Christmas in Constantinople 1899

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At the turn of the 20th century Constantinople (which had not yet become Istanbul) was a multicultural metropolis with a large Christian population drawn from the Ottoman Empire’s conquered minorities. Here is the account of Isabelle Bliss Trowbridge, a young woman working for an American missionary society. 

We read so much these days about Constantinople as the seat of Turkish misrule and the scene of great tragedies during the past year that it may be hard to think of it under its own beautiful name of “Dère-e-Saadet” or the “Gate of Felicity,” and to realize that there, too, Christmas is celebrated by thousands of people every year.

We speak of Christmas time in Turkey rather than of Christmas Day, for three different dates are kept by the various churches. Christmas extends from the twenty fifth of December to the twenty first of January. The Protestants and Catholics, including, of course, most of the foreign residents, celebrate the twenty fifth of December. The followers of the Greek Church, that is to say, Greeks, Russians, and Bulgarians, cling to the Old Style calendar, so that according to their reckoning Christmas falls on our sixth of January. The Armenians hold to the reckoning of the Gregorian Church and keep the sixth of January, Old Style, or our nineteenth. Between these dates fall both the new and old New Years’ days. As almost every great festival is observed for three consecutive days by the eastern churches it follows that for about a month there is scarcely a day without some special celebration.

American College faculties may consider the question of the length of the Thanksgiving vacation, but they find it an easy problem in comparison with that which confronts principals of schools in Constantinople, who try in vain to arrange the holidays so as to satisfy all nationalities. The first Christmas is observed much as it is in this country. The American and English boys tramp through the woods in the valley of the “Sweet Waters” searching for the mistletoe. The children hang up their stockings and the mothers make plum puddings.

 In a native home it is quite different. Let us go to an Armenian house near by and see what we can of the celebrations. It is late Christmas eve. We knock at the street gate, which is mysteriously opened by an invisible cord. We cross the marble court, crusted to-night with a thin layer of snow, and enter the house door. The room is a high one, with bare walls and long windows. Several handsome rugs cover the floor. A long divan across one end of the room, and two or three stiffly upholstered chairs make up the furniture. The family is seated on the floor around an open brazier of red hot coals. We are given the seat of honor on the divan and treated to many courses of sweets, nuts, and black coffee. Our conversation is continually interrupted by strange noises in the street. We lean from the overhanging window to watch the troops of masqueraders who parade the streets with colored lanterns and drums, and make night horrible with their drunken shouts, refusing to go away without some reward for the entertainment they have afforded.

 These noises continue during a greater part of the night. About four o’clock in the morning the church bells begin to ring, not merry Christmas chimes but harsh clanging sounds like the bell on a locomotive. We peer again from the window. A few early risers are groping their way along the dark street toward the church where service has already begun. We all soon follow them into the cold, dimly lighted church. Many worshippers are there before us, kneeling on the marble pavement in front of the gaudy pictures of the Virgin; a purple-capped, black-robed priest is monotonously mumbling the prayers in an ancient tongue and, at the same time, the chorus boys are chanting in unnatural tones to the accompaniment of clashing cymbals. We leave whenever we like and return to the feasting at the house. The day, as also the two following it, is spent in visiting and banqueting, varied by attendance at church in all the gaudy attire which can be procured.

Foreign influence has of late years introduced many new customs in regard to the celebration of Christmas. The children of the mission schools are taught to sing carols and are often afforded the delight of a Christmas tree loaded with good things. The exchange of presents is becoming more general, and among the classes who try to imitate the French, the custom frequently prevails of giving balls and soirées on Christmas night.

Get Ready for Christmas

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The picture above is a bonad, which sounds like a naughty word but means a Swedish wall hanging. This one depicts the Nativity. I have posted it as a reminder for all of us to start thinking about Christmas.
Christmas is the biggest annual phenomenon in our lives, dominating at least 10% of our calendar and demanding so much of us: planning, buying, baking, wrapping, cooking, singing, inviting, giving, worshipping, visiting, travelling, writing, mailing, waiting, recovering, and paying. It can be magic and fulfilling; it can be stressful or sad.
 
A good way to reduce the anxiety, rush, and expense of the “holiday season” is to have all the myriad details of Christmas settled in advance. Buy your presents early according to a budget. Make sure the list of people to whom you will send greetings is up to date. Agree about where you will go for Christmas or whom you will be inviting. Get the ingredients for your special foods before they run out in December. Consider how you will be intentionally hospitable and charitable this year. Whom might be forgotten that you could bring some happiness to? Have you got enough wrapping? (Remember that cheap wrapping paper is the Devil’s way of making you hate Christmas.)
 
Christmas is a feast, a festival, a celebration. Prepare for it by getting a jump on Advent and may all your Christmases be bright.

Pope Leo and the Nativity

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Leo was Bishop of Rome from 440 to 461. He is the only pope, aside from St Gregory, to be called the Great. He was an able administrator, diplomat, and preacher – among the many sermons of his that have survived are several that deal with the theology of Christmas. Here are some excerpts from these orations.

Let us be glad in the Lord, dearly beloved, and make merry with spiritual joy. For there has dawned for us the day of new redemption, of ancient preparation, and of eternal bliss. In this annual feast there is renewed for us the sacrament of our salvation, which was promised from the beginning, was accomplished in the fulness of time, and will endure for all eternity. (Homily 2,1.)

In assuming our nature, Christ became for us a ladder, so that through Him we can now ascend even unto Himself. (Homily 5,3.)

Let Catholic faith recognize the glory of the Lord in His humility; and let the Church, which is the body of Christ, exult in the sacraments of her salvation. For unless the Word of God had become flesh and had dwelt amongst us, unless the Creator Himself had descended to enter into communion with His creature and in His birth had restored the old man by a new beginning, death would have reigned from Adam even unto the end (Rom. 5:14), Irrevocable condemnation would have been all men’s lot, and the very fact of birth would have been unto all cause of perdition But He became a man of our race, that we might become partake of the divine nature. The birth that was His from the virginal womb, He made available to us in the baptismal font. He gave to water the same power that He gave to His mother. For the power of the Most High and the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) which made Mary give birth to the Savior, likewise effect that water gives new life to the believer. (Homily 5,5.).

Although the infancy which the majesty of God’s Son did not disdain passed into the maturity of manhood, and although all the acts of humility undertaken for us ceased once the triumph of the passion and resurrection had been attained, yet today’s festival renews for us the sacred infancy of Jesus born of the Virgin Mary; and while we adore the birth of our Savior, we find that we are celebrating too the commencement of our own life. For the birth of Christ is the origin of the Christian race, since the birthday of the Head is the birthday of the body. (Homily 6.2)

Clear Toy Candy

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Another Gastro Obscura posting about unique Christmas foods around the world.

In the 18th century, children in Pennsylvania would inevitably find a two-for-one gift in their Christmas stockings. Each piece of clear toy candy, a sweet pioneered by German immigrants, lives up to its name. As the treats were shaped like trains, ships, or animals, children could play with them before eating. Once also called barley candy because some recipes were said to include sweet barley sugar, the candies appeared in the region as early as 1772. Made of colorful, boiled sugar syrup, clear toy candy is carefully made in cold kitchens to preserve its glassy look. Often, the sweets come in Christmas red or green, or the natural yellow of the lightly-caramelized syrup.

These sweets are decidedly vintage, both in shape and in taste (traditional clear-toy candy is unflavored). Collectors gather the molds from long-gone candy companies, and only a few confectioners still make the treats. Nevertheless, they’re still a must for many families celebrating Christmas in Pennsylvania.

Gata Cakes

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More obscure Christmas food from Gastro Obscura. This is one of a small number of treats associated with Candlemas, the end of the Christmas season.In the rugged Upper Azat Valley in Armenia, around the entrance to the rock-carved Geghard Monastery, you’ll notice elderly ladies clustered around roadside stalls leading to the site, selling round Gata cakes inscribed with patterns and intricate Armenian script.

The glazed pastry has a crusty texture that’s soft once you bite into it, and is stuffed with a sweet filling (khoriz) made from a fluffy mixture of flour, butter, and sugar, with a consistency of baked custard. Though styles will vary between regions and villages —with variants including matsuni (Armenian yogurt), walnuts, or dried fruit in the filling—the most famous version comes from the villages around Geghard and Garni, where locals will decorate these round pastries with tree-like motifs, diamond shapes, hearts, or words (such as “Geghard”).

These delicious cakes, which are actually more like a sweetened kind of bread, have their roots in religious tradition. Armenia adopted Christianity in the fourth century after the religious leader Gregory the Illuminator baptized the royal family. Shortly thereafter, Gregory identified a sacred spring in a cave at Geghard and the first chapel was built inside. In the centuries that followed, monks built more formal structures, including the most prominent chapel in 1215, using rocks from surrounding cliffs.

While it’s unclear when vendors started selling Gata cakes at the site, the treats have been linked to Christian traditions for some time. They’re particularly prevalent during the Christian holiday of Candlemas (Tiarn’ndaraj). According to the Armenian Apostolic Church’s calendar, the celebration occurs 40 days after Christmas and commemorates when the baby Jesus was presented at the temple in Jerusalem. Armenian women knead their love and warmth for their family into the dough, so that each cake bestows peace and success upon their household. In addition to love and flour, a coin is often hidden inside the bread. The person to get the coin will enjoy good luck all year.

Bebinca

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Portugal occupied the present-day Indian state of Goa from 1510 until 1961, but elements of its culinary influence never left. Bebinca, also called “the queen of Goan desserts,” is a seven- to sixteen-layer pudding cake made from incrementally-baked sheets. Bakers combine lots of egg yolks (there’s that Portuguese influence) with maida, an Indian cake flour, as well as coconut milk, sugar, and a bit of ghee. Some opt to add nutmeg or slivered almonds, but the ingredient list remains simple.

Then, one must set aside four hours for the complicated part of the recipe: Layer batter, melt ghee on top, bake, and repeat. Until the designated number of layers is achieved, patience becomes an additional essential ingredient. Because bebinca is particularly popular on Christmas and during special occasions, many families rely on bakeries that specialize in the art. Dedicated cooks who endeavor to prepare the sweet at home often prepare bebinca in an “OTG oven” (a redundantly-named oven, toaster, and griller), or on a grill, which imparts a light smokiness to the treat. And if 16 layers seems a little lacking, there’s always the 30-layer, Dutch-Indonesian lapis legit.

Chocolate Letters

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Another post about Christmas foods from Gastro Obscura. I’m happy to say that my daughter’s Dutch mother-in-law gives us some of these each December.

One of the biggest holidays in the Netherlands is December 5, the day that Sinterklaas (the Dutch version of Santa Claus) rewards all the good children with various candies and presents. Sinterklaas will ride on his horse over the rooftops, followed by his helpers and put the gifts into children’s shoes (while also removing the carrot that they left inside for his horse).

Among these candies are chocolate letters. They will usually be the first initial of the child, but can also be an S for Sinterklaas, an M for Mama, and so on. The letters are traditionally available in white, dark, and milk chocolate variants, but these days many alternatives have popped up. M and W are among the most popular letters because people think that they’re bigger, even if all the pieces have the same weight to them. (smaller letters are typically thicker to compensate). The font used is typically Egyptienne, although there have been some experiments with more modern typefaces.

Feast of the Seven Fishes

Home / Christmas / Feast of the Seven Fishes

On the night before Christmas, some people are preparing and decorating Christmas cookies, while others are readying a “roast beast” for the oven. But for Italian- Americans, cooking up the right supper can be a bit fishy. While the precise origins of the tradition are not clear, the Feast of the Seven Fishes, also referred to as La Vigilia, honors Italian-Catholic traditions of eating lean, or magro, in preparation for Christmas holiday feasting. Still, it’s difficult to say that this hours-long meal is anything but indulgent.

Though connected with various Christmas Eve celebrations across Italy, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is decidedly an Italian-American invention that stems from the early 20th century. During these peak years of Italian immigration into the United States, most people came from Southern Italy, where seafood is an important part of the diet. Many Italian-Americans wouldn’t recognize the feast without dishes such

as baccalà (fried salted codfish) with a spicy caper-flecked sauce and grilled or fried eel (capitone). Other typical preparations include calamari, linguine with anchovies, seafood salad, and shrimp. To make the meal into a real sumptuous affair, oysters and lobster might join a baked whole fish.

The number seven holds a variety of possible, mostly religious, associations, including the number of days it took god to create the Earth in the Bible, the seven cardinal sins, and the number of holy sacraments. While most families will have at least seven types of seafood on the table, many cooks play by their own rules, featuring additional dishes that include everything from meat to pasta. According to food scholars, despite being a relatively new (and somewhat lawless) tradition, the feast is a way for Italian-Americans to remember, revitalize, or introduce their culture to others (especially in cases of in-laws). And while dinners tend to be hosted at home, Italian restaurants across the country have been known to offer the celebration throughout December. Seven or 17, land or marine, turning down an invite to this fine feast would be seriously sinful.

Hriatô

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Continuing our Gastro Obscura look at remarkable Christmas dining.

If you are trying hriatô for the first time, your Slovak host will likely advise you to look past its appearance. The second thing they will suggest is that you drink it quickly. Pronounced hree-AH-two-oh, hriatô is a mouthful even before the pork fat hits your lips. But this honey-infused, bacon-dappled hot brandy cocktail graces the upper echelons of winter warmers in Slovakia.

Traditionally served around Christmas, hriatô is relatively straightforward to make. Home cooks begin by frying up bacon in a healthy dollop of lard. Once it’s crisp, they drizzle in honey, allowing the sweet and salty blend to mingle. Finally, they add a stream of potent fruit brandy to the mix.

Hriatô can indeed look a bit unappetizing on first glance. As the cloudy, orangish liquid begins to cool, the fat separates, initially forming glistening droplets on the drink’s surface, then a layer of settled fat. But when enjoyed fresh, the fried bacon bobs 1n the boozy brew, balancing the honeyed liquid with a savory umami pork flavor. Slovaks know a thing or two about hogs. Pork is central to Slovakian cuisine, and even the national dish, bryndzové halusky, a rich meal of gnocchi-like dumplings and sheep’s milk cheese, receives a healthy smattering of bacon.

Hriatô’s base brandy, often the plum-based slivovka, is a potent distillate (usually more than 50 percent alcohol by volume). With such hard-hitting hooch, it’s probably helpful to have a little pork in your pot before toasting with this toddy.