The Joy of Planning a Name Day
Guest blogpost written by Elizabeth Lindsay Buhler
Honoring your patron saint on your Name Day is a rich practice that draws you closer to your patron. A Name Day as an Orthodox Christian surpasses the joy of a birthday celebration. At birthdays we celebrate ourselves, but a Name Day we honor, reflect, pray, and strive to emulate a saint. All saints are worthy of emulating, but your Patron Saint is unique. This saint chose you and revealed himself or herself to you. When I was unsure who my patron saint was as a catechumen, my godmother said, “Oh, she will reveal herself to you, don’t you worry. Just pray about it fervently with an open heart and listen.” And you know what? She was right. Through a beautiful sequence of events, I surrendered to God’s will and my patron really revealed herself to me, but that’s a story for another time.
So how do you celebrate a Name Day?
Here are 6 guidelines that may help to establish a “liturgy” in your home for celebrating this beautiful day
Start Small
If celebrating your Name Day or your children's Name Days is new to you and a bit overwhelming, then start small. Remember, that as Orthodox, we are growing deeper in our faith little by little over the years (and even over the decades), write down your goals for how to celebrate Name Days and chip away at that goal by adding one small thing to your celebration each year. This is a joyous day, not one full of stress and expectations, so do what you can and keep the long term goal in mind of adding to it over many years. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Bring in Beauty
This can include spending some money on flowers for the centerpiece of your table, or simply picking some wildflowers outside. I chose sunflowers because they reminded me of a golden halo and my Patron Saint - St. Elizabeth the martyr is honored in the summer when sunflowers are plentiful. Set a lovely table with what you have, dust off the fancy china you don’t use often (even just a few pieces of the set) and enjoy using them. Play music that uplifts and edifies the celebration. I played some Russian classical works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky on my speaker.
Invite a friend
If you know of others who share the same name or saint, invite them over! Our church bulletin includes a section that says who is celebrating their Name Days, Anniversaries, and birthdays. I usually read it over each Sunday and I saw a few folks who shared my Name Day, so I reached out to them and invited them to my house for a tea party. This is a beautiful time to invite the elderly to your house or a mom who has infants and putting on a tea party may not be feasible. You all share this love for your patron, so why not celebrate together? Or, invite a friend or family member who doesn’t know about your patron or is not Orthodox and she can get to know your patron.
Sing the Troparion of your saint
This may be rough at first, but try. This is worth memorizing, so consider adding to your prayer rule the month of your Name Day to help you memorize it. (I’m working on this myself since I don't have it memorized yet). If you can't find your saint’s troparion speak with your priest or choir director. We have a talented chanter at our parish who has written troparions for saints that didn't have them with a blessing from the priest. We put the troparion behind the icon of our patron at our altar and can easily turn the icon around to sing it! When you invite your friends over for your Name Day, open your prayer with the Troparion and close the tea with it as well. If you don’t know how to chant, consider asking someone in the choir to record her voice singing it and to text it to you! I learn better by hearing so this would work best for me.
Tantalize those Taste Buds, yum!
Don’t forget your taste buds. My children were with me during the tea party so I served things I knew they would like. It was a fasting day this year, so I served pesto pasta, peanut butter and jelly mini sandwiches, lots of fruit, carrots and hummus, and vegan muffins. I’ll include here a recipe for “Homemade Lara Bars” that I love and get requests from friends to bring them to events all the time. I love this recipe because it is sweet but also full of good fats with all those nuts in it. It can be a dessert or a sweet appetizer, it is so flexible and a party favorite!
Be Hands On
The teacher in me can’t help but make a lesson hands on. A tea party is a great way to slow everyone down to attend to something beautiful and special - and it’s celebratory. Even my 10 year old boy loves a good tea party (if there is food, they will come). After serving the tea and food, I sat down and shared about the life of my patron - St. Elizabeth the New Martyr. I asked who knew anything about her to start with (start with what they know), then I filled in the details. We had paper crowns with virtues written on them from St. Elizabeth’s life and as I gave her hagiography, I had them notice when the virtue was mentioned. “She gave generously to the poor, oh look, Sarah, that’s what’s written on your crown, what an incredible virtue of generosity!” This “crown of virtues” idea you could do all kinds of things with. The kids could decorate the crown themselves with beads, jewels, feathers etc. The key is to tie the crown concept back to the reality of the heavenly crowns that the saints have and that we strive for as well. I had hoped to put on play jewelry too and discuss how St. Elizabeth sold her beautiful jewelry (even her wedding ring) to pay for building the Sts Martha and Mary Convent. I hope to do this object lesson next time with more play jewelry and to have the children pull off theirs and put it in a bowl. And then at the end of her hagiography have them adorn themselves with the jewelry once more with a clear explanation that they received even more jewels in heaven for their sacrifice, virtue, generosity, and humility. My hope is this sets a foundation for seeing the fleeting nature of this world and the vanity of this world and why we desire to invest in the life to come!
Crowns can be used if your patron is a martyr, if your patron is a royal saint, if your patron is married, and if your patron is known for certain virtues - so it could apply to any saint!
Final thoughts:
I’m sure you can think of many other ways to make your Name Day joyous, beautiful, and honoring to your saint. May these few ideas launch your creativity to make lasting memorizes for you and your children as we strive to raise them to love the saints and serve or Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
St. Elizabeth pray to God for us!
About the Author (guest blogpost)
Elizabeth Lindsay Buhler is a jolly mother of four ranging from 3 - 10 years of age. She enjoys weekly date nights with her hubby of 14 years, Dr. Keith. They are living their dream at St. Andrew Church in Riverside, California starting a parish Orthodox Classical academy - St. Andrew Academy in 2021. She teaches the 5/6 grade combo, bakes sourdough, ferments kombucha, and loves reading aloud to her children. She delights in teaching a spin class when she can and reading while snuggling with her golden retriever, Clio. You can follow along with her many adventures on instagram @orthodox_and_classical_learner
~Elizabeth Lindsay Buhler