When is coptic christmas

A post shared by Identity Magazine identitymageg. Church services are one of the most important parts of both the Coptic Christmas and Western Christmas. The service usually starts around 10pm and goes on until after midnight. Some even last until dawn! Coptic Christians also attend special services during the month before Christmas, the fourth Coptic month known as Kiahk. Overall, Christmas is Christmas no matter what day you celebrate it on, or where you celebrate it.

The spirit of Christmas — coming together with family to give thanks to God and enjoy a special feast — is universal. In Egypt, you just get to enjoy it twice! Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Why is Christmas celebrated twice in Egypt?

View this post on Instagram. This is the time when people meet up with friends at the church and the services usually go past midnight, at some places until 4 am. After the service, people enjoy a hearty meal of eggs, meat and butter and everything else which they could not eat during the fast.

On Christmas day, people often give Kahk or special sweet biscuits as gifts to one another. Even with a small population of Christians, Egypt celebrates Christmas like a major holiday, including some non-Christian Egyptians.

The festival has now become very commercialozed where anyone can buy Christmas decorations, food and trees easily. Many places see special decoration for this festival. Children wait for his arrival with gifts and even leave some Kahk for him. The forty days preceding Coptic Christmas are called Advent season, during which people abstain from eating animal products and dairy food.

The special fast during Advent season shows the devotion and self control of all those who wish to participate in this special celebration. Egyptians attend church on the eve of this day dressed in new clothes.

This Egyptian tradition differs from the Christian tradition of serving wine and bread. Qurban bread has a Holy Cross in the centre with 12 dots representing the 12 apostles of Christ. After this people have a special meal referred as Fata, made mainly out of rice, bread, boiled meat and garlic. The Coptic month leading to Christmas is called Kiahk. People sing special praise songs on Saturday nights before the Sunday Service.

For the 43 days before Christmas Advent , from 25th November to 6th January, Coptic Orthodox Christians have a special fast where they basically eat a vegan diet.

They don't eat anything containing products that come from animals including chicken, beef, milk and eggs. This is called 'The Holy Nativity Fast'. But if people are too weak or ill to fast properly they can be excused. The services normally start about