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Nayrouz
Do we sing the Nayrouz hymns (doxology, psalm and gospel response) just the one day or the whole month?
Comments
Do we sing the Nayrouz hymns (doxology, psalm and gospel response) just the one day or the whole month?
The original rite used to be only one day, the first of Tut. Currently, the Church prays the Nayrouz hymns from the first of Tut till the feast of the Cross.
[quote author=peter_saad link=topic=12290.msg144245#msg144245 date=1315269219]
Do we sing the Nayrouz hymns (doxology, psalm and gospel response) just the one day or the whole month?
The original rite used to be only one day, the first of Tut. Currently, the Church prays the Nayrouz hymns from the first of Tut till the feast of the Cross.
Why did the rite change? Also, can you provide sources, if you have them. Thanks.
[quote author=imikhail link=topic=12290.msg144255#msg144255 date=1315284146]
[quote author=peter_saad link=topic=12290.msg144245#msg144245 date=1315269219]
Do we sing the Nayrouz hymns (doxology, psalm and gospel response) just the one day or the whole month?
The original rite used to be only one day, the first of Tut. Currently, the Church prays the Nayrouz hymns from the first of Tut till the feast of the Cross.
Why did the rite change? Also, can you provide sources, if you have them. Thanks.
The original rite is recorded in the manuscript "Tarteeb Al Bay3a" by pope Ghobrial ibn Trek in the 12th century.
I can speculate on the change but I do not have a reference.
I am interested to understand what your views are on the change in rites, even though you don't have a reference as such.
Oujai qen `P[C
Can someone also explain why Nayrouz will fall on September 12th this year (as opposed to Sept. 11th)? Thanks.
2012 is a leap year and to keep things in sync with the Gregorian calendar and not fall behind, we start the Coptic year a day later to make up for the extra day in February since there is no 7th of El Nasi.
Edit: I was completely off. According to smsanj.org:
As you know, a year is 365 ¼ days. Every four years a day is added to adjust the quarter days. In the Gregorian secular calendar February 29th is added. In the Coptic year, a day is added to the last month called the “Little Month” (El-Nasy). This is the case this present Coptic year of 1727 thereby making the coming New Year fall on September 12 instead of 9/11. Since the Church goes by the Coptic Calendar, make note that in the New Year 1728, most dates will be off by that one day.
but surely if it is a day later, there must be an extra day in nasi?
Oujai qen `P[C
Gregorian year has 365 days. on a leap year it has 366 days.
Martyrs year has 12 month x 30 days = 360 then the little month, Nasie that has 5-6 days. So on a normal year, the 6th day of nasie is not considered; It is only so on a leap year--this year.
Dear imikhail,
I am interested to understand what your views are on the change in rites, even though you don't have a reference as such.
Oujai qen `P[C
The feast of Nayrouz was purely a national feast where the Egyptians celebrate the start of the new year. The readings of Tut 1 are all about new beginnings and an acceptable year. The responses are also about God's blessing of the new year, the crops, ..
The Coptic calendar was the defacto calendar for Egypt which both Muslims and Christian Copts used to manage their agrarian businesses. Since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar and the industrialization of Egypt, the feast of Nayrouz took a back seat and with it the celebrations that accompanied it. I suppose that the Church started giving a more spiritual meaning to the feast by attaching to it the celebration of the martyrs. Yet there are no readings regarding the martyrs like the ones we read for the feast of a martyr (provided it falls on an annual weekday).
Slowly, the feast of Nayrouz gained more and more spiritual flavor to the point it became more inportant than the Lord's feasts of the Nativity and Epiphany. This is obvious as we celebrate the Nayrouz for 14 days while we only celebrate the feast of say the epiphany for only two days.
Disclaimer: This is only my perception of how the original rite of the feast of Nayrouz changed from being only one day and from being a national feast, to a more spiritual feast taking on more importance than the Lord's feasts.
Oujai
1. Neyrouz is confabulation of the Ancient Egyptian feast of Ni-Yarouou and the Persian Feast of Nowruz. Ni-Yarouou (niiarwou in Coptic which means "rivers") is the Egyptian feast of the inundation (rising) of the Nile which usually occurred 1 month after the helical rising of Sirius (astronomical star/sun in the neighboring galaxy, not the satellite radio). Egyptian New Year was set to Sirius (when Sirius was visible in the night sky right before sunrise) Sirius appears on the same day every 1460 years (Sothic cycle). So this makes the Ancient Egyptian calendar a wandering calendar. Egyptian new year would not occur on the same day every year. It would occur on the same day every 1460 years.
2. Nowruz is the Persian new year which occurs on the Spring equinox = March 21.
3. Coptic calendar = Alexandrian Calendar. Alexandrian calendar is based on the Julian Calendar. In the Julian calendar, the year is 365.25 days and there is a leap year every 4 years. The last day before the leap year always has Naise 6.
4. Augustus Caesar decreed in 25 BC that the Alexandrian calendar start on the anniversary when Alexandria fell to the Roman Empire (ie. when Octavian made Egypt a Roman Province on August 29, 30 BC). Thus, the Alexandrian calendar started August 29, 25 BC. Why is this important? Tute 1 equals August 29, Kiahk 29 equals December 25, Baramouda 29 (Annunciation feast) equals March 25 (Spring equinox back then) in the Julian calendar. Now mathematically, this is a little bit off. So Theonas, an Alexandrian astronomer, made a table of conversion from Julian to Alexandrian to wandering Egyptian calendar to Regal years. To compensate for the additional days needed (called intercalary days) we need to add 13/14 days to get the Gregorian (current) equivalent date. So Tute 1 becomes September 11 and Kiahk 29 becomes January 7.
5. In 2099, Neyrouz will be fixed to September 12 and Nativity will be fixed to January 8.
6. Because Julian calendar is 11 minutes shorter than the actual tropical/solar year, the Gregorian calendar was begun in 1582 to correct the discrepancy. The Gregorian calendar changed the calculation of leap years but this only occurs on years 2100, 2200 and 2300.
7. Ancient Egyptian calendar, which is an agricultural calendar, had 3 4-month seasons (akhet-inundation, peret-winter growth, and shemu-summer harvest). Each season was based on agriculture. Each month was separated into three 10 day weeks. The 13th month only had 5 days (never 6) and it was called Epagomena by the Greeks and Romans. So every 400 years the Ancient Egyptian calendar would go back a day but it didn't matter because the New Year date was movable.
8. Even though the Julian calendar was started by Julius Caesar in 48 BC, it wasn't used correctly until 5/8 AD.
9. The Coptic calendar evolved from the Ancient Egyptian wandering calendar and the Alexandrian calendar. The start date of Tute 1 is based on both calendars. It correlates to the moving agriculture New year of Egypt (based on Sirius) and the Alexandrian calendar (which fixed Tute 1 to August 29 Julian). The Coptic calendar differs from the Alexandrian calendar only in start year. The start year (Year 1 of the Coptic calendar) moved to year 284 AD (Gregorian equivalent) instead of 25 BC or 5/8 AD (when the Alexandrian calendar was decreed or when it was shifted to correct leap years). It was the changing of the start year that associated the Coptic new year to the martyrs. Why and when this change occurred is unknown. It cannot be earlier than the 3rd century. It was more likely 4th-6th century when it occurred.
Regarding the change of ecclesiastical rites, I can make a small comment. Nayrouz joyous tune duration is not the only rite that has changed. I don't think the rites were meant to be so rigid. I think rites were dynamically changed based on the needs of the church at a particular time. Many rites have changed and they continue to change. Some changes were based on correcting wrong information, some were changed based on convenience and some were changed to resolve contradictory rites. And some rites still need to change because they create controversy. It's up to the Holy Synod to sort through all this stuff.
so when exactly do we celebrate Christmas this year? (i mean using the international calendar) i want to see if i can take the day off work, but i need to know which one i am taking!
January 7 is the main feast day--feast liturgy will be done on the eve of that day.
January 8 will also be considered a feast day and if a liturgy is done on it (in the morning and not the eve) the readings of the feast that were read on the 7th are read here.