When is Christmas Eve? Military pensioners for Russia and its armed forces

Christmas Eve- the eve of the Nativity of Christ. Christmas Eve is celebrated in the Orthodox tradition before Christmas, always on January 6th. Christmas Eve happens twice a year - on Christmas Eve and on Epiphany Eve. Christmas Eve is considered a day of intensive preparation for the holiday of the Nativity of Christ, for the end of the Nativity Fast.

Name *Christmas Eve comes from the Old Russian sochnnik, and in turn from sochenya- the main dish of this day, flatbreads made with hemp oil, which were baked for Christmas. However, cooking is allowed instead of sochiv kutia. Both sochivo and kutya are prepared from boiled or steamed cereal grains and seasoned with honey. Recipes will be given at the end of the article.

In the Orthodox tradition, on Christmas Eve it is customary to refuse food until the first star appears in the sky. I don’t know about you, but I keep remembering the famous advertisement about Catherine the Great and Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov.

In the Slavic tradition, Christmas Eve Christmas time begins- two weeks of winter holidays, continuing until Epiphany on January 19. From the evening of Christmas Eve it is customary to start caroling. Christmastide lasts two weeks and on these days there is no fasting; Christmas carols are sung in churches.

The Christmas table on Christmas Eve should be decorated with fir branches, ribbons and candles. A composition of living fir branches with a candle inside was traditionally placed in the center of the table. There must be a decorated Christmas tree in the room. Customs for Christmas Eve say that gifts should already be stacked under the tree. They symbolize the gifts that the Magi gave to Christ when they learned about his birth and went to show respect to the Savior.

The distribution of gifts has traditionally been the most important and long-awaited part of Christmas Eve. It is very important that the gift is a surprise for the person. After all, giving gifts is a kind of Christmas sacrament that should lift a person’s spirits and evoke warm, good feelings.

Christmas Eve Recipes:

Kolivo (crumbly Lenten kutia)

Ingredients:

wheat grains - 250 g.

figs - 150 g.

raisins - 150 g.

honey - 100 g.

Preparation

Add separately boiled, sorted and washed raisins and figs to the wheat grains boiled in water and peeled, sweeten with honey and mix everything.

Sochivo (semi-liquid Lenten kutia)

Ingredients:

wheat (grain) – 200 g.

poppy – 150 g.

peeled nuts – 30 g.

raisins – 50 g.

fruits or berries (apple, blackberry, raspberry, etc.) or jam - to taste

vanilla sugar - to taste

honey and sugar - to taste

Preparation:

Wash the wheat well, add hot water, covering the grain, and cook in a saucepan over low heat until soft (or in a clay pot, in the oven), periodically adding hot water. Rinse the poppy seeds, steam with hot water for 2-3 hours, drain the water, grind the poppy seeds, add sugar, honey, vanilla sugar or any jam to taste, chopped nuts, raisins, fruits or berries to taste, add boiled water, and combine it all with boiled wheat, place in a ceramic bowl and serve chilled.

How and when Christmas Eve is celebrated, 2016 date, date of the holiday, what Christmas traditions exist, what date is Christmas Eve, and what gifts are given.

Jan. 7 2016 - Christmas is a great holiday, a permanent date. Celebration of Christmas.

All over the world, Christmas is considered a family holiday, when all family members gather together at one table. In Russia, they are not so committed to this custom, so on this holiday all friends and relatives are invited to the house.

In Rus', on Christmas night, the doors were opened wide and any passerby was invited to the festive table, even if it was a homeless beggar, because an ancient belief said that Jesus Christ himself could be hiding under the guise of a homeless person.

Christmas Eve 2016

The day before Christmas is called Christmas Eve, which is the final day of the forty-day strict Advent fast. Christmas Eve is celebrated on January 6th.

The name “Christmas Eve” comes from “sochivo” - a traditional ritual dish that is prepared on Christmas. This is a lean cereal porridge with honey and nuts. There are hundreds of variations in the preparation of this dish, some of which have come to us since ancient times.

In memory of the star of Bethlehem, which announced to the Magi about the birth of the Savior, on Christmas Eve you cannot eat any food until the first star appears. With the appearance of the first star, you can sit down at the table and wish each other everything bright and good.

The festive table must be set with 12 dishes. In addition to sochiv, the table should be served with such dishes as pancakes, ham, jelly, lamb with porridge, jellied fish, stuffed turkey, pig, duck or goose with apples, boiled pork, meatloaf, stuffed chicken baked in the oven, pies, homemade sausage , gingerbread, and other dishes.

There must also be a variety of drinks on the table, depending on the preferences of the owners.

Christmas traditions

Traditionally, in Rus', the decoration of the festive table was fresh hay, which was brought into the house and laid out on the table and was a symbol of the manger in which Jesus lay when he was born.

Now, due to the difficulty of finding hay in the city, sometimes a Nativity scene is sometimes placed in the center of the festive table - a reproduction of the scene of the Nativity of Christ through the means of various arts (sculpture, theater, etc.).

In the old days, the Christmas holiday table had to be covered with a snow-white tablecloth, and many adhere to this tradition today. There are no specific regulations regarding table setting, but it is important that the Christmas table be decorated very formally and replete with the number of dishes.

There is such a tradition that came to us from ancient times. In order for the New Year to be successful, you need to bring crumbs of bread or various seeds to the birds on the eve of Christmas or on Christmas night itself.

With the arrival of Christmas, the holidays begin.

During this period, people visit and congratulate relatives and friends, walk, have fun, girls tell fortunes.

From antiquity to the present day, the tradition of caroling has been preserved. Carolers must open the doors and treat them with sweets or give them money.

Fortune telling also begins on Christmas, of which there are a great many. Girls usually make fortunes, mainly in the hope of finding out whether they will get married next year or remain “girls.”

Gift for Christmas 2016

At Christmas, as well as at New Year, it is customary to give gifts. It used to be that a Christmas gift had to be made with one's own hands, but now it can also be a purchased gift.

It is very symbolic on this holiday to give each other figures of angels, made independently or purchased. The gifted angel should be hung in the room and it will definitely give happiness, luck and success to its owner in the New Year.

On Christmas we greet each other with the words: “Christ is born!” and we answer these words: “We praise Him!”.

Christmas Eve is the day before Christmas. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas every year on January 7th. Accordingly, Christmas Eve in 2019 is the evening of January 6th.

Origin of the name Christmas Eve

The name Christmas Eve comes from the word “sochivo” - a dish of cereal with nuts, seasoned with honey. In the modern world it is called “kutya”.

There is a second version of the name of the holiday, from the word “sochen”, a treat in the form of a flat cake resembling a mask. Many housewives made slits for eyes in them, through which one could look at others and recognize evil spirits in them. People believed that it greatly protected their home from evil spirits.

January 6, 2019 is not considered a holiday, it is a time to prepare for a great Christmas. Christmas Eve is also the last day of the Advent Fast.

On this day, our ancestors did not take any food except water until the first star appeared in the sky. In the modern world, such strict prohibitions are not adhered to. Believers do not eat food of animal origin on Christmas Eve; vegetables, fruits, and nuts are allowed. Strict fasting regulations are followed mainly by people who intend to devote their lives to God: monks and clergy. As soon as the first star appeared in the sky, Christmastide began. The main tradition was caroling.

The main traditions of Christmas Eve are carols and fortune telling.

Kolyada. Young people, old people and children gathered in groups for caroling, dressed as mummers, walked around the village singing songs, acted out skits, danced and congratulated the owners on the upcoming Christmas. For this they were treated to sweets, given money or small gifts.

The main attribute of the holiday were masks and masquerade costumes. The youth seriously prepared for this event: outfits were sewn in advance from straw, animal skins, and dry grass.

Fortune telling. On Christmas Eve, unmarried girls told fortunes about their betrothed. Fortune telling was very diverse - with splinters and grains, with wax and apples, with a ring and hairs. The famous saying “the bride will dream of the groom in a new place” comes from Christmastide. So they guessed on the night before Christmas, the girl lay down on another bed or with her head on the other side.

The method of fortune telling with a towel was effective. You had to hang up a white towel at night and say: “Betrothed, come and wash yourself.” If a girl found a dry towel in the morning, then marriage was not foreseeable soon. And if it turned out to be wet, you could safely prepare for the upcoming wedding.

A fairly popular method of fortune telling was the ritual with cups. You need to take several cups and fill each with one of the items. For example, water, sugar, ring. Then, with your eyes closed, select one of the cups and look at the contents. If a cup of water falls out, then no changes will occur in the next year. A cup of sugar promises a year full of fun. The ring foreshadows marriage soon.

Customs and signs of Christmas Eve January 6, 2019

1. On Christmas Eve it is forbidden to work and clean the house. It was believed that this could attract evil spirits into the house.

3. On Christmas Eve you cannot quarrel with friends and family, otherwise the whole year will pass in conflicts.

4. On this day it is necessary to help the poor with money or food. This promotes financial well-being.

5. If you light a lot of candles in the house in the evening, this will allow the blessing of the Lord to penetrate the house.

6. After the evening feast, which takes place in a calm atmosphere and without alcoholic drinks, caroling was accepted.

There are many signs for Holy Evening:

1. If an unmarried guy sneezes at the festive table, then good luck will accompany him, and if a girl, then she will soon have a lover.

2. Anyone who is late for the festive dinner will spend the whole year away from home.

3. If a lonely person comes to visit without an invitation, then the family will spend the whole year in prosperity.

4. If the whole family eats kutya from one bowl, then peace and harmony will reign in the house.

5. If the ground is covered with a thick layer of snow, then the cereal harvest will be rich.

6. Many stars in the sky, promises an abundance of berries and mushrooms.

Christmas Eve - what kind of holiday is this? What are its traditions? You can find out about everything related to Christmas Eve by reading our article.

Christmas Eve

As a matter of fact, Christmas Eve is not really a holiday. The church name of this day is “the pre-celebration of the Nativity of Christ.” It turns out that Christmas Eve precedes one of the main Christian holidays and serves, figuratively speaking, as the door to the celebration of the Nativity of Christ.

The word “Christmas Eve” takes its name from sochiv, the main dish of this day. However, the charter allows for the preparation of kutia instead of sochiv. Both sochivo and kutya are prepared from boiled or steamed cereal grains and seasoned with honey.

By the way, if you follow the rules, sochivo and kutya are a festive, albeit Lenten, Christmas Eve dish, but this is not limited to the table on Christmas Eve. According to the charter, there is only one meal on this day, after the evening service, but vegetable oil and wine are allowed for consumption. You can't eat only lean food and fish. However, this is a monastic charter; the severity of abstinence in the world should be agreed upon with the parish priest or confessor.

The Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ is a special day in the life of a Christian. The church service is entirely dedicated to the upcoming holiday. It differs in its rite both from everyday services and from the rite of worship on the very day of the Nativity of Christ. The service ends with the singing of the troparion of the Nativity. You can pay attention to the fact that liturgical hymns dedicated to the Nativity of Christ are heard in the church long before the holiday itself. This is how the Church prepares its children for the upcoming triumph.

Christmas Eve: traditions

There are many different traditions for celebrating Christmas Eve. In some places people begin to congratulate friends and acquaintances on Christmas in the evening; in other places this day is spent with family at a special meal with kutya or sochivo. The main thing is to highlight the day preceding the great Christian holiday, to prepare for the joyful event of remembering the Birth of the God-Man Christ. On Christmas Eve, as on the day of the Nativity of Christ itself, it is advisable to prepare for communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, to confess in advance and, if the priest blesses to receive communion, to unite with Christ by partaking of His Divine Body and Blood.

Christmas Eve is also called the day preceding the feast of Epiphany - Epiphany. The time between the Nativity of Christ and the eve of Epiphany - Epiphany Christmas Eve is called Christmastide. These days there is no fasting, Christmas carols are sung in churches and Christians congratulate each other on the joyful event of the Savior’s coming into the world - the Nativity of Christ.

Christmas Eve is the last day of the Nativity Fast, the eve of the Nativity of Christ. Many people are interested in knowing what date Christmas Eve will be in 2019. The answer to this question is obvious. In 2019, as usual, it falls on January 6th.

Christmas Eve on January 6, 2019 is the final moment in preparation for the bright holiday of Christmas. On this day, believers go to churches where festive services are held.

On Christmas Eve, special attention is paid to the meal, since this day ends the Nativity fast and is the strictest. You can eat food on Christmas Eve only once - after Great Vespers, when the symbol of the Star of Bethlehem is placed in the center of the temple.

In Rus', on Christmas Eve, people sat down to the table after the first star appeared in the sky. The main dish of the festive table was and remains sochivo. It is prepared from wheat or rice with honey, and some housewives also add raisins to it. It is from the word “sochivo” that the name of the holiday comes – Christmas Eve.