{"id":1930,"date":"2013-01-07T23:39:19","date_gmt":"2013-01-07T19:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barevarmenia.com\/travelblog\/?p=1930"},"modified":"2014-08-16T19:48:39","modified_gmt":"2014-08-16T15:48:39","slug":"christmas-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barevarmenia.com\/travelblog\/christmas-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"The Celebration of Christmas in Armenia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

Christmas is a time when the \u201cBox of Miracles\u201d\u00a0opens to grant everyone with love, kindness and realization\u00a0of dreams. Our souls are filled with cherished feelings,\u00a0strong belief and happy mood. And today, on this\u00a0festive evening all Christians with their children and even\u00a0small babies in their arms along with all who await the\u00a0Savior hurry to the manger to see the newborn Jesus and\u00a0the wise magi who came to present their gifts to Infant\u00a0Jesus. The happy celebration on the feast\u2019s eve is followed\u00a0by a beautiful Holy Nativity performance in\u00a0Etchmiadzin, the holy center of all Christian people.\u00a0Today the whole Christian world resembles Bethlehem\u00a0where the wise and the humble shepherds worship the\u00a0newborn Jesus Christ lying in the little straw box. The\u00a0performance imitates the nativity and epiphany of Christ:\u00a0in Christian tradition, the Star of Bethlehem, also called\u00a0the Christmas Star, revealed the birth of Jesus to the\u00a0magi, and later led them to Bethlehem. The star appears\u00a0in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew, where\u00a0magi from the east are inspired by the star to travel to\u00a0Jerusalem.
\nArmenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Christ\u2019s\u00a0Nativity and Baptism on January 6 with solemn ceremonies.\u00a0But in the whole world Christmas is celebrated\u00a0on various days because of differences in Julian and\u00a0Gregorian calendars. Catholic Church celebrates\u00a0Christmas on December 25 according to the Julian calendar\u00a0and the Orthodox Church celebrates it on January 7\u00a0according to the Gregorian calendar. It is interesting that\u00a0until the 4th century Christians all over the world had\u00a0been celebrating Christmas on January 6. But even after\u00a0the adoption of Christianity many nations, especially the\u00a0Romans, continued celebrating the sun worship which\u00a0fell on December 25. To prevent the pagan traditions in
\n336 the Roman Church declared December 25 the official\u00a0birthday of Jesus Christ. Later Christmas day moved\u00a0on December 25 nearly in the whole East and January 6\u00a0remained as the day of Epiphany and Christ\u2019s Baptism.
\nAdhering to ancient traditions Armenian Apostolic\u00a0Church celebrates both holidays on January 6. The\u00a0Orthodox Church begins celebrating the holiday on the\u00a0evening of January 6 with the divine service in church\u00a0and continues the festive ceremonies on January 7.\u00a0According to the Armenian Church the week preceding\u00a0Christmas is a lent period. People usually come out\u00a0of the lent in the evening of January 5 with Divine\u00a0Liturgy after which they take lights from church to their\u00a0homes to burn them on the evening supper as a sign of\u00a0divine light and blessing. Traditional Christmas dishes\u00a0are fish as the symbol of Christianity, and rice made with\u00a0raisins; rice symbolizes the whole mankind and the\u00a0raisins are the selected ones, who were chosen by God.
\nNext morning, on January 6 people visit church to be\u00a0present at St. Liturgy after which they take part in the ceremony\u00a0of \u201cWater Blessing\u201d that symbolizes the baptism\u00a0of Christ in Jordan River. The miraculous water blessed\u00a0by the Holy cross and sprayed with Sacred Chrism is distributed\u00a0to people. Celebration and customs differ from\u00a0country to country but the holiday remains favorite one in\u00a0Christian world. Christmas is considered to be the most\u00a0domestic holiday which is celebrated in a warm homely\u00a0atmosphere. This is a period of time when all are happy\u00a0and hurry to congratulate each other with the following\u00a0words:<\/p>\n

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\u201cChrist is Born and Revealed\u00a0Great Tidings to you and us\u201d!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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