S’more Christmas: The Ninth Day of Awesome!
I’m back! And we are talking about the ninth day of the 12 days of Christmas! This is my Christmastide era! Twelve days of Christmas are perfect for our blogs because we can do one for every month of the year!
It turns out that most of us in America are totally missing out on the true joy of the holiday season that lasts far past Advent and Christmas Day. The twelve days of Christmas actually start on Christmas Day and continue all the way to Twelfth Night, aka Epiphany, aka Kings Day.
Today we are delving into the history, the traditions, and the meaning of The Ninth Day of Christmas.
When is the ninth day of Christmas?
If you read our first post, you know that each day of Christmas could be one of two days depending on how you look at it. If you want to know why or why that matters, you can read our First Day of Awesomeness blog.
Long story short, we are ready to talk about January 2nd.
Each of the 12 Days of Christmas is a “feast day” or holiday to celebrate a different saint or Bible story.
Except I was wrong! Kind of. Gosh, this is getting confusing. In the west (where we live), churches only have feast days from Christmas to January 1st. There are no feast days for the ninth, tenth, and eleventh days of Christmas.
But the Eastern Orthodox church does! In the Eastern Orthodox church, January 2nd is the Feast of Saint Basil.
How to celebrate the Feast of Saint Basil:
Saint Basil was a bishop and a doctor in the 300s A.D. He basically invented the first Christian hospital for the poor. Plus, he was a supporter of the Nicene Creed. He, also, created guidelines for monks, encouraging them to focus on community life, prayer, and manual labor.
So, maybe your family could read the Nicene Creed together, especially if you aren’t familiar with it. It’s a statement of faith for Catholics, but it is pretty much what all Christian denominations believe. In fact, there is only one line that some Christians might not agree with that says, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.” Someone might think this means that the Catholic church is the only real Christian church, but this is “catholic” with a small “c”. “Catholic” just means “unified”, and all the Christian followers from all the denominations are unified in believing the whole Nicene Creed.
St. Basil’s Bread
There is a really cool tradition to celebrate the Feast of Saint Basil by baking and sharing St. Basil’s Bread, also called Vasilopita. No Vaseline is used to make it. Although, in some countries they celebrate on New Year’s Day. Vasilopita is actually a sweet bread with a coin hidden inside.
One story is that the bread was given out with coins inside as a way to return taxes to people who were taxed too much by Caesar. The other story is that bread was given to the poor on a regular occasion, but during the Feast of Saint Basil, a coin was hidden inside as a charitable surprise.
I like that idea! One way to celebrate the Ninth Day of Christmas or the Feast of Saint Basil could be to volunteer at a food shelter or hospital, and maybe there is a way to put some hidden money into the food you pass out. Although maybe it could be a few bills tucked under the loaf rather than a coin inside. We don’t want anyone to choke.
With your family, you could hide a coin inside some sweet bread and tell them whoever finds the coin has good luck in the new year. That way they know to look for it!
Join us next month. We will discover the history and traditions of the tenth day of Christmas and “Celebrate Always.” (I Thessalonians 5:16)
Merry Christmas,
S’more
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