"Pious Customs"

[ReaderT]

In the Orthodox Church, we have things called “pious customs” which are small practices in addition to the universal things that all Orthodox do (Icon Corners, Vigil Lamps, etc.)

Here is a list of some of those beautiful customs I’ve seen or heard of. What are yours?

• Cutting a bouquet of wild flowers every week and placing them on the Icon table
• Using pink plates on fast days (Weds and Fridays in Orthodoxy)
• Saving one’s baptismal candle for special occasions (marriage, Easter Vigil)
• Eating Vasilopita (St. Basil’s bread) on his feast day
• Eating Indian food on St. Thomas Sunday (as he was the Apostle to India)
• Always wearing one’s Baptismal cross
• Bringing the fire from the Pascha service home and blessing the threshold of the front door with it
• In the Russian tradition, the faithful carry home the “Thursday Fire” - the candles that we hold during the reading of the 12 Passion Gospels on Holy Thursday night. The flame is used to light the lamp in the family’s Icon Corner where it remains burning for the whole year.
• Parents/elders tapping the sign of the Cross over their children’s heads before they go to bed
• Collecting the crumbs from the Easter meal and the blessed shells of the Easter Eggs and sprinkling them around the outside foundation of the house and in the garden to protect the house from natural disaster and lightning
• Orthodoxchristianity.net shuts down their forums every year on Clean Monday (the first day of Orthodox Lent)

Alright, what are yours?

 

[po18guy]

Very cool! Of note is that none of this is superstitious, but done with faith.

In the Latin Catholic tradition the sign of the cross is likewise made on children’s foreheads at bedtime. Also, at the end of each sign of the cross, the thumb is kissed for the “Amen.” Catholics often make the sign of the cross as they pass a parish or cathedral, as a sign of reverence for Christ in the Eucharist. There is the blessing of the house with chalk over the lintel and incensing each room, done on or shortly after each new year. Others will post additional pious actions.

 

[AngelusDomini]

• Using blessed salt - placing it at the threshold of the home/using it in cooking
• Holy water at home (usually in a small font by main entrance)
• Taking small bunches of blessed herbs/flowers home on feast of Assumption
• Eating certain foods on certain days (e.g. there’s long been a tradition in the UK to eat hot cross buns on Good Friday - sweet buns marked with a cross on the top)