Living Liturgically in November
On this page you will find resources for popular feast days celebrated in the Orthodox Church in November:
Here is a collection of blogposts for feast days and saints celebrated in the month of November. In each of these blogs you will find summarized information about the feast/saints, activity suggestions for younger and older kids, reading suggestions and more. These are not just activities for activities sake, of course. My hope is that these will aid you in sharing more about our faith with your children in a way that is developmentally appropriate, allows for their exploration and participation in the feast, and hopefully cultivate a rich soil in their hearts that allows the seed of Truth that stays with them all the days of their life. I absolutely love learning more about the saints and feast days and try my best to set them apart from other days. I hope these resources are a blessing to you!
November - in the Orthodox Church, we begin the Nativity Fast. From November 15th-Dec 24th, we are fasting, increasing services/prayer, and finding new opportunities to give alms. We also have St Martin (Nov 12th) which is a cherished tradition just before the Nativity fast begins! It is also a very busy cultural time in our world - with the βHolidayβ season. It takes intention to live the Christian life, and this time of year is no exception. Find ways to slow down this season and prepare your heart to receive our Lord!
Did you know that Chrysostom means "golden mouth"? Check out this super easy feast day tradition of making the "golden mouth milk" for the feast of St John Chrysostom! Easy and healthy and one that you can pull together with items you probably already have on hand!
The lantern procession tradition on St. Martin's Day, celebrated on November 11, is a cherished tradition honoring St. Martin of Tours (397 AD). For centuries, Christians from Estonia to Spain, Sweden to Italy, have commemorated the Saint who shared his wealth with the poor. In Germany, children make lanterns and parade through the streets, singing songs. The lanterns shining in the dark are often interpreted as symbolizing the light of Christ, a particularly appropriate image for the beginning of the Nativity Fast (November 15th).
Over the past several years, I have been on the hunt for an Orthodox Nativity set for my family. One of my biggest hold ups when searching for sets is majority of the sets on the market have the common βbarnβ manger scene, which isnβt entirely accurate. Iβve been on the search for the traditional βCaveβ scene. This year, we found it! We added this BRAND NEW Wooden Icon Nativity Set by Orthodox Design Company to our collection and when I opened the packaged, I squealed and did a happy dance! Itβs a dream to have this heirloom Nativity set that is not only beautiful, but durable and interactive for my children!
The Nativity Fast is a special time for us, set apart, to help us to slow down and prepare our hearts to receive Christ. For Orthodox Christians, Nativity fast begins November 15th and marks the 40 days leading up to the Nativity of our Lord (December 25th). In this guide, I want to share the various resources available to help you mark this season in your homes so that it is a fruitful season for you. Each household will take on their own unique traditions and practices. In my experience, the key to a fruitful Nativity fast is to pair everything down; do ONE thing, do it well, and build from there! God willing we will have many more years to build on foundation we are laying in our homes.
St Peter the Aleut is an Alaskan martyr who was killed in California during the establishment of the Spanish missions in 1815. We have learned more about St Peter over the years, but this year we wanted to do something to honor his feast day! Check out this simple feast day tradition to honor to Peter the Aleut!
Living the Orthodox Faith in our modern age takes intention. Iβve created a beautiful one page (per month) printable to help simplify liturgical living with fun and easy ways to incorporate into your home. Bundle and Save!
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of feast days, saint days, fasting periods, etc. So my hope with these monthly printables is to pair it down for you. Letβs make a goal to learn about ONE saint this month, and do ONE activity this month related to a featured saint. Throughout the month, learn ONE hymn by singing it together every day, or as often as you can. And lastly, intentionally carve out time to create a strong family culture in your home (in the Family Corner section).
5 Ways to Embrace Christ this Nativity Fast, following the Church as our guide!