ehBeth lol
Was wondering if I could manage sitting in the freezing cold <no snow>
staring through the pines at 2:00 in the morning, also!
Luv the porch, but not with icicles hanging off my face!
Stradee wrote:...George, do you remember when Mass was celebrated using the original Latin text
- before the English version introduced to American Churches?...
Yes I do. I remember studying to be an altar server, learning the Latin
responses.
Introibo ad altare Dei
Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meum.
Amazing what finds a place in your brain and lodges there forever.
Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum.
Our old vicar forgot so often what came next that I nearly knew all texts by heart.
<picturing smallWalter assisting the curate through his paces>
dropping off a mug of hot cocoa
snowing here - a couple of inches are promised
windchill of -20 celsius
as they sing "it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas"
On the nine days before Christmas, we used to celebrate the Christmas
novena. The highlight was the singing of the "O Antiphons," somber but
beautiful chant.
Dec. 17
O Sapientia, quæ ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad
finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam
prudentiæ.
George, I went to a Praetorius mass last week. It really was lovely - and sombre.
I'm hoping to find something similar for this weekend.
What's a "Praetorius" mass?
George wrote:What's a "Praetorius" mass?
If I'm not totally wrong:
Quote:Michael Praetorius
born Feb. 15, 1571, Kreuzberg, Silesia
died Feb. 15, 1621, Wolfenbüttel, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
original name Michael Schultheiss German music theorist and composer whose Syntagma musicum (1614-20) is a principal source for knowledge of 17th-century music and whose settings of Lutheran chorales are important examples of early 17th-century religious music.
He studied at Frankfurt an der Oder and was organist and Kapellmeister to the Bishop of Halberstadt and, after 1612, Kapellmeister at the court of Wolfenbüttel. Zealous for the advancement of music, he admired Italian music and had a predilection for rich and varied settings for voices and instruments. His output was considerable and varied. The most significant collections of his works are Musae Sioniae (nine parts, 1605-10), consisting of more than 1,200 settings of chorales, partly for 8 to 12 voices in Venetian double choir style, partly in simple two-, three-, and four-part style; and the Puericinium (1621), where the chorale strophes receive varied treatment, foreshadowing the chorale cantata. Praetorius published much music other than his own, and in his collection Terpsichore (1612) he introduced several hundred foreign dance pieces to Germany.
Of the three surviving parts of the Syntagma musicum, the most important is Vol. II, which describes and classifies many ancient and all existing musical instruments. They are lavishly illustrated in an appendix.
source: Britannica
Exactly, Walter.
A phenomenal experience, attending a re-creation of one of his masses.
As we say in Massachusetts:
Light dawns on Marblehead.
I thought "Praetorius" was a liturgical term I wasn't familiar with.
I'll make a point of finding some of his music to listen to this weekend.
or turn on the NPR - the WGBH playlist shows that they featured Praetorius at least 7 times in December '03.
Hello & thank you for the invitation, eh Beth.
Ukrainian Advent? You know, I'm going to have to do a bit of research on that!
I'm terribly lapsed, religiously, I'm afraid ....
But Ukrainian Christmas food? I can tell you a little about that!
This thread is about traditions, not religion, MsOlga - so stories about food and games and songs - bring 'em on!
I've learned a lot already. Must say I'd hoped to learn a bit more about Italian Christmas traditions by now - but it's been great fun so far.
As a child growing up in an Australian/Ukrainian family It was fun to have Christmas twice!
Christmas Day is celebrated either on December 25 in accordance with the Roman Catholic tradition (Gregorian Calendar), or on January 7 which is traditionally the Orthodox or Eastern Rite (Julian Calendar) church holy day.
However, Christmas was never like this:
or this:
...Which took a bit of adjusting to for my parents. Christmas in Oz was HOT! Never-the-less, not to be deterred, Christmas lunch was a full hot meal, the table groaning with food. By mid-afternoon we were all practically in a coma!
This is my all-time favourite Ukrainian dish! Of course, we enjoyed it at Christmas, too! Except my mother used to steam them. Oh yum! This is making me hungry.
Golubtsi (stuffed cabbage-rolls)
(Golubtsi is the plural form of the word golubets', the first syllable is stressed)
500g of beef
meat stock
3/4 of glass of rice
2 large onions
1 large cabbage
2 tbsp of tomato paste
2 tbsp of butter
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
salt
black pepper
parsley
Scald leaves of cabbage to make them soft. Mince beef meat and mix with raw rice, tomato paste, chopped onions, crushed garlic and chopped parsley. Add salt and pepper. The mixture makes stuffing.
Wrap the stuffing into the cabbege leaves and stew in the meat stock. Before serving pour the stock in which the golubtsi were stewed onto them and decorate with chopped herbs.
Do you take "second hand" Italian Christmas traditions, too?
One of our dearest friends are Italians and we have often visited them around this time of the year.
The most interesting part for my children were that there is no Christkind or Santa Claus. No presents on Christmas Eve.
A witch-La Befana- is bringing the gifts on January 6th-(Feast of Epiphany).
The story says that the Three Wise men asked her for directions to Bethlehem and asked her to join them. She declined 3 times. It took loads of angles to convince her, but when she made up her mind it was too late. She never found the manger. Now she is still flying on her broomstick and brings gifts and sweet to the children.
Nativity Scenes are more important than Christmas trees- they are huge and full of details. In Naples I have seen shop windows, no groceries, no goods, but Nativity scenes.
Lovely is the tradition of Shepard music- kind of bag pipes. During Advent musicians will play. They are called zampognary (sp?).
A great family dinner- my friends do pasta, fish, lamb, salads, fruit, cheese, cakes..
Midnight mass in a candlelight church- very festive.
And pane d'oro or Panettone for the sweet touch for breakfast.
Buon Natale!
msolga-
great recipe-
Some years ago I had a project with my kids in school: Christmas all over the world. What was surprising for them was that Christmas is not for all people in winter. Kind of an eye opener for different cultures and traditions.
Geoge,
Rorate - do you have this early morning mass during Advent?
In my native town, you have on two parish churches Rorate masses (which comes from "Rorate caeli desuper ..." , if I remember correctly).
(They have actually to stop at December 16, from then onwards until the Midnight mass it's the "O Anriphones", which should be sung/celebrated. _ Not sure, if it done there as well, but we did so during my time as "sub deacon of the reserve".)
