Applehouse Cottage Quilting: names days

Friday, July 13, 2012

Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel

TODAY IS THE Feast of the Archangel Gabriel! Gabriel is one of my favorites. Keeping the feasts outside of the school year is some times more tricky, I must admit. One of the things I really appreciate about the school year is the structure it provides to my day. However there are important feasts during the summer that need to be celebrated and observed! For me today is one of them.

As we approach August there are so many wonderful feasts to participate in! The first of the month we begin the Dormition Fast that ends in the celebration of the most Blessed Theotokos! I especially love to decorate with all the lovely flowers that are in bloom. I also have a wonderful bread stamp and I bake a yummy sweet bread in celebration of her feast! But that's for another post.

During the fast we have the wonderful feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord (Aug 6) and the blessing of the fruit. I love taking my kids shopping for the tasty fruit for our basket and then taking it to church to have it blessed. Another special feast for our family is the Feast of St. Herman (Aug 9). He is a very special saint in our family and we try to make it up to Port Townsend, WA to the parish of St. Herman to take part in their celebration. They have a wonderful Liturgy and then a lovely salmon feast out on the lawn. Then we spend the day at the beach and wondering through the fun shops of Port Townsend. I look forward to it each year!

How do you keep the feast of the year? What are your traditions? I'd love for you to share what your family does with me through the comments! I read them all and try to respond to each one.

Troparion - Tone 4

Gabriel, commander of the heavenly hosts,
we who are unworthy beseech you,
by your prayers encompass us beneath the wings of your immaterial glory,
and faithfully faithfully preserve us who fall down and cry to you:
"Deliver us from all harm, for you are the commander of the powers on high!"

Kontakion - Tone 2

You look upon God's glory in heaven,
and bring grace from on high to earth,
wise Gabriel, leader of angels,
minister of God's glory, and divine defender of the world!
Save and preserve those who cry to you:
"Be our defense, so that no one can be against us!"

A blessed Feast of the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel and blessed names day to all those Gabriels out there! Have a wonderful weekend!!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Celebrating Name Days...

TODAY WAS THE names day of my little boy. Often times my non-Orthodox friends ask me, "What is a 'names' day? Why do you have them? Well the short answer is, as an Orthodox Christian we have a saint's name that we use at church. For those of us who are blessed to have our children baptized into the church at birth we name our children after saints that we admire in the church. So often times their name and church name are one in the same. As for my family we chose our children's saint's names based on when they were due in the church calendar. I like having my children's names days near their actual birthdays. But since one never knows when a baby will arrive, my son's names day and birthday are more than a month apart.

In our family on someone's names day we read about the saint, sing (as best we can) the troparion for the day, attend a service if there is one and then try to make the day special and fun. Often times the children get a small gift and they always choose a special treat to be served that day. Today was all about chocolate chip cookies. We all enjoyed them! I do so much baking regularly I have gotten out of the habit of baking treats, so it was a blessing that they were requested today.