For The Twelfth Day Of Christmas: Celebrating With A Russian Orthodox Tradition

Russian Krendl bread

A couple of years ago our house church congregation observed an Orthodox ceremony celebrating the Twelfth (and last) Day of Christmas. After some scripture and carols we observed a little liturgy with each congregant receiving a generous piece of freshly baked Krendl bread and the words, "Jesus is born!". Each member then responded with "Let us adore him!" dipped the bread in honey and savored it as a form of Eucharist.

Traditionally, Twelfth Night has been a night of merry making, as in Shakespeare's play by that name. While we Mennonites are not known to be great at making merry, we did our best in belting out our favorite Christmas hymns and carols. Then after our prayers and Bible study, we enjoyed our weekly carry-in fellowship meal, until recently always a part of our weekly experience of church.

The Krendl bread was a token Christmas present to our members. It was a recipe I had never used before, but I felt blessed going through the process as a labor of love, an act of prayer.

Until next year, a Merry, Merry Christmas!