ok i little more tradition-- i do love traditions- they should not bind us but make us appreciate things/people that have come before us- and bring us together One of my most favorite New Year’s tradition -- Βασιλόπιτα, Vasilópita, St Basil-pie is a New Years Day bread or cake. The Greek word Vasilopita is directly translated as “Sweet Bread of Basil”. When the Vasilopita is prepared, a coin is baked into the ingredients. Sweet flavoring is added to the bread which symbolize the sweetness and joy of life everlasting. It also symbolizes the hope that the New Year will be filled with the sweetness of life, liberty, health, and happiness for all who participate and to the one who receives the coin is especially blessed with good luck for the year—the coin is kept in the iconstaisis – and the next year it is given to a poor person/beggar. This age old tradition commenced in the last half of the fourth century, in Cappadocia of Caesarea when Saint Basil the Great, who was a bishop, wanted to distribute money to the poor in his Diocese. He wanted to preserve their dignity, so as not to look like charity, he commissioned some women to bake sweetened bread, in which he arranged to place gold coins. Thus the families in cutting the bread to nourish themselves, were pleasantly surprised to find the coins. On New Years Day we cut the vasilopita to bless the house and bring good luck for the New Year. This is usually done at the midnight of New Years Eve. A coin is hidden in the bread by slipping it into the dough before baking. At midnight the sign of the cross is etched with a knife across the cake. A piece is sliced, in order: God, The Poor, The House, if you own a business it gets a slice here; then the head of household-their partner and then each member of the family and any visitors present at the time, by order of age from eldest to youngest A little more about - St. Basil was one of the greatest Fathers of the Christian Church and appeared on the spiritual horizon of the Orthodox Faith. He was Bishop of Caesarea, Cappadocia (Asia Minor). He was born four years after the First Ecumenical Council held in the year 325 A.D. Saint Basil was one of the three Cappadocian Fathers of the Church (the others were Gregory of Nazianzus, his best friend, and his brother, Gregory of Nyssa). Saint Basil was the first person in human history to establish an orphanage for little children. He also founded the first Christian hospital in the world. His fame as a Holy Man spread like wildfire throughout the Byzantine world. He was considered one of the most wise and compassionate clergymen in the entire history of the Church. His Feast Day is observed on January 1st, the beginning of the New Year and the Epiphany season.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 16:35:57 +0000
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