New Year in an Orthodox family: from scratch. Christmas: preparation and traditions of the holiday We entertain and occupy

They prepared for the holiday in advance: believers observed a forty-day fast, which is known as the Rozhdestven fast. During this period, people prayed, read the Law of God, and repented. They ate simple, lean food: mushrooms, vegetables, fish. Who is richer - beluga, sturgeon, pike perch, navaga, who is poorer - herring, catfish, bream.

Closer to Christmas, convoys with frozen pork, geese, and turkeys reached the cities. Before Christmas, 3 days in advance, Christmas trees were sold in squares and markets - real forest beauties. The entire area turned into a thicket. Among the trees, men in sheepskin coats helped people choose a Christmas tree for the holiday. Sbiten workers walked around, carrying samovars with hot, fragrant and sweet sbiten (this is a kind of drink with honey and ginger).

Ordinary townspeople were also preparing for the Christmas celebration: all the houses were being cleaned fussily, but joyfully in anticipation of such a holiday. The doors were washed, the copper door handles were polished with crumpled elderberry, and then they were wrapped in rags so that when they were removed on Christmas Eve, they would shine festively. They took sofas and armchairs out into the snow, swept them and cleaned them with a broom. The vestments on the icons were especially carefully polished with chalk until they shined, and festive - white and blue - Christmas lamps were placed. Fresh, starched curtains, like pure frosty snow, falling in lush folds, were hung on the windows. Polished air vents shone on the tiled stoves. The floors were rubbed with mastic with honey wax, covered with clean matting (if the house was simpler), and in richer houses a “Christmas” carpet was laid in the living room - on a white field blue flowers. The ceiling and walls were whitewashed.

Then they installed a Christmas tree, which was decorated as elegantly as possible: with heaps of chains made of multi-colored, gold and silver paper, Vyazemsky gingerbread cookies, Crimean apples, beads made of candy, gilded nuts, crackers with surprises inside, they entangled the tree with a golden cobweb, inserted candles into colored pins.

On the day before Christmas, called Christmas Eve, they completely abstained from food until the first star appeared in the sky, which, according to legend, showed the way to the wise men to the newborn Jesus.

In all families, regardless of social and cultural status, children on these days were always told about the Virgin Mary, about the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to her, about how the baby Savior was born, about the worship of the Magi, about the gifts that they brought, about the meaning of these gifts.

Children from a young age absorbed customs and traditions; the spirituality inherent in Orthodoxy organically and easily penetrated their souls.

On Christmas Eve we ate sochivo (that’s why it’s Christmas Eve) - lean porridge and vegetables. They cooked kutya from wheat with honey and a broth of prunes and pears, sometimes rice or barley broth with honey and berries. This brew, as a gift to Christ, was placed under the image on the hay, symbolizing the hay on which the little Savior lay in the manger.

They looked for the first star in the sky, then went to the all-night vigil. Lamps were lit in houses.

In the villages, in accordance with his ideas about the birth of the baby Jesus, after evening prayer, the owner of the house attached a candle to the bread and went into the yard. From the yard he brought a heap of straw or hay and covered the hut. The peasants prepared festive clothes in advance. It was believed that one should not celebrate Christmas in black: sad clothes were not suitable for such a holiday. As a rule, on this day it was customary for the whole family to gather at the parental home and celebrate Christmas.

Cold winter evenings are conducive to intimate communication in family circle . But Christmas evening is special, it restores faith in miracles to adults, and opens up a new wonderful world for children.

Read about how to spend Christmas 2020 with your child and what to tell him about the holiday in our material today.

Let's get acquainted with the history of the holiday

In order for a child to understand where the tradition of celebration came from, it is worth introducing him to the story of how Jesus Christ was born. An excellent assistant in this case will be good book or a Children's Bible with illustrations and adapted texts, but if you don't have one, you can tell your child the Christmas story yourself.

Here is an example of a Christmas story:

“A long time ago, in the ancient city of Nazareth, there lived the righteous spouses Mary and Joseph. One day Mary was spinning, and an Angel appeared to her, who announced that she would soon give birth to a child - the Son of God. He will be sent to earth by God to save people from their sins.

Mary and Joseph joyfully waited for the baby to appear, but just at this time the Roman Emperor Augustus wanted to find out how many people lived in his country, and ordered all people to come to the census in their hometown.

Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem, they walked for a long time until night fell. They were unable to find accommodation for the night, and they decided to stay in a cave - a den, where in bad weather the shepherds drove their flocks. It was that night that Mary’s son was born, and they rested together on the straw in the manger.

The news of the birth of the Son of God was a star that rose over Bethlehem - it was so bright that the eastern sages - the Magi - saw it, realized that a miracle had happened and decided to follow it.

The star led them to Jesus, to whom they gave gifts: gold and incense. Since then, his birthday has been celebrated throughout the earth, the first star signifies the birth of a new one, and people give each other gifts to express their love and warmth.”

DIY holiday

To celebrate Christmas, you don’t need loud, but already familiar elements New Year's decor Thanks to the Christmas story, they acquire a special meaning: lights, a star and toys on the Christmas tree, angels, wreaths and bells. All this is not only beautiful, but also symbolic.

A child can better understand Christmas traditions by learning carols, decorating the house with stars and angels, constructing a nativity scene with their own hands, and organizing a small performance for family and guests.

To create a birth scene, you will need a box, put a little straw at the bottom, arrange figures of animals, people and arrange small gifts - gifts from the Magi. The necessary elements can be cut out of paper or molded from plasticine.

From salt dough or golden paper you can make Star of Bethlehem to decorate the top, or hang a few stars on the branches of the Christmas tree.

Offer your child something Christmas-themed - the appearance of the angel Mary, the birth of Jesus in the stable, the offering of gifts to him.

Angels are children's favorite characters and are perfectly made using applique. Draw and cut out an angel figurine, outline and cut out the baby’s palms, glue them to the figurine like wings. The resulting product can be colored with different pencils and decorated with sparkles to give the angel a shine.

Christmas holiday - best time in order to do good, be caring and attentive. After all, if Christmas is not in your heart, you are unlikely to find it under the tree. Together with your child, organize a holiday for the birds: find a small Christmas tree in the yard or in the park, hang pieces of bread and lard on it, below, under the tree, sprinkle grains and crumbs.

At Christmas, it is customary to go to visit your godparents, sing songs wishing goodness, prosperity and health, and receive sweets and coins from the owners in return. It was believed that the more carolers visiting a house, the more joy there would be in it. Prepare small but cute gifts of your own for those whom you will visit. These could be drawings or do-it-yourself crafts.

Another type of holiday tradition is Christmas signs. One of them is if on Christmas night snowing, then the summer will be warm and fruitful.

The night before Christmas 2019 is considered magical and if you make a wish at this time, it will come true. The desire must be kind and wise and a miracle will happen!

TOEvery parent wants to organize Christmas holidays for their children in such a way that it brings joy and is remembered for a long time. Let's look at two average children's parties held on their own at home.

About a week before the wonderful event, mom begins to create a menu, buy balloons and call guests. A rich table is set with chops, salads, cake and wine. Until 2-3 toasts, they still remember why they gathered and admire the bright holiday and the still clean, cheerful children. After this, the little guests are usually left to their own devices (as a rule, these are children of different ages of invited relatives and friends, sometimes even unfamiliar with each other).

Option two.

Having firmly decided to arrange a holiday more for children than for adults, mother serves them a separate festive table and throughout the entire event he tries to somehow channel the destructive energy of youth in the right direction.

Have you had a similar experience? Then let's try to organize a holiday according to the third option.

From Christmas morning to welcoming guests

New Year, Christmas and Birthday are the most fabulous holidays childhood. Remember how impatiently you went to bed, waiting for the onset of a little fairy tale in the morning.

Preparation for Christmas begins long before the holiday itself: children are told about the Nativity of Christ, with older children you can learn the troparion, kontakion of the holiday, irmos of the Christmas canon (“Christ is born, give thanks!”). We set up a nativity scene in a few days. At night or in the morning - a festive service in the temple.

On the day of the holiday, let's surprise the child as soon as he opens his sleepy eyes.

Balls are banal, I don’t argue. But how amazing it is to wake up and see a multi-colored garland above you! And sitting down in your crib, be surprised by the blanket covered in confetti and streamers? Make a surprise - create the mood of a fairy tale.

It often happens that some of the guests invited to the celebrations have already arrived, while others have not yet arrived. The children who came are awkwardly bored, not knowing what to do with themselves. I suggest this way to pass the time: instead of a beautiful starched tablecloth, we put a disposable light paper tablecloth on the table and give the children felt-tip pens - let them draw a funny drawing themselves. Or we’ll hand out album sheets asking them to write (or draw, if the children are still small) a funny Christmas card. Or maybe ask the children to tell us what kind of holiday it is today.

You can put various squiggles and bizarre incomprehensible shapes on blank sheets of paper with a marker and invite children to show their imagination and add something to them so that these squiggles turn into understandable drawings: turn something into a mysterious animal, something into a fairy-tale creature, exotic plant.

I would recommend that for children from 4 years old (and 10-year-olds enjoy this kind of entertainment) cut out each Christmas Star from white cardboard, cut small stars, diamonds, flowers from colored foil, cut pieces of tinsel, sprinkle confetti and invite everyone to decorate the cardboard blank . If you can give older children - from 6 years old - glue in a cup and brushes, then for kids it is better to prepare the base in advance by applying double-sided tape to the star.

Treat

You won’t surprise your child’s guests with a snow-white tablecloth and crystal. Anything that would be a shame to get dirty and broken is out of sight. Let's look at our children with common eyes: will they be happy with meat and salads? Rarely will parents answer in the affirmative. What about fruits and sweets? Well what the stupid question- you say, of course. Let's pamper our guests with different delicacies. There should be a lot of juices on the table - at least a liter per child, preferably more - something, and children, excited about the holiday, drink a lot. Fruits should be divided into convenient parts: grapes (without seeds, if you don’t want to collect them all over the house) cut into branches of 3-4 berries, citrus fruits are peeled and disassembled into slices, apples... well, almost nothing ever eats them, like and bananas, traces of which leave stains on clothes. In general, avoid fruit that gets dirty; one persimmon is tantamount to a small nuclear explosion.

Can be arranged little surprise: Place a piece of paper with Christmas wishes under the plates!

If you really want to feed your children substantial food, make sandwiches, canapés with meat, sausage, fish, cheese, decorate them more interestingly, serve a cocktail (you can beat milk, banana and a little sugar in a blender) - a very satisfying and nutritious meal. But should you stick to the standard cake? I recommend making this original dessert: buy waffle cakes, ice cream, a can of cream, and various fruits. 10 minutes before serving, place a 3 cm thick layer of ice cream on a waffle sheet, cake layer, more ice cream, cake layer, ice cream, now a mixture of chopped fruits, pour in whipped cream and stick in candles - the cake is ready! Let's call it, for example: "Christmas delicacy."

...By the way, as one of the entertaining entertainments, you can invite guests to prepare and eat canapés themselves (using plates with chopped products) and decorate their cocktails with chocolate chips, colored sugar dragees and straws.

Sequence of events

The room is decorated, the table is set, the food is ready. What should follow what so that it is not boring, but also not oversaturated? Guests began to arrive. While we are waiting for a full turnout - the children need to be occupied with quiet play - this is exactly what painting a festive tablecloth is very suitable for. Everyone is assembled - we sit down at the table. We congratulate the children and eat sandwiches with drinks and fruit. There’s no point in staying too long over the treat – as soon as the noise starts, you’ve had your fill, it’s time to play.

Games can only be organized by an adult leader, otherwise the uncontrolled little one will simply walk on his head, causing a real end of the world. Are all the planned entertainments over? Back to the table! And then - quiet games (the children were tired and overexcited). At parting, each guest should be given a small gift - this will be a very pleasant souvenir.

What about the parents of the invited children, you ask? Who will take care of them? When will I celebrate? Who will serve and clean the cutlets and Olivier? Our holiday is for children. If you can bring your child and leave – wonderful! If this is not possible, warn in advance that you will have to participate as your assistant. And while the children are eating, you will have time to eat a cake and drink a glass of wine.

We entertain and occupy

On the Internet you can find many different competitions and ready-made scripts holiday. Be careful! Fast, energetic activities (relay races, tag and other running and jumping entertainment) must be alternated with calm games (drawing games, riddles and other sedentary tasks). Some active games It is permissible to arrange a row at the very beginning of the holiday, but at the end of it it is better to combine a couple of quiet ones so that the children calm down. If noisy competitions follow one after another, the children will quickly get tired, overexcited, and the rest of the evening will no longer be a joy. And on the contrary: too many sedentary activities will make active children bored and they will begin to look for exciting games on their own. It is advisable that in your holiday scenario the type of game should not be repeated: if a relay race - then only once, if a dance game - then also only once, a dexterity competition should also not be held twice.

Be sure to divide the guests into two teams; the competitive aspect adds spice to the competition. Let each team choose its own name and come up with a slogan. For every competition she wins, she will receive a point in the form of something significant. It could be a little Christmas star. There should be more of them than the number of competitions, in case of a tie.

What else can you do for little guests?

Relay races and blind man's buff are all great, of course, but it would be nice to surprise the children with entertainment that is unusual for such a holiday.

Children are completely delighted when they are offered to make something interesting themselves from... real yeast dough. You can buy it frozen at the store or make it yourself. I emphasize - the dough must be yeast! Their creations comically swell and enlarge as the finished pieces begin to fit, which is simply amazing for little guests! Each child is given a piece of parchment paper, the size of a notebook sheet, on which they must make their own pie. This is necessary so that the figurine of a man or animal made from dough is transferred to the baking sheet without deformation, and from the baking sheet in baked form back to the plate. For decoration, you can offer saucers with kernels of nuts and seeds, raisins. These baked souvenirs are given to the guests at the end of the holiday, and she happily takes them home. You can suggest making the Christmas star again, this time not from cardboard, but from dough.

I remind you that calm games must alternate with active games. If two quiet classes go in a row - more active children They will lose concentration and become distracted and noisy. If two energetic and noisy competitions are held without a break, the children will quickly become overtired and begin to be capricious.

I’ll tell you a relay race game that we came up with and tested first at a children’s party and then at an adult party, it turned out to be so fun and win-win funny. Blanks: two sheets of Whatman paper pinned to the wall, two markers, two containers with the same set of notes indicating body parts. Since our task was to depict a “Russian beauty,” we wrote: crown, braid, eyes, nose, mouth... boots. The main thing is not to miss a single part so that the drawing is as complete as possible. All notes are mixed and placed in a box, which is placed under each Whatman paper. With the START command, the first player runs with a marker to the wall, pulls out a piece of paper, reads what to draw, draws it on the sheet, runs away and passes the relay marker to the next participant, and he himself stands at the end of the line. The player who received the marker also runs to the wall, reads, draws and returns. IT IS VERY FUNNY! Our cameraman could not film the competition - his hands were shaking with laughter, and I, as the presenter, was unable to comment on the resulting “Beauties” - disproportionate body parts, distorted facial features... Tears flowed in a stream from laughter. We held the same competition among adults: they drew Miss Beauty - it was even more cool than at children's party. The team whose drawing is the cutest wins.

End of the holiday

Such a wonderful day has come to an end. I would like to end it in such a way that you are not sad that it is over, but feel good at heart. If you filmed the holiday on camera, you can play the video on the TV screen at the moment when the guests are eating the cake. The children are already tired, they don’t really want to talk and have fun, but this kind of viewing will amuse them. If the children are already schoolchildren and know how to write, after clearing the table, bring a huge postcard and markers purchased in advance, let everyone leave a review of the holiday and congratulations and wishes to everyone present. It would be nice to make a simple letter on the computer and hand it to each guest at parting: the most dexterous, the most cheerful, the most resourceful - they will proudly show it to their parents, remembering the past fun.

...And how nice it is, saying goodbye to your child’s friends, to hear: “Thank you! Thank you very much for the holiday! We've never had so much fun before!!! ...Will you invite us next time?!”

Also at Christmas we go to visit, receive guests ourselves, and sing carols. Such a busy program basically has to fit into five days from Christmas to the start of the school activities. And we also need to make sure that there is no more than one event on one day. This means that in order for children to have holidays that are not only festive entertainment, but also relaxation, it is necessary to live quietly and calmly during the days free from festive events, that is, the days before Christmas. This means no trees on New Year's days, and no big guests. Moreover, this is a time of strict fasting. So it goes without saying: the week before Christmas should be quiet and calm.

That's why we don't go to Christmas parties, except for school ones. And so as not to overload the children. And so as not to interrupt the “appetite” for the best Christmas events. Let the post remain a post.

If we have the opportunity and desire to go somewhere on New Year’s Eve, we go to classical music concerts and watch ballet. No more than one event, necessarily before the New Year, and not after it. And this only makes sense if it truly is a cultural education for our children, and not a loss of education.

New year's night

If we return the decoration of the house, the Christmas tree, the gifts to the Christmas holiday, then what remains in the house? New Year's Eve? A light festive but Lenten table, similar to a Sunday family meal. Children are allowed to eat sweets. What else could be special that only happens on New Year's Eve?

It so happened that today New Year- the only one in common folk holiday in our country. And the most interesting thing is that this is also the only family, the only national holiday, when almost every home feels like a part of the Russian state. The only holiday on which the Russian anthem is played in every home - often the only time a year. No matter how people feel about state power in general and the current one in particular, no matter how these people feel about their own country, no matter how rarely their thoughts about the Motherland enter their minds, on the New Year - and only on the New Year! - everyone listens to the President’s New Year’s message, and after the chimes they drink champagne to the tune of , or even sing it. And it turns out that today the main song of the New Year is not “A Christmas Tree Was Born in the Forest,” but the Russian anthem. Our New Year is actually a national day of the Russian state. This in itself, in my opinion, deserves support. It deserves that we join this celebration.

Now this is exactly how my children perceive the New Year. Like the night we have a very late holiday dinner. We wait for the appointed time, listen to the President on the Internet, count the clock on the Spassky Tower and sing the anthem of our country together, admiring the night panorama of the Kremlin, with the golden domes of its cathedrals, with the Russian flag against the background of the blue snowy sky... We pray for the night, we ask God blessings for the coming year (it turns out that we have a similar prayer many times a year - on birthdays, anniversaries, on the Church New Year...). Turn off the light. The younger ones fall asleep first. Seniors look out the window at fireworks and fireworks...

This is the New Year celebration in our family. We don’t have a television, but there is an online broadcast of the President’s speech on the Internet. It’s safer, however, to download the performance in advance along with the chimes and the anthem. After all, the New Year in Kamchatka comes a few hours before it reaches Moscow, and records from the eastern regions are freely circulating on the Internet.

What have we deprived our children of?

The main children's attributes of the New Year have been returned to Christmas night. So our children’s “wonderful night” begins on the night of January 6-7 according to the new style. Our children are not only not deprived of all the basic children's New Year's joys, but they receive them in a much fuller, broader and deeper volume. Our New Year turned out to be the night of the Russian state and the chiming clock. The fact that my children are “late” with the Christmas tree and gifts for a whole week does not bother me. In my own childhood there was always this “lateness”, and I don’t even understand how it could be bad. Moreover, all parents in our country are in no way embarrassed by the fact that they themselves were late with Christmas trees and gifts, because the “civilized world” presented their children with both a Christmas tree and gifts a week before them - on December 25th.

What is left that our compatriots have in the New Year celebrations, but what are our children deprived of?

We do not have a mystical excitement about the approach and arrival of the New Year. How many days, hours and minutes are left until “hour X”. What symbolic numbers will be in the new calendar.

There are no attributes of a new widespread religion, in which the “symbols of the year” play a special role. Their worship is promoted by television, expensive billboards on the streets and cheap souvenirs in passages, Christmas decorations and postcards in any store. Children decorate school classrooms with images of these animals, give their grandchildren plush snakes, singing dragons, plastic rats - depending on whose image brings happiness to the person that year. Even food on New Year's Eve should be “pleasing” to the patron saint of the year. They prepare meat for the dragon, and greens for the sheep... In the foyer of our school, I saw pictures of green goats. It turns out that the coming year is dedicated to a goat, and not just a simple one, but a wooden one, and even a blue-green one.

Superstition is the religion of people whose faith has been taken away

What else is not in our house? There are countless superstitions that seem to multiply every year. For example, during the chiming clock you need to eat a piece of paper with a wish written on it, washing it down with champagne. The wish will, of course, come true. Put on everything new (or at least something new) so that in the New Year everything will be... new. Yes, clothes, like food, should be pleasing to the beast of the year. There's probably a lot more that I don't even know about. Both small children and elderly teachers all know about this, and sometimes they have to be surprised at the ignorance of my children. But even as a little girl, I knew that such superstitions are the religion of people who have had their faith taken away. And it's not stupid, you can't laugh at it. Because this is a different faith. Because it's sad. Because it's scary. Now my children are learning to live with people who hope to please the wooden goat. Who with faith and hope pray to the frosty grandfather for the healing of their sick mother. They are in awe of the ability of this good bearded man to see all the good and evil deeds of each child. Before his power to reward and punish. With people who know about the fate of their zodiac sign in the coming year. And this, frankly speaking, demonic possession is the main reason for an Orthodox family to dissociate itself from complete immersion in the New Year holiday, not to let it into the house in the form in which it now exists.

Thank God, this madness occurs in such numbers only before the New Year. And the rest of the time we ourselves can bring holidays into the world, and the world, represented by the school, often readily and openly welcomes church life. However, this is a different topic.

...After the quiet days between New Year and Christmas, when the whole family gets together, the long-awaited Christmas Eve comes. Appears in our house live Christmas tree. Eight-pointed gold star. The apartment is decorated with tinsel, garlands, spruce wreaths, and Christmas inscriptions. On the icons there are white towels and fir branches. In the evening there is a white tablecloth on the table, hay, a wooden bowl with kutya, a candle is lit near the nativity scene... But this is, in fact, the beginning of Christmas. A night service awaits us, and then - gifts under the tree... The miracle of Christmas, the miracle of a holiday that brings joy, real joy. When heaven and earth triumph together, when Angels and people celebrate the same holiday. , Christmas Eve, Christmastide, Epiphany - all these holidays are already on the doorstep. Holidays that our children are not deprived of.

If we can lead children to the joy of the Nativity of Christ, then the New Year and other similar holidays will fade into the background

If these real holidays come to our home, if we can really bring our children and come with them to the joy of the Nativity of Christ, then the New Year and other similar holidays will naturally fade, fade and recede into the second, third, fifth plan. . Let there be a New Year in the lives of our children. As one of the holidays of the Nativity Fast. Which vaguely reminds us that Christmas is approaching. Which is so different from all the holidays in our house. After all, usually our celebrations are events only for our family, or holidays for the whole Orthodox Church. Less often we celebrate the days of the historical glory of our Fatherland. And only once a year does a holiday of the state in which we now live come to our house, coinciding with the onset of a new calendar year.

Can New year's night“interrupt” the Christmas celebrations? How is this possible, if Christmas is childhood memories, it is the unification of the whole family, it is a Christmas tree and gifts, it is the historical traditions of our Motherland, it is service to God, it is the life of the Universal Church, and the New Year... New Year is the school light at the end second quarter, this is an unusual night with the striking of chimes and the singing of the Russian anthem, views of the Kremlin and fireworks in the streets. This is all interesting, great, but cannot even overshadow the child’s birthday. Moreover, the Birthday of the Savior of the World, the celebration of which unites all possible ideas about the joy of man...