Caught Between Two Christmas days
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My Mother was born in Finncarn County Monaghan on Christmas day the 6th of January 1924. As a child this discloser was very confusing. I just didn’t get it. How is it possible that a person born on the 6th January could celebrate their birthday on Christmas day when to all intent and purpose Christmas falls on the 25th of December? By the time the 6th of January comes around there is neither sight nor sound of Santa Claus or the Christmas tree and lights that bedecked the houses and shops of every town, village, hamlet and freehold in the country.
It wasn’t until many years later while travelling through the Balkans that this time conundrum resolved itself and dispelled any confusion in my head around this issue.
It seems there are two calendars in play when it comes to celebrating Christmas, the Gregorian and the Julian calendars. This dual measurement of time results in the phenomenon of not only two Christmas days but also two New Year’s days into the bargain. That’s four hangovers, four sets of presents and a guarantee of at least one family bust-up.
The 6th of January or old Christmas Day also known as little Christmas, Green Christmas, Twelfth night or Nollaig na mBan, ‘Women's Christmas' was celebrated all around the Christian world in January before the introduction of Gregorian calendar. Prior to this we celebrated Christmas, according to the Julian calendar, on the 6th of January. The Julian calendar was based on an inaccurate solar year, and by the time the big wigs in Rome discovered this error sometime in the 16th century, the calendar was off by 10 days. Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582, which was 11 days shorter than the Julian calendar. Gregory kept December 25th as Christmas, but moved the day that had been December 25th to January 6th. Orthodox Christians did not adopt the Gregorian calendar because of the Great Schism of 1054 and to this day many Orthodox Christians still rely on the Julian calendar for their religious feast dates. This anomaly keeps Christmas day to 6th-7th of January and pushes the orthodox New Year’s Day forward to the 14th of January. If you keep your ears and eyes open on the night of the 13th of January you will notice the night sky light up with fireworks and lanterns around 10pm GMT as our orthodox neighbour ring in the New Year with an array of exploding pyrotechnics. This year however might be a little more subdued as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church adopted the Gregorian calendar in 2023. This move has been viewed more as a political distancing from its Russian neighbour than any liturgical reasoning. The Greek and Romanian Orthodox Church switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1924. The Bulgarian church adopted it in 1968 while Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Belarus, Moldova and Parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina are the last remaining countries in Europe to celebrate Christmas in January. Meanwhile back in Ireland the Amish community which was established by William McGrath in 1992 in Dunmore East, a sleepy seaside village, in County Waterford still celebrate Christmas on my mother's birthday January 6th.
Clusters Recipe
Ingredients
50g Pumpkin seeds ( Alternatively use nuts)
50g Sunflower seeds
80g Dried cranberries
Scattering of desiccated coconut
100g Dark chocolate
1tsp Cinnamon power
Method
Roast the Pumpkin and sunflower seed (place in the oven until the temperature reached 180c. Then set aside to cool.
Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl. Set the bowl into a saucepan of simmering water. make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Allow the chocolate to melt slowly and evenly.
Alternatively you can make your own chocolate. Mix 1/2 cup of cocoa power, 1/2 cup of melted coconut oil, ¼ cup of maple, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and a pinch of sea salt. Whisk until smooth and creamy.
Toss all ingredients into the chocolate and combine untill the seeds/nuts and fruit are covered in the chocolate paste .
Spoon into buncases and place in the freezer to set.
TIPS
To desiccate your own coconut remove shell and inner skin. use unly the white flesh. Grate using a find grater and place in the oven at the lowest temperature and allow to dry. This may take a few hours.
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