Today I celebrated my
name day. For people outside Catholic Christian culture, this can be a point of confusion. Do I have another name? What kind of "celebration" is it? Where did the tradition come from? Searching online lead to only a few sites, so I thought I'd take some time to explain exactly what a
name day is, and how
I choose to recognize it.
The concept of a name day goes back to the Middle Ages. It started with the Orthodox and Catholic churches as a way to combat, what they felt, was a pagan celebration. Birthdays were considered to be festivals for the rich, for kings, and for flase gods. (see
Natalis Invicti)
