A name day is a tradition in many countries in Europe and Latin America that consists of celebrating the day of the year associated with one's given name.
The custom originated with the Christian calendar of saints: believers named after a saint would celebrate that saint's feast day. In many countries, however, there is no longer any explicit connection to Christianity. It remains more popular in the Catholic and Orthodox parts of Europe, as Protestant churches generally do not venerate saints.
The concept of name days is similar to the more common birthday, except that the association of a name to a day is entirely arbitrary. In the Eastern Orthodox Tradition, the name day corresponds to the day on which a saint "fell asleep" or died.
No comments:
Post a Comment