Feast of the Circumcision (New Year's Day)
The what of the what? I forget what I was even looking for when I ran across this. I asked Claudia if she had ever heard of this and she said no.
Wait, I remember, I was looking at New Years Day stuff and found this paragraph in a Wikipedia article...
"Gift giving
Among the 7th-century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands, it was the custom to exchange gifts at the winter solstice. This custom was deplored by Saint Eligius (died 659 or 660), who warned the Flemish and Dutch: "(Do not) make visuals, [little figures of the Old Woman], little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf, compare Puck] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks [another Yule custom]."[14] However, on the date that European Christians celebrated the Feast of the Circumcision, they exchanged Christmas presents because the feast fell within the 12 days of the Christmas season in the Western Christian liturgical calendar;[15] The custom of exchanging Christmas gifts in a Christian context is traced back to the Biblical Magi who gave gifts to the Christ Child.[16][17] In Tudor England, 1 January (as the Feast of the Circumcision, not New Year's Day), along with Christmas Day and Twelfth Night, was celebrated as one of three main festivities among the twelve days of Christmastide.[18]"
Needless to say, the phrase "Feast of the Circumcision" caught my attention. The New Years Day article is long. And here are some other long Wikipedia articles. There are boatloads of info on this event I'd never heard of.
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17 comments:
The Feast of the Circumcision? That's new to me. Never heard of it.
I am with River, but my religious education is sadly lacking.
With the invention of telescopes which were not so great at first, öne astronomer priest saw the rings of saturn and declared them to be the foreskin of Christ. Not sure if it was on today though.
I hope that the tradition does not extend to the exchange of foreskins as gifts. Later on, I'll e-mail you my favorite foreskin joke.
River - This is a first for me.
Sue - Mine too. But Claudia's is not lacking and she had never heard of it.
Stu - Of course he would turn an astronomical observation into something religious.
Bill - I'm glad you fore-warned more.
What's the proper main dish to eat for the Feast of the Circumcision? Sausages? Wieners?
That's some good info.
Thanks for the tip!
Deb - Just the tips.
John - Did you know about this? Were you keeping this a secret?
Huh.
If one celebrates, does that make them cockeyed?
Or does it mean they'll have a lot of foresight?
I've never heard the day called that, but Jewish males are circumcised eight days after birth. If you count Christmas as Day one, then New Year's Day is the eighth.
Okay Ami above made me laugh.
You do find the oddest things that are both humorous and educational Mr. Mike
Debra perhaps it is some kind of crispy skin served separate from the wiener.
Ami - I'm going with foresight.
Kathy - I read that somewhere in one of those articles too but it doesn't make sense to me. Jesus was born (I think) in April. His birthday was moved to December 25th to compete with the pagan rituals of the time. Why would the Jews have anything to do with Jesus' birthday when they don't recognize him as anyone special? Unless their ritual dates were also moved to complete. 🤷♂️
Peg - I think these things find me.
Lady - BACOOOOON!
I'm assuming that's "feast" as in a holiday and not "feast" as in a big meal.
Although, maybe they get crispy and puffy like pork rinds, so...add a little Tabasco and bon appetit!
Mike, I'm going to have to piggyback on Kathy's comment and your response to Kathy's comment. The Book of Luke--and this is mentioned in that Wikipedia article--states Jesus was circumcised eight days after his birth. Remember, Jesus was Jewish and Christianity was basically a Jewish sect--albeit a sect outside the Jewish mainstream--for decades following his death. However, by the time Christmas emerged as a holiday several centuries later, Roman Empire gentiles were running the show. Yes, in all likelihood Jesus' birth was moved to December so its celebration could compete with the pagan holiday of Yule, but the Christian Church has never acknowledged that was the reason. My guess is that the Feast of the Circumcision was a way for Gentiles to pay at least lip service to Christianity's Jewish roots, something you rarely see nowadays.
John - You first.
Kirk - "the Christian Church has never acknowledged" a lot of things. A lot. 😁 I'd bet you would love to get into the Vatican's archives.
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