December 25 is just the start of Christmas for some

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU -- For most people, New Year's Eve marked the final hurrah of the holidays. Christmas trees, festive lights and displays are all coming down, stores are unloading discounted Christmas trinkets and life is generally settling in after two months of holiday fervor.

There are some people, however, who continue observing Christmas, days after the new year. They sing carols, open gifts and celebrate many historic aspects of the Christmas story. It's an ancient practice and one that several Valley churches still observe to varying degrees.

The origin of the well-known 12 days of Christmas is complicated and churches observe them in different ways. It usually involves remembering key figures and moments of the traditional Christmas story, such as the Three Kings or Magi, Mary, Joseph, the babies King Herod killed in an attempt to murder the infant Jesus and Jesus' own baptism.

Catholics, several liturgical Protestant churches and one Orthodox church in Wasilla are celebrating Christmas through the first week in January.

Russian Orthodox churches, which make up the bulk of Orthodox churches in Alaska, follow a different calendar and celebrate Christmas between Jan. 7-19.

Father Michael Molloy presides over St. Hermon Orthodox Mission, just off Wasilla-Fishhook Road.

His church -- unlike most Orthodox churches in Alaska, which have strong ties to the Russian Orthodox Church -- observes Christmas according to the modern Western calendar, from Dec. 25-Jan. 6.

Much like the Catholics and several Protestant churches, Molloy's church also observes Advent, a 40-day period of preparation leading up to Christmas. Advent is a solemn time when people look forward to Christmas Day.

"Leading up to Christmas is a time of fasting and prayer," Molloy said. "We do that in preparation and then when Christmas comes, it is a period of

celebration."

Traditionally, Christmas Eve is a time of strict fasting for Orthodox Christians. Christmas Day then begins with a celebration just after midnight. Oftentimes members of parishes will visit individual homes, singing Christmas carols and greeting one another with the salutation, "Christ is born."

To Orthodox Christians, the birth of Jesus is of tremendous importance in their belief of eternal salvation.

Molloy said some families have customs of opening gifts over several days until Epiphany, on Jan. 6, when Jesus' baptism is celebrated. That concludes the Christmas season.

Father Leo Desso, from St. Michael's Catholic Church in Palmer, said Christmas doesn't begin at their church until Christmas Day, when they celebrate Jesus' birth.

"Before then, we don't bring in the Christmas spirit at all," he said. "We don't even decorate for Christmas until Dec. 23 because Advent is a time of confession and preparation."

St. Michael's concludes Christmas on Jan. 9, at the celebration of Jesus' baptism.

"That marks the end of the Christmas season," Desso said. "Until then, we continue to sing Christmas songs."

Pastor Jonathan Rockey of St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer said members of his congregation don't celebrate the days after Dec. 25 to the same extent as the Catholics and Orthodox, but they do continue Christmas readings and songs until Jan. 6.

In past years, Rockey's congregation has burned old Christmas trees in the church parking lot that day to mark the end of Christmas.

Rockey said he believes it is important for the church to observe Advent, Christmas Day and the days following in order to put Christmas in its proper context.

"In the last 25 years, people's lives have become more and more hectic," he said. "That makes it harder to remember the reason of Christmas, which makes it more necessary for us to focus on the real meaning."

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.