Nativity Fast and Thanksgiving Turkey

Russian: http://osergii.wordpress.com/

Published on Orthodoxy and the World

In two days, on November, 25, America is going to celebrate Thanksgiving Day which has a very significant role in American families because it is one of the few times a year that the family gets together. Thanksgiving Day is also called a Turkey day because it usually involves a meal with turkey or at least a more elaborate meal. Most American Orthodox Christians started the Nativity Fast on November, 15. How can an Orthodox Christian navigate these family gatherings, often with family who are not Orthodox, and still keep the Nativity fast?

<…>

This question rarely troubles those who keep the Julian calendar, as is the case in the Russian Orthodox Church, since our Nativity Fast begins on November 28.  However, some years, Thanksgiving does land on November 28–the first day of our Nativity Fast.  I can see two approaches to resolving the conflict between fasting rules and a Thanksgiving turkey.

First, in my opinion, there would be nothing wrong if diocesan authorities or even parish rectors chose to relax some fasting rules on this day, especially in those parishes which are composed of mostly American converts to Orthodoxy, who not only have many non-Orthodox family members, but have grown up with the tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving in a certain way.  Perhaps, a token morsel of turkey and a symbolic piece of pie with a heartfelt prayer to God, thanking Him for His boundless mercies to us, is a better witness to Orthodoxy than a senseless discussion among non-Orthodox family members of which foods are allowed and which are not.  A true fast is much more than food.  An Orthodox Christian would do well abstaining from gossip, back-biting, and judging, as well as gluttony, drunkenness, and other sins and passions which may find for themselves fertile soil at the Thanksgiving table.

Second, keeping a strict fast in America is rarely a problem at all.  There are many Americans who do not eat turkey, or pie, or mashed potatoes for any number of reasons–various health and weight-loss diets, vegetarian and vegan convictions, and others.  Most American families seem to have absolutely no problem with someone declining one dish in favor of another and having tofu instead of meat, salad instead of cake, or fruit instead of ice-cream.  Nobody seems to get offended or upset, and Orthodox Christians should stop making belly-pleasing excuses for why they cannot keep the fast.

One thing I would absolutely discourage is for people to individually decide whether they will keep the fast or relax it.  Our fasts are the common fasts of the whole Church; and we should fast as one body or feast as one body.  If our Christian family is keeping a strict fast, then we must also keep a strict fast, even if our biological family will not approve of this.  Of course, we must observe our fast will all gentleness, piety, and discretion, without flashy advertisements of our self-righteousness.

See also Questions and Answers About the Nativity Fast and On the Beginning of the Nativity Fast

 

Advertisement