Christmas again

Selling spices

So my blog was trolled again the other day. Almost 260 views from the usual 40 or so. And my email was blocked all morning. Someone was probably downloading my emails. It happens several times a year. There's little we can do.

The Orthodox Churches celebrated Christmas yesterday, while we celebrated Epiphany. Church bells were ringing at midnight ... but it sounded very faint from where I am. Christmas isn't a big celebration for the Orthodox. There're no parades in the streets or bazaars or lights and buntings like we do. That's why majority of the Orthodox laity prefer to celebrate Christmas with us Latins. The Greek patriarch himself cannot stem the flow of his flock from joining our Christmas so a couple of years back he issued a decree saying the parishes in the villages and towns are allowed to join the Catholic latins in celebrating Christmas on Dec 25th but those in the cities must still keep the old Julian calendar. As a concession, the Catholic Patriarch has allowed the parishes in the villages and towns to follow the Orthodox Easter. It's illy that the Greeks continue to hold on to the Julian calendar when they themselves admit it's off by 15 days .... yet out of pride they will not change. It's cutting the nose to spite the face.

So because of the use of 2 calendars, there are 2 Christmasses hence the school holidays are 2 weeks long to satisfy both Eastern and Western Churches. But it confuses the jews and the muslims ... who make a mockery of it.