I spent the morning of January 7th searching my Facebook friend list for Old Calender Orthodox, to wish them a Merry Christmas. If you're unfamiliar with the Old Calendar vs New Calendar thing, look up the Julian and Gregorian calendars on Wikipedia - a number of Orthodox churches still use the Julian (I think the majority), which means most feasts, including Christmas, are thirteen days apart, though Easter (Pascha) is celebrated on the same day (not the same day as the Western churches necessarily, but all Orthodox celebrate together). So anyhow, I mentioned to Husband what I was doing, while Kittyboy was in the room.
Of course, the boy's favorite word is WHY.
He has since been talking about the "Judy-an and Gorgon" calendars. He wanted to know why we aren't Old Calendar too (because the Greek churches and I think some others use the New/Gregorian Calendar). He wanted to know, if Christmas were January 7th, what would December 25th be? He must have asked that four times, to which I answered "just December 25th", or "still in Advent" before I asked, "Do you mean what feast or saint would it be?" He said yes. Naturally. I told him I'd figure it out. I still need to sit down with a calendar, count thirteen days back from December 25th, and see who's commemorated on that day. (Wait, I will do that NOW... Okay, Dec. 12th is St. Spyridon. I'll tell him after his nap.)
So now he wants to follow the "Judy-an" Calendar. And no, it's not to have two Christmases, that didn't even occur to him - he wants to go OC because "that would be COOL." Have to get him an OC church calendar so he can see both. There's a Russian church a few towns south of here, I can probably buy one there.
I absolutely love that he wants to follow the Old Calendar now. We won't be, because St. Anthony's is New Calendar, but I love his enthusiasm. Granted, we don't want him enthusiastically jumping into things SOLELY on the basis of "it's different and new, and that makes it cool!" But, I just have to like the flippant disregard for peer pressure. Who cares when everyone else celebrates Christmas. I'm reminded of my brother, who wore a beard throughout high school because 1) he COULD, and 2) no one else had one. Not all that is "different" is good, but approval by the majority doesn't make something good, either!
So I'll get him his Old/Julian church calendar, and he can hang it next to his New/Gregorian one, and heaven help me when he wants more details on WHY there are two.
Of course, the boy's favorite word is WHY.
He has since been talking about the "Judy-an and Gorgon" calendars. He wanted to know why we aren't Old Calendar too (because the Greek churches and I think some others use the New/Gregorian Calendar). He wanted to know, if Christmas were January 7th, what would December 25th be? He must have asked that four times, to which I answered "just December 25th", or "still in Advent" before I asked, "Do you mean what feast or saint would it be?" He said yes. Naturally. I told him I'd figure it out. I still need to sit down with a calendar, count thirteen days back from December 25th, and see who's commemorated on that day. (Wait, I will do that NOW... Okay, Dec. 12th is St. Spyridon. I'll tell him after his nap.)
So now he wants to follow the "Judy-an" Calendar. And no, it's not to have two Christmases, that didn't even occur to him - he wants to go OC because "that would be COOL." Have to get him an OC church calendar so he can see both. There's a Russian church a few towns south of here, I can probably buy one there.
I absolutely love that he wants to follow the Old Calendar now. We won't be, because St. Anthony's is New Calendar, but I love his enthusiasm. Granted, we don't want him enthusiastically jumping into things SOLELY on the basis of "it's different and new, and that makes it cool!" But, I just have to like the flippant disregard for peer pressure. Who cares when everyone else celebrates Christmas. I'm reminded of my brother, who wore a beard throughout high school because 1) he COULD, and 2) no one else had one. Not all that is "different" is good, but approval by the majority doesn't make something good, either!
So I'll get him his Old/Julian church calendar, and he can hang it next to his New/Gregorian one, and heaven help me when he wants more details on WHY there are two.
posted from Bloggeroid
4 comments:
That's so cool that Kittyboy is interested in the two calendars, and wants to be Old Calendar :)
Judy and the Gorgons sounds like the name of a rock band :)
That would be an AWESOME name for a rock band!! My dad said something about him wanting to learn about "Judy and the Gorgons" now, and I thought that was just too good a phrase to pass up for a blog post title!
The 25th Dec is the feast day for St. Herman of Alaska :)
I love being on the Old Calendar!
Why thank you, Shelley!!!
And now I'm confused, because there goes the rule of +/- 13 days. We have St. Herman on the 13th of December, plus 13 would put him on the 26th. I know comparing the two gets goofy in the summer, because some years we have the Apostles Fast and some years we don't, or it'll be weirdly short, and obviously Lent has to begin the same for both, so that must make for some NC awkwardness between Christmas and then...
I need to just get a calendar, haha! And then let him ask what he will, and hope I can answer. And maybe start budgeting gas to go to the Russian church on occasion.
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