your wall and get a tiny gift every day. There are dozens of variations of this. Some look like a little Christmas tree, and each day until Christmas you add an ornament with the calendar number. German ones often look like a little house or a building, and you open windows corresponding to the calendar day and get a small piece of chocolate and the image of something happening in the building behind it. There’s no right or wrong way to do it.

Oh, and the most traditional Advent song is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”, since it is a sad but hopeful song about the Jews awaiting the coming of the Messiah. You’ll almost always hear it in church in the weeks before Christmas.
 
I’m just a convert too, just this year as a matter of fact, but I love celebrations and traditions, and I knew I was joining a religion that had a lot of them, so here you go:

josephshammer.blogspot.com/

My blog! Just recently started where I’m going to start explaining a lot of Traditional Catholic Celebrations and tradtitions, with, most importantly in my opinon, lots and lots of pictures! I’ve been reading and researching for almost the whole year and I’m starting with discussions on Advent.

So far I just have up a bit about how I’m celebrating St. Nicholas’s day and pictures of how I made my Christ Crib, but tomorrow I’m going to blog about the Advent Wreath, there will be much more about St. Nicholas’s Day and St. Lucy’s Day, I’ll talk about Jesse Trees, etc. etc. I’m going to be putting up recipes and songs and stories too.

LoL, big plans, though there’s not much there yet. Will be soon though as we have to get ready for Advent before it starts, so that’ll all be up before Dec. 1st.
 
What a great blog Rawb! Best of luck to you with it. I will be reading it.

As a cradle Catholic I did get to experience all of the Catholic trappings of Christmas. But, it is now as an adult and “the mom” that I am developing a true fondness for the practices. We didn’t celebrate the feast of St. Nicolas, but I think I probably will now.

Thanks to all you converts. You remind me to be more understanding and patient with my poor convert husband.

ME: “Honey, I’m having the gingerbread party on Saturday to celebrate Epiphany.”

HIM: “Epiffiwhat?”
 
Malia,

Catholic Culture has a great site for keeping up with everything in the liturgical year. Check out their December overview here.
I find this site indispensible. There are calendars for every month with Holy days and Feast days; I print one out and hang it on the fridge every month. It has all kind of suggestions for articles, recipes, activity ideas(like making a Jesse Tree), specifically geared towards getting the kiddos involved(or not:D ). I so fondly remember making advent wreaths with my mom, doing the whole Santa Lucia thing, and of course St. Nicholas Day, that I really want to make sure my kids know about these things too and more. Most of all they need to know that Advent is about spiritual preparation more than all the fun preparation like gift buying and decorating.

There are so many important days this time of year that often get overlooked like the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Feasts of St. Lucia and St. Nicholas ( really fun for kids), and then later the Feasts of the Holy Innocents and the Epiphany.

Check out Catholic Culture and you will have a bunch of Advent/Christmas meat to chew on;)
 
Check out The Catholic Home by Meredith Gould, a Catholic convert from Judaism. She wrote this book specifically for those of us who did not grow up with all the Catholic feast and fast day traditions- like me, who had a convert mother. I think it covers all of your questions and then some.
 
Pacbox said:
A quick run down:

A Jesse Tree is a reference to Jesus’s genealogy. One of the prophecies about him refers to Him as the root of Jesse. It is a tree, usually a bare branch, that includes images of Jesus’s ancestors including such people as King David who is represented typically by a harp.

Advent this year starts December 2. It runs for 4 weeks. An Advent wreath with three purple candle and a pink/rose candle represents the time that the Israelites waited for the coming of the Messiah. Purple is the color of repentence since Advent is a penitential and joyous season. Pink, the third week of Advent, it Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday, because we are close to the time that Christ came.

The 12 days of Christmas starts oddly enough on Christmas and goes through Epiphany, January 6. Christmas season officially ends on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord which is January 8th or 9th, I don’t have a calender in front of me.

Hopefully this helps in the short run. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Click to expand...
Also in there are:

Dec 6 Feast of St Nicholas - could celebrate with a small gift for the kiddies and a little shnapps for the adults.

Dec 8 Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary - this is a Holy Day of Obligation, check your parish Mass schedule

Dec 12 Feast of our Lady of Guadalupe - make a little shrine with a statue of Mary and a candle (traditional Hispanic), have Mexican food for dinner, read about St Juan Diego

Dec 13 Feast of St Lucy - Patron saint of Scandinavian countries, Oldest girl brings tea and muffins to family for breakfast in bed, or at least breakfast by candle light

Dec 26 Feast of St Stephen - traditionally called Boxing Day, give gifts to help who help you (mailman, paper boy, etc.) Pray for all those martyred for the faith

Dec 28 Feast of the Holy Innocents - the children in Bethlehem that Herod killed when he was trying to kill Jesus, a good day to give a donation to your local pro-life organization or help out there if possible

Dec 30 Feast of the Holy Family - good day to call or visit extended family and pray for broken families throughout the world

Jan 1 Feast of the Blessed Virgin also World Day for Payer for Peace

Whew!
 
If all this Catholic Christmas business seems overwhelming… It is! But it doesn’t have to be as crazy as it could be.

Keep in mind that various nationalities, countries, and/or cultures have developed their own customs. Likewise, different cultures tend to have saints that are special to them. You don’t have to do everything. If you try you’ll probably be too busy to enjoy anything. The best thing to do is probably to research the traditions and special saints that are dear to your own culture and focus on them. You can explore other traditions over the years.

One important key to traditional Catholic Christmas celebrations is to remember that at one point Advent was a time for some fasting and avoiding meat. (It was kind of a mini-Lent.) As such, the feasting and partying didn’t happen until after Christmas Mass. The 12 days of Christmas (actually there are 13) start on Christmas and end with Epiphany. (If you want to start an argument, ask if Christmas is day one and January 5Th day twelve, or if December 26TH is day one and Epiphany day 12.)

Since at one time many communities were almost all Catholic, Church feasts and saints days were also important to the secular culture. Saint Nicholas (December 6) seems to have been popular with everyone. St. Lucy (December 13) is particularly dear to Scandinavians. The feast of St Stephen (December 26) is the setting for the Christmas Carol Good King Wenceslaus. Mary, under the title the Immaculate Conception, is the patroness of the United States. Mary, under the title Our Lady of Guadalupe, is the patroness of North and South America (and is especially dear to Hispanic cultures.)

As I said earlier, many Advent and Christmas practices are associate with various cultures. Because December 24Th was a day of abstinence many cultures (I’m thinking Italian in particular) have developed fancy meal traditions centered around fish. Hispanics tend to have Las Posadas celebrations in the days prior to Christmas. Filipinos have novenas ending with Simbang Gabi celebrations. Advent wreaths were, I believe, originally Germanic but have been adopted into most Northern European cultures.

I suspect that many of the more religious traditions were spread from culture to culture through Catholic schools and as a result of daily Mass. When I was growing up we had an Advent wreath at home but my parents didn’t really know what to do with it. It just sat there with the same unburned candles year after year. But at school we did light the Advent wreath. We never had a Jesse tree at home but we had one at school. It was a useful tool to reinforce the stories about salvation history that we learned in religion class.

Once again, you can go crazy trying to do everything. Advent isn’t supposed to be a crazy time. It’s probably best to keep it simple and somewhat reflective. The saint’s days during Advent don’t need to be big blown up celebrations unless they touch you in a special way. The religious feasts beginning with Christmas tell us something about the early life of Jesus. Reflecting on them can be a part of daily prayer. (A calendar provided by the parish church should have them listed or you can look at an on-line Church calendar.)

I am NOT Hispanic, but one of my favorite memories from childhood is going over the home of a Hispanic friend of my mother’s on Christmas Eve. We had tamales and other Mexican food. Some years I try to duplicate that kind of meal in my home. At my current parish my choir puts on a Christmas/Advent concert each year. The Filipino community has a novena that moves from parish to parish and ends with a Simbang Gabi Mass. Our parish has frequently hosted the final Mass which is followed by a pot luck with yummy Filipino food. The whole parish is invited. Other parishes in the area have Las Posadas processions. We had a family friend (who has since died) that hosted an Epiphany party at his home every year.

Some of the best ways to celebrate the season can be outside the home. Some are in the home. Some are good for when children are little. Some are better when children are older. The great thing about the cyclic nature of the liturgical year is that we can try/do different things each year.
 
  • I just wanted to thank all who took the time to explain things. My wife and I found it very helpful. We are in the process of conversion.
IN short… thanks
 
You might like The Year and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland. It’s Catholic family celebrations throughout the whole year.

A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vist is a cookbook for various seasons of the Church year. I used it alot when our kids were younger. —KCT
 
Personally I think it’s a good idea to keep all the red and green decorations out of the house until Christmas Eve. The German tradition is to put up the tree on Dec 24 - we did this a few times with my family (as a kid) and I thought it was great. Like a PP said, there are LOTS of European traditions you can dig up (if you’re European) and I’m sure lots of Hispanic ones as well, that grew up around the Catholic celebration.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top