Holy evening and Christmas. 12 dishes on the Holy evening

On the eve of the great holiday, the Nativity of Christ, in the media there is a lot of information about how Orthodox Russians spend the Holy Eve on January 6 and how they prepare for it. One gets the impression that these rules are fixed somewhere, and all the believing people are fulfilling them, or at least are striving to fulfill them.

What is the meaning of the holiday Christmas?

The coming into the world of God - the Creator of heaven and earth, of the visible and invisible world - is an event of universal scale. In the Bible there is such a story: Ilya, whom we now revere for the great prophet, was persecuted by the Israelites. In a moment of despair, he turned to God for help. And he was given this answer: "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord will pass away, and a great and strong wind, rending the mountains and breaking the rocks before the Lord, but not in the wind is the Lord; After the wind an earthquake, but not in the earthquake of the Lord; After the earthquake, fire, but not in the fire of the Lord; After the fire a gentle wind, and there the Lord ".

No one has ever seen what the Creator of all things looks like, for He never revealed himself to people in material form. One time He came to the world as a man - a weak and defenseless baby, who had to be hid, for he could be killed. On the holy evening the Lord came to people to show that he loved them, that there was not a drop of evil in Him that He understood their hardships, dangers and temptations. Whatever we are, He will save everyone and help those who need His help and ask for it. All newborns are helpless like each other. The Lord, having come into the world as an infant, gave each of us to understand and in the Nativity of Christ confirmed that He does not separate Himself from us, that He created us all in His image and likeness.

Christmas is the most joyful holiday

Humanization of God in Jesus Christ we celebrate on January 6 after the rise of the first star in the sky. For the Orthodox, this is a joyful and Holy evening. Greetings and gifts for him are prepared in advance. Often these are the symbols of Christmas. The history of the birth of the Divine Child described in the Gospel, popular rumor and talented writers is colored with moving details, which are sometimes given a mystical and superstitious meaning.

In the Holy evening, people begin to go out into the street before dawn and look at the sky. It is considered a bad omen to look out that day from the window. Christians are looking for the first star, and after finding, they are accepted to rejoice, congratulate each other on the holiday, after which they hasten to return home to the family table to begin the festive meal.

How traditions developed

What is Holy Eve? The traditions of its conduct have changed and are still changing. There are reasons for this. Before the separation of churches into Catholic and Orthodox, Christmas was celebrated in the spring in May. In the IV century, Pope Julius I moved the celebration to the winter time. Before the translation of the Julian calendar on the Gregorian in Russia, Christmas was celebrated before the New Year. This holiday was more significant, but the Soviet government abolished it.

Preparing for the celebration

The Orthodox began to prepare for Christmas in advance. Not only did they diligently attend church services, fasted and engaged in charity, they also planned ahead of time what to prepare for the Holy Evening. Believers specially fattened domestic cattle - geese, chickens, calves and pigs, shot down cow's butter to amuse their family with a generous feast on this family holiday.

Observe the fasting or not?

Change of calendar, communist rule, decline of Orthodox culture - all this destroyed the patriarchal traditions of our ancestors. Churches changed the order of worship, and in the last year or two allowed in the strictest period of Christmas fast, which lasts only one week, eat fish, vegetable oil and alcohol. Clergymen explain this by the fact that modern people are much weaker than their ancestors, and the New Year table, as well as the table for Holy Eve, will not do without these products.

With such a view, it is very difficult to agree. After all, it was our contemporaries who rebuilt the destroyed churches, built new churches and resumed divine services. And this is in the hardest trials that have fallen to the lot of our people in recent decades. Whatever it was, and all Christians love and every year look forward to when the Holy Night comes. Traditions have undergone and are undergoing changes all the time, but if we understand the sacred meaning of Christmas, then no changes can darken this holiday. And the changes associated with Christmas, the history of Christianity knows very much.

Can I eat until the first star?

In former times, before the changes that came with the revolution of 1917 , divine services continued in Orthodox churches and monasteries all day with small interruptions. Now they have significantly decreased. Monks and priests do not have tradition to eat food only after the star rises. This is understandable. If in the middle band of Russia on Holy Eve the first star appears in the interval from 17 to 18 hours, then in the polar regions at this time of year continues the polar night. Priests on this day, as in others, do not eat food until communion. Well, since a strict fast is prescribed on January 6, after the communion they reinforce their forces only with sochi (meager food). Festive feast is arranged on the next day - January 7.

Laymen very rarely spend the entire pre-holiday day in the churches at the services, as they are waiting for the appearance of the first star. Until then, Christians do not allow themselves to eat even poppy dew.

Sochi

Sochi is a raw grain or beans soaked in water. In pre-Petrine times in Russia the most common grass was the amaranth. Peter I banned his cultivation, as he introduced new crops. Today, amaranth can be found in stores. This useful groats can again become the basis for osova. In rich parishes and monasteries, honey and lean milk are added to the ovary - in ceramic pottery, seeds of poppy, hemp or nuts are ground in a porcelain pestle and a small amount of water is added. This is the lean milk. At lay people on a Christmas table there is always a dish with osovom. It is eaten first of all festive dishes.

Strict post on the eve of Christmas

In general, any strict post assumes dry eating, and no more than once a day. And the Holy Evening on the eve of Christmas is the time of the strictest fasting. According to the changed Orthodox canons, a strict Christmas fast begins in the last week and captures the New Year. Neither fish nor oil (oil) during this period can not be.

Cooking for the Christmas meal 12 lean dishes?

It is amazing to read the recipes of 12 dishes for Holy Night, which are designed in accordance with lean norms, that is, without oil and heat treatment. If you participate on that day in the prescribed services, then when are you preparing two feasts - lean and fast? By the way, food without oil and heat treatment, which was eaten by believers during a long fast, on a holiday can not evoke a joyful feeling. Those who observe the posts, with this can not disagree. But why waste time and energy on a large lean meal, if by Christmas, specially fattened and slaughtered cattle? Also, the question is, when and who should prepare festive dishes? If we contrive and arrange two large tables, will there be time for spiritual preparation for the holiday?

How to celebrate Christmas in times of Soviet persecution

People who worship Christ in those days when Christmas was banned, acted as follows. After visiting the temple, if there was such a place in the area, people prepared fast, but nourishing 12 dishes. On Holy evening, all the members of the family gathered at the table. And after the rising of the star, congratulating each other on the holiday and giving gifts, they proceeded to feast. On the table, there was a must present as a tribute to the ritual, and in addition, a cold of pork or beef, meat salad, mushrooms in sour cream, fried poultry, boiled potatoes with butter, cold cuts, cheese, cake, sweets, bread and wine There are 12 dishes.

What to prepare for the Holy Evening in each family decided in their own way. The main thing is that it was tasty and long-awaited. The next day - January 7 was a worker, and asking for a day off or a day off, meant bringing on big troubles on themselves and their relatives. The close circle of close relatives who gathered together on the holy evening, congratulations and gifts made the family more united and friendly. After all, this holiday could not be congratulated on the phone and send postal items.

What the Scriptures Say about Fun and Abstinence on a Holiday Day

Do you need to prepare a fast food for the Holy evening on January 6? Those who have faithfully abstained for 40 days will not be happy to be at the table on which ritual hay rests and the plates with twelve fasting dishes are laid. It may very well be that the Lord Himself would have apprehended this for senseless hypocrisy. Why fast after the fasting is over?

If you recall the Gospel parable of the miracle in Cana of Galilee, it becomes clear that Jesus Christ was not alien to worldly joys and loved when great holidays were celebrated cheerfully and widely. Perhaps, the fast dishes for the Holy Night are prepared by those who could not resist the worldly temptations of the previous forty days? It's no secret that a lot of people who have been vercerized explain their refusal to fasting as a weakness of health. To this there is an answer in the Old Testament book of the prophet Daniel about the four youths, who, being fed only with raw vegetables and water, became stronger than health and more wit than those who ate fast food.

Why did Christ fast for 40 days?

Is there any sense in the posts? Let us turn to history. After Jesus Christ was baptized, He retired to the wilderness, where in seclusion he prepared for the missions for which he came to this world. For 40 days He was tempted by the devil, but did not succumb to his provocations and promises. All this time the Lord prayed and ate only wild honey and acrid. We are also persecuted by all kinds of temptations, but God's providence has given us a great power to resist them. A lonely person is nothing. In conjunction with God through baptism and communion, fasting and prayer, he becomes like the Creator Himself. This must be understood. If we understand the meaning of the humanization of God, if we comprehend his earthly life described in the Gospel, then baptism, communion, fasting and prayer acquire a simple and understandable meaning. We accept baptism in order to tell the Creator that consciously, by our will, we choose Him in guidebooks. Communion with the goal of connecting with God flesh and blood. We rejoice in Christmas, because we got an opportunity to join the Creator and escape from the darkness of worldly troubles and sufferings.

Retribution to God for His Help

Fasting before Christmas is our feat, thanks to God. If He sacrificed His only Son for our salvation, Himself, are we not able to sacrifice our worldly attachments to Him? Yes, it is difficult, much harder than giving some money to charity. For generosity praise others, and if you keep a fast, then no one will notice. Pride does not make fun of it. This is the meaning of abstinence. Fasting is personal contact with God. He alone can appreciate your efforts. He alone understands how difficult it is for you, eating very little and skimpy, limiting yourself in all pleasures, not walking with a dull look, but working hard and have a good disposition of the spirit.

Everything changes. It becomes sad if you imagine that in Orthodox Russia, as in Catholic countries, the Christmas Lent will be abolished, and on the Holy Evening the festive dinner will not be supplemented by another joy - the taste of a beef hollow, a roast suckling pig with horse-radish, a goose baked with apples and cowberries and Biscuit cake with chocolate cream and whipped cream. Whoever keeps and maintains patriarchal institutions knows that after a long abstinence and pacification of the flesh, a merry Christmas mess brings with it an incomparable pleasure.