once again, merry christmas

it is christmas day today in eritrea (also in russia and greece- or anywhere coptic/greek orthodox is practiced).  although for operational and business purposes the julian calendar is used, christmas is celebrated on january the 7th becuase the coptic or greek orthodox follow the gregorian calendar to mark holy days.

my family like the majority of eritrean christians is coptic orthodox and observes both christmas days. this perhaps is because eritrea is a former italian colony and the 25th was recognized as christmas and a holy day during the colonization (when my parents were children) and the fact that almost all of my life we lived where christmas was celebrated on the 25th of december.  we have a family dinner and exchange gifts on december 25th and celebrate january 7th by cooking lamb and gathering for a traditional eritrean feast.  

two christmases was confusing for me as a child. i never knew how to explain it to my friends until i was old enough to understand the difference between the gregorian and julian calendars. my mother always joked and told me that we celebrated on the 7th of january because it took them two extra weeks to come tell us in africa that jesus christ was born- it made me giggle everytime !

merry christmas once again!!!

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 7:48 pm and is filed under happy days, from my roots.

6 Responses to “once again, merry christmas”

  1. somepinkflowers http://somepinkflowers.typepad.com/

    January 8th, 2008 at 2:26 am

    i love when i learn things over here!

    :-)

    today i learned that your mom was very clever
    at explaining things
    and
    i am betting you are following in her footsteps
    with your own little ones!

    growing up i learned that the 12th day of Christmas, January 6th,
    was the day of Epiphany,
    the celebration of the visit of the Magi,
    *the three kings who travel so far*

    [[ i guess it took everyone a long time to ~Get the News~
    but aren’t we glad they did… ]]

    happy eritrean feast day to you all…

  2. Melanie http://www.enseignedegersaint.typepad.fr

    January 8th, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    You are a wonderful mix of tolerance , my dear.
    And I love celebrating christmas a lot of times .

  3. Amy http://petticoat-lane.co.nz

    January 8th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    That’s really fascinating! I didn’t know that :-)

  4. stephanie http://rodrigvitzstyle.typepad.com

    January 8th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

    This is so interesting! The jewish holidays are always so hard to explain because they fall on different dates (gregorian) ever year (based on the lunar calendar)

    Well, merry Christmas again!!!

    x…x
    steph

  5. rochambeau http://rochambeau.typepad.com

    January 9th, 2008 at 8:20 pm

    Merry Christmas Elsa!
    When it comes to celebrating my motto:
    More is Better!

    Just sent you an email.
    Love,
    Constance

  6. eb http://www.elizabethbunsen.typepad.com

    January 25th, 2008 at 3:12 am

    this is so cool - when I was in college I met a very special Ethiopian friend who prepared a special dish for me - chicken, boiled eggs and veggies in a wonderful sauce - I have never forgotten this special treat - do you know what this is?

    xox - eb.

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