Conversation Hearts, Candy Corn and...Bean Bread?

Posted by Nina on April 10, 2009

On our way to church every Sunday we drive past a house that always has an amazing array of outdoor decorations. During the Christmas season every corner of this yard is filled with lights and there are large Santa statues and reindeer throughout the yard. Come February, the house changes to a Valentine's Day theme, with jumbo blow-up candy hearts gracing the lawn. For St. Patrick's Day, of course, there are large shamrocks and green lights. As each season comes, we are curious to see what tasteless lawn ornaments we will find outside this house, and we are never disappointed.

What strikes me every time I pass this house is how hard it is to overlook the many holidays that are a part of American culture. While Christmas and (to a lesser extent) Easter are still the biggest holidays, you can't miss Halloween if you walk into a Walmart in October, and you certainly won't forget St. Patrick's Day in our neighborhood. It is much more difficult for me to remember the smaller feast days that are a part of the Church year.

So it's been really great for me to work on An Orthodox Kitchen, collecting festal traditions from around the Orthodox world. Recently I was reading about the Orthodox country of Georgia, and I came across a blog written by an American who was teaching English in Georgia. She thought it odd that on December 17, everyone was eating beans everywhere she went. It turned out that it was St. Barbara's Day, and that in Georgia everyone eats a traditional bread stuffed with red beans on her feast day. Most pious people go to church, too. But the important thing is that no one forgets St. Barbara's day in Georgia. Everyone has an opportunity to remember this great saint because they have customs surrounding her feast day.

I hope that my children someday can look back on their childhood and remember the traditions that we followed throughout the Church year, that for them remembering St. George will be as easy as it is for me to remember the Fourth of July.

So please help us out by sending us your parish's or family's traditions! Whether it is a foolproof kulich recipe or a favorite barbecue sauce that you always serve during Bright Week or a local tradition that honors one of the saints of the Church, please share! I am looking forward to hearing about the many traditions here in North America, both those from the Old Country and our own.

(Oh, and if anyone has a good recipe for bean bread, please share it with the rest of us!)