Материалы 4 января 2012 г.

Колядки русские, краинские, сербские, румынские, греческие...

...Когда оба дерева упали, захватив с собою несколько мелких дерев и осыпав большое количество земли, тогда открылось устье пещеры. Над входом ее нашли надпись: «Богом зданные пещеры ». Было это в 1392 г.

When the man stopped playing, she walked up to the gathering and said that she wanted to sing, "Because today is the Nativity of Christ." Without waiting for an answer, she began to sing a little song in her trembling, aged, but pure voice.

While many of us are packing away ornaments and throwing out holiday leftovers, another Christmas and another new year are about to descend. On Thursday and Friday, Orthodox Christians who follow the Julian calendar will celebrate Christmas. A week later, they will mark the new year.

Although their sound used to be heard throughout the Russian countryside, church bells fell silent during the Soviet era. Now the classic ringing is being brought back to life.

On a leafy lane near Chiswick, in south-west London, the blue dome of a Russian Orthodox church rises surreally above the chestnut trees. Visible to drivers along the M4 on their way to and from Heathrow Airport, the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and the Holy Royal Martyrs is, as the unwieldy name suggests, a symbolic statement of traditional faith in a city that growing numbers of Russians are adopting as a home from home.

No marks to you if you thought next Christmas is on December 25, 2012. It’s on Saturday - January 7; in Russia and at Sreekariyam.