No meat today, it's Christmas Eve

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It’s been a long standing tradition in my family to refrain from meat today. The practice stems back to old Slovak traditions.

The foods we eat today are: Bobalki, letchki (bean soup), and all sorts of nut rolls and cookies, etc. :).
 
TEPO said:
It’s been a long standing tradition in my family to refrain from meat today. The practice stems back to old Slovak traditions.

The foods we eat today are: Bobalki, letchki (bean soup), and all sorts of nut rolls and cookies, etc. :).
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Is your family Latin Rite or Byzantine Rite? Today is a day of strict fast and abstinence in the Byzantine Rite - a Good Friday-like fast.

Do you have a Holy Supper?
 
babochka said:
Is your family Latin Rite or Byzantine Rite? Today is a day of strict fast and abstinence in the Byzantine Rite - a Good Friday-like fast.

Do you have a Holy Supper?
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I’m just curious, as I don’t know much about eastern Catholic traditions.
Why is it a day of fast and abstinence when the Christmas season starts at sundown today? Does the fast end at sundown?
 
LoveGod102 said:
I’m just curious, as I don’t know much about eastern Catholic traditions.
Why is it a day of fast and abstinence when the Christmas season starts at sundown today? Does the fast end at sundown?
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We fast from all food (or eat a minimum of food) until after Vespers. Then we break the fast with the Holy Supper, which is a meatless and generally dairy-less meal, but contains an abundance of foods. You can read more about it here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Supper

In the strictest observance, no food is eaten at all until the star appears in the evening sky.
 
babochka said:
We fast from all food (or eat a minimum of food) until after Vespers. Then we break the fast with the Holy Supper, which is a meatless and generally dairy-less meal, but contains an abundance of foods. You can read more about it here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Supper

In the strictest observance, no food is eaten at all until the star appears in the evening sky.
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Is this an obligation for Catholics of your rite, is it just a tradition?
 
So nice to see these traditions continue. We used to do so in the Roman rite. I can recall that we used to have a meatless meal for dinner, often oyster stew. In fact that was part of the trial - not too many great oysters in southern Illinois in the 50’s, nor did we know how to cook them really. I always got the one complete with sand. Yuk. Took me well into adulthood to eat another oyster!

Still, I would be good if we just went back to that tradition of abstinence on Christmas Eve. It made Christmas much more special. or the excesses thereof:)
 
According to my Mary and the Saints catholic calendar, there is an unshaded fish for the 24th of Decemeber. This means that abstinence from meat is recommended, but not obligatory.
 
LoveGod102 said:
Is this an obligation for Catholics of your rite, is it just a tradition?
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The Holy Supper is a tradition. We have a 40-day fast, which precedes Christmas. In the Byzantine Catholic Church, this fast has been made “voluntary” by our Bishops, but I believe the Christmas Eve fast is “obligatory”. I put those terms in quotes because the Eastern understanding of voluntary and obligatory are different. I do believe that the Christmas Eve fast is mandatory, because my pastor dispensed a family member from the fast, and you can’t dispense from an obligation that doesn’t exist.

Following is what was in our parish bulletin on Sunday:

· Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord – Christmas Eve. When falling on a weekday, this is a day of fasting, with a particular structure of liturgical services, in our parishes we pray the Royal hours during the day, Vespers with Liturgy of St. Basil the Great in the evening, and Great Compline at night. Traditional Christmas Eve Supper, a rich family meal, is celebrated between the Vespers and Compline. The meal is meatless, some traditions exclude dairy as well, but the many courses (twelve, for the Twelve Apostles) make it difficult not to satisfy our appetite. The meals are a combination of sweet and sour, simplicity and richness, reminding us both of the sweetness and generosity of God’s love towards us on the one hand, and bitterness and struggle of our exile here on earth, before we reach our heavenly home. So, on the Christmas table you would see all kinds of soups – sour kraut with mushrooms or with beans, bean soup, sweet prune soup; “bobalky” (bread dumplings with poppy seeds and honey), pirohy, fish and potatoes, stuffed cabbage rolls (meatless, with mushrooms). Each family member should taste from each course. The Supper begins with prayer, and reading from the Gospel (Nativity of Jesus), ends with a song (carol).
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babochka said:
Is your family Latin Rite or Byzantine Rite? Today is a day of strict fast and abstinence in the Byzantine Rite - a Good Friday-like fast.

Do you have a Holy Supper?
Click to expand...
Latin Rite. Also, today is a day to pray for the dead in our family. Tonight, we are supposed to share Oplatki dipped in honey while praying for them together.

…I believe the Latin Rite Poles do something similar to this in their traditions.
 
Man, I blew it today :(. Its even marked on my calendar. I was so proud of myself for remembering all the Ember days this year :o and I totally overlooked this one. My OF calendar is clean but there it is on my EF calendar.

An extra Rosary in reparation for my forgetfulness is in order. :o
 
corsair said:
Man, I blew it today :(. Its even marked on my calendar. I was so proud of myself for remembering all the Ember days this year :o and I totally overlooked this one. My OF calendar is clean but there it is on my EF calendar.

An extra Rosary in reparation for my forgetfulness is in order. :o
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Saying an extra rosary is good, but you don’t need to make reparation for forgetting something. If you say a rosary, great, but don’t do it out a sense of irrational guilt.
 
This is also an Italian tradition. We refrain from meat on Christmas Eve and have a feast of fish.
 
Polish Catholic friends celebrate with a meatless meal called “wigilia” on Christmass Eve.
 
Eugenius said:
Polish Catholic friends celebrate with a meatless meal called “wigilia” on Christmass Eve.
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In Poland, the Wigilia feast is the one time of the year where servants sat at the table with their masters. The table is set with pieces of straw under the table cloth. The straw symbolizes the manger. The meal consists of 12 meatless courses (one for each of the Apostles), many of which are made and served only for this feast. Two examples are Barscht (Borscht in English) made from vegetables only, with miniature pirogi stuffed with chopped mushrooms. The ends of these pirogi are pinched together to form what are called rabbit ears in English. The other dish is a jellied carp that is very much like theJewish gefelte fish.
Wigilia begins when the head of the house blesses a large unconsecrated Communion wafer, breaks off a piece for himself and then passes the wafer around the table so everyone can break off a piece. Then the head of the table says Grace and everyone consumes their piece of the wafer after which the meal begins. After the meal, everyone gathers around the tree and opens their presants before going to Midnight Mass.
 
TEPO said:
It’s been a long standing tradition in my family to refrain from meat today. The practice stems back to old Slovak traditions.

The foods we eat today are: Bobalki, letchki (bean soup), and all sorts of nut rolls and cookies, etc. :).
Click to expand...
It doesn’t matter what tradition you have dug up The Church does NOT require us to abstain from eating meat on Christmas Eve.

I hope you all enjoyed yourselves by tucking into a nice juicy steak.
 
That’s correct, Thistle. The Church does not “require” us to abstain from meat on Christmas Eve.

The Church doesn’t require lots of things. That doesn’t make certain practices laudable and a wonderful maintenance of old traditions.

Comments about eating “juicy steaks” to people who have posted about the glorious customs of West and East are at best unnecessary…at worst…well, you know.
 
thistle said:
It doesn’t matter what tradition you have dug up The Church does NOT require us to abstain from eating meat on Christmas Eve
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Actually, in the Byzantine Ruthenian and Ukrainian churches Christmas Eve is a day of STRICT FAST with no meat, eggs or dairy products permitted.:byzsoc:
 
thistle said:
It doesn’t matter what tradition you have dug up The Church does NOT require us to abstain from eating meat on Christmas Eve.

I hope you all enjoyed yourselves by tucking into a nice juicy steak.
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I haven’t dug up anything. As I said, it’s a FAMILY tradition that’s been ongoing for centuries. So you can have your fatty beef traditions if you like. You can even have deep fried twinkies smothered in bacon fat if that’s what you’re into on Christmas Eve.
 
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