12-26-2020, 08:35 PM
A VERY URALICAN CHRISTMAS
Jason Reed, Vancouver Sun
So I decided to spend Christmas in Uralica, so I booked a month-long trip here, to end in the second week of January. Since I'm a "thin-blooded" Vancouverite (my words, not theirs), I holed up in the warmest part of the country during the winter - Viipuri jam-packed with seasonal visitors and Raivola crowded with Uralicans wanting to hop the Russian border to visit their friends in St. Pete, I instead opted for the smaller town of Kaukjärvi. I was definitely expecting something different when I got here, but I was quite struck with some of the similarities, juxtaposed with just how different some of the differences are.
Now, is Uralican Christmas about giving gifts, at least in part? Absolutely. The national reason for gift-giving is very different, sure - with 90+% of the population being Christian per the last census (almost all of which are from Reformed traditions), and with Uralican Christians having a well-earned reputation for their religious zeal, of course they will say things like, "God gave His Son as a gift to us, and today we celebrate that by giving each other gifts." But the gifts are there. Uralicans like to give year-round, though, so the giving at Christmas is maybe a little bit more than usual, but nothing like it is in North America. One Uralican man told me that it is instead during birthdays that the largest gifts are given.
The biggest similarity is the ubiquitous Christmas lighting. Even the smallest towns are light up brightly. But one of the tourist agencies I consulted in Viipuri showed me pictures of this year's light displays from the country's major cities, everywhere from densely-packed Yekaterinburg to world's northermost million-city Syktyvkar, to the country's northermost major cities, Murmansk and Arkhangel'sk, to the southernmost, Saransk, Sysert, and Kanash. I was particularly impressed by the lighting of Cheboksary, southwest Uralica's largest city, with their world-famous Zaliv decked out in lights as layered Uralicans and tourists continued to peruse the various shops and cafés along the Volga's frozen banks.
They also do have Christmas trees, contrary to out-of-country hearsay. That of rebuilt Perm's city square was probably the most magnificent, even if they don't have the huge trees we have in North America outside of strictly-protected parks. (I love this about Uralica, as I have said in previous articles I've written, but this is somewhat off-topic.)
But then again, Santa, or any equivalent thereof, is absolutely nowhere to be seen. Some Russian Uralicans have the tradition of babushka coming to give them gifts, but as one pointed out, babushka (pronounced on the first syllable) is simply the Russian word for grandmother anyway, so there's a double-entendre of sorts. It would come as a shock to our pluralistic Canadian society, but in Uralica, religious imagery is absolutely everywhere on Christmas. It seemed to me as if every store had a Nativity scene, whether the more traditional one of Jesus and family in a stable, or a purportedly "more accurate" Nativity with them being in house with no wise men present and others with a slightly older Christ with only the wise men, no shepherds, no animals, and no angels. I actually went to a local Bible college and asked about this. It is held by many conservative Bible scholars and is practically consensus belief in Uralica that the Three Wise Men showed up two years after the birth of Christ.
And speaking of religion, almost all shops are closed (and those that aren't are typically at least partially Jewish-run) on Christmas Eve after 6pm through to midnight of the 26th. One thing that really surprised me is that many Muslim-run businesses also close, even though they are not obliged to! But if you are Uralican and Christian, so I was told, you will be in church Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. A typical Uralican church service will run two hours in a "Big Three" church, so it's 7-9pm the night of the 24th, 9-11am Christmas morning (or later for those who couldn't make an earlier service), and then again 7-9pm on the evening of the 25th. Coming from an Anglican background, I was curious to see the difference in service between the "Big Three" churches, so I visited one of each.
Obviously the biggest difference from my own upbringing was the amount of preaching. A sermon of 20 minutes is considered "short" by Uralican standards! I went to two services in Viipuri and one in Kaukjärvi (the one Christmas morning). There were moments I didn't understand a word of the first service on Christmas Eve, since it was the Reformed Apostolic Church - this Uralican-founded Christian denomination which is best described as a form-blend of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions with largely Reformed theology - and large portions of the service were in Old Church Slavonic with portions in Russian, with English translation available on request. The church, Viipuri's largest by building size, was absolutely breathtaking, and the choral singing matched. Christmas morning, it was a much more modest setting, at Kaukjärven Ensibaptistikirkko, where they code-switched freely between Finnish and English, even though the sermon was Finnish with English translation. Finally, I went to this Presbyterian church in the south of Viipuri. The Presbyterian Church of Christ The One Mediator. Mouthful of a name, beautiful music, powerful sermon. These Uralican preachers - you may not always like what they say, but they know how to communicate effectively.
In very Russian fashion, the biggest meal was actually lunch. Suppers were light, with pirozhki (bigger versions of our perogies) being staples. But at lunchtime, you got the best of multiple worlds with Christmas lunch being a mix of dishes from the main cultures of Uralica. I was invited to this one family's Christmas lunch! My lunch consisted of Olivier salad, small Russian dumplings, kinkku (Finnish baked ham), Hungarian-style turkey, and desert consisting of a whole assortment of traditional pastries from Finnish, Hungarian, Russian, and Estonian, and even a few imports from North America like chocolate-covered shortbread (apparently a favourite of both national president Jarkko Salomäki and his recently-married wife Usko)! Uralicans love to mix-and-match cultural food items, I'm told. I believe it!
I find it interesting that those of the Reformed Apostolic tradition celebrate Christmas twice. The very last full day I am here before flying out is January 7th, which is Eastern Orthodox Christmas, which is marked to a lesser degree in the other Christian churches as "Epiphany" (another Anglican callback for me, I suppose!). But that's still a couple weeks out.
I was a little surprised to find out that Boxing Day is a thing in Uralica, and in fact it is an import from Canada thanks to Mr. President and those other Canadian-born Uralicans that are knocking around. Those in Reformed Apostolic and certain Presbyterian circles celebrate it as St. Stephen's Day - yet another church service! I asked what the markers of the day were for those traditions, and without exception, my answers involved preaching from Acts chapter 6 and/or 7, and community lunch. According to the RAs, the English song Good King Wenceslas is popular on Boxing Day/St. Stephen's Day even if it is admitted that the titular Czech king, recognised as Sankt-Vecheslav in their tradition and who was only ever a duke in his lifetime, may not have done exactly as the song outlines. "He was still a good example to follow, though," one RA minister said. "The story of the song is a specific semi-myth that still conveys the general truth about the man, that he was one of sound Christian character and love in spite of his high position."
But what would a Uralican winter be without a good ol' hockey game? I got to talking about how the Canucks have been doing since acquiring Matvey Kolpakov, having won the Cup last year and are tearing it up this year as well, and I was asked if I wanted to go to a UIHL game! Yes, it's a lower calibre league, and they readily admit that it's around AHL-calibre hockey, maybe a bit better, but it was still entertaining! Viipurin Blues won the day, 5-3 over Torpedo Vologda. It was a very close game, with the deciding factor being the play of Käkisalmi's Eerik Rask, who scored twice and had an assist. Apparently their next game is against Karjala Petroskoi, their arch-rivals, on the 29th. That game oughta be good!
So I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed my very Uralican Christmas!
Jason Reed, Vancouver Sun
So I decided to spend Christmas in Uralica, so I booked a month-long trip here, to end in the second week of January. Since I'm a "thin-blooded" Vancouverite (my words, not theirs), I holed up in the warmest part of the country during the winter - Viipuri jam-packed with seasonal visitors and Raivola crowded with Uralicans wanting to hop the Russian border to visit their friends in St. Pete, I instead opted for the smaller town of Kaukjärvi. I was definitely expecting something different when I got here, but I was quite struck with some of the similarities, juxtaposed with just how different some of the differences are.
Now, is Uralican Christmas about giving gifts, at least in part? Absolutely. The national reason for gift-giving is very different, sure - with 90+% of the population being Christian per the last census (almost all of which are from Reformed traditions), and with Uralican Christians having a well-earned reputation for their religious zeal, of course they will say things like, "God gave His Son as a gift to us, and today we celebrate that by giving each other gifts." But the gifts are there. Uralicans like to give year-round, though, so the giving at Christmas is maybe a little bit more than usual, but nothing like it is in North America. One Uralican man told me that it is instead during birthdays that the largest gifts are given.
The biggest similarity is the ubiquitous Christmas lighting. Even the smallest towns are light up brightly. But one of the tourist agencies I consulted in Viipuri showed me pictures of this year's light displays from the country's major cities, everywhere from densely-packed Yekaterinburg to world's northermost million-city Syktyvkar, to the country's northermost major cities, Murmansk and Arkhangel'sk, to the southernmost, Saransk, Sysert, and Kanash. I was particularly impressed by the lighting of Cheboksary, southwest Uralica's largest city, with their world-famous Zaliv decked out in lights as layered Uralicans and tourists continued to peruse the various shops and cafés along the Volga's frozen banks.
They also do have Christmas trees, contrary to out-of-country hearsay. That of rebuilt Perm's city square was probably the most magnificent, even if they don't have the huge trees we have in North America outside of strictly-protected parks. (I love this about Uralica, as I have said in previous articles I've written, but this is somewhat off-topic.)
But then again, Santa, or any equivalent thereof, is absolutely nowhere to be seen. Some Russian Uralicans have the tradition of babushka coming to give them gifts, but as one pointed out, babushka (pronounced on the first syllable) is simply the Russian word for grandmother anyway, so there's a double-entendre of sorts. It would come as a shock to our pluralistic Canadian society, but in Uralica, religious imagery is absolutely everywhere on Christmas. It seemed to me as if every store had a Nativity scene, whether the more traditional one of Jesus and family in a stable, or a purportedly "more accurate" Nativity with them being in house with no wise men present and others with a slightly older Christ with only the wise men, no shepherds, no animals, and no angels. I actually went to a local Bible college and asked about this. It is held by many conservative Bible scholars and is practically consensus belief in Uralica that the Three Wise Men showed up two years after the birth of Christ.
And speaking of religion, almost all shops are closed (and those that aren't are typically at least partially Jewish-run) on Christmas Eve after 6pm through to midnight of the 26th. One thing that really surprised me is that many Muslim-run businesses also close, even though they are not obliged to! But if you are Uralican and Christian, so I was told, you will be in church Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. A typical Uralican church service will run two hours in a "Big Three" church, so it's 7-9pm the night of the 24th, 9-11am Christmas morning (or later for those who couldn't make an earlier service), and then again 7-9pm on the evening of the 25th. Coming from an Anglican background, I was curious to see the difference in service between the "Big Three" churches, so I visited one of each.
Obviously the biggest difference from my own upbringing was the amount of preaching. A sermon of 20 minutes is considered "short" by Uralican standards! I went to two services in Viipuri and one in Kaukjärvi (the one Christmas morning). There were moments I didn't understand a word of the first service on Christmas Eve, since it was the Reformed Apostolic Church - this Uralican-founded Christian denomination which is best described as a form-blend of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions with largely Reformed theology - and large portions of the service were in Old Church Slavonic with portions in Russian, with English translation available on request. The church, Viipuri's largest by building size, was absolutely breathtaking, and the choral singing matched. Christmas morning, it was a much more modest setting, at Kaukjärven Ensibaptistikirkko, where they code-switched freely between Finnish and English, even though the sermon was Finnish with English translation. Finally, I went to this Presbyterian church in the south of Viipuri. The Presbyterian Church of Christ The One Mediator. Mouthful of a name, beautiful music, powerful sermon. These Uralican preachers - you may not always like what they say, but they know how to communicate effectively.
In very Russian fashion, the biggest meal was actually lunch. Suppers were light, with pirozhki (bigger versions of our perogies) being staples. But at lunchtime, you got the best of multiple worlds with Christmas lunch being a mix of dishes from the main cultures of Uralica. I was invited to this one family's Christmas lunch! My lunch consisted of Olivier salad, small Russian dumplings, kinkku (Finnish baked ham), Hungarian-style turkey, and desert consisting of a whole assortment of traditional pastries from Finnish, Hungarian, Russian, and Estonian, and even a few imports from North America like chocolate-covered shortbread (apparently a favourite of both national president Jarkko Salomäki and his recently-married wife Usko)! Uralicans love to mix-and-match cultural food items, I'm told. I believe it!
I find it interesting that those of the Reformed Apostolic tradition celebrate Christmas twice. The very last full day I am here before flying out is January 7th, which is Eastern Orthodox Christmas, which is marked to a lesser degree in the other Christian churches as "Epiphany" (another Anglican callback for me, I suppose!). But that's still a couple weeks out.
I was a little surprised to find out that Boxing Day is a thing in Uralica, and in fact it is an import from Canada thanks to Mr. President and those other Canadian-born Uralicans that are knocking around. Those in Reformed Apostolic and certain Presbyterian circles celebrate it as St. Stephen's Day - yet another church service! I asked what the markers of the day were for those traditions, and without exception, my answers involved preaching from Acts chapter 6 and/or 7, and community lunch. According to the RAs, the English song Good King Wenceslas is popular on Boxing Day/St. Stephen's Day even if it is admitted that the titular Czech king, recognised as Sankt-Vecheslav in their tradition and who was only ever a duke in his lifetime, may not have done exactly as the song outlines. "He was still a good example to follow, though," one RA minister said. "The story of the song is a specific semi-myth that still conveys the general truth about the man, that he was one of sound Christian character and love in spite of his high position."
But what would a Uralican winter be without a good ol' hockey game? I got to talking about how the Canucks have been doing since acquiring Matvey Kolpakov, having won the Cup last year and are tearing it up this year as well, and I was asked if I wanted to go to a UIHL game! Yes, it's a lower calibre league, and they readily admit that it's around AHL-calibre hockey, maybe a bit better, but it was still entertaining! Viipurin Blues won the day, 5-3 over Torpedo Vologda. It was a very close game, with the deciding factor being the play of Käkisalmi's Eerik Rask, who scored twice and had an assist. Apparently their next game is against Karjala Petroskoi, their arch-rivals, on the 29th. That game oughta be good!
So I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed my very Uralican Christmas!
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(06-11-2022, 10:13 PM)Kyng Wrote: I love how [Abacab] has a track with a section named "Lurker", when the album title itself looks like Lurker's attempt to spell "Abacus" or something .
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