4Real Forums: Liturgical Year in Southern Hemisphere?

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Topic: Liturgical Year in Southern Hemisphere?

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JennGM
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Posted: April 22 2008 at 8:25am \| IP Logged

One of the many blessings of this board is the members located all over the world. It's really opened my eyes to being more aware of other countries.

For those in Australia, part of the Southern Hemisphere, I have a nagging question perhaps you can clue me in. How do you present the Liturgical Year to your family with opposite seasons of the UK and USA?

I know many of you use the same materials we have. So much of what I read draws in the corresponding season we have with the weather to the season in the Liturgical Calendar -- Lent and Easter, springtime; Advent and Christmas, wintertime; Ordinary Time -- summer and growing and harvest time. Many of the Christmas carols suggest the winter, snow, cold, etc.

The books I read that reference the seasons aren't isolated to just recent works. The Church was founded and spread all over the Northern Hemisphere before much of the Southern was discovered.

So just indulge me and tell me HOW do you reconcile your different seasons with the Liturgical Calendar? Do you totally skip over those analogies? Do you have your own analogies?

I'm all ears!

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Leonie
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Posted: April 22 2008 at 5:55pm \| IP Logged

We tend to talk about the church in Europe and how the liturgucal analogies often relate to that.

We don't make own analogies but, for example, Summer is always tied to Christ the King and daylight saving for me

, perhaps we make our own connections and thus our own celebrations tend to be different. We celebrate the liturgical year but we might do different activities - not Easter Spring baskets but autumn leaves and flowers on the Easter table...

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Erin
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Posted: April 23 2008 at 8:38pm \| IP Logged

Jenn
I've been mulling this question.

Some of our Feast Days are slightly different (I can't remember which at present) and we also have the Feast of Blessed Mother Mary McKillop which you don't celebrate there. Also we only have two Holy Days of Obligation now

(aside from Sundays) Although we still observe them as a family.

Things like snowy Christmas themes we avoid, it seems silly when you are having a sweltering hot Christmas. Our foods will often reflect the heat too, although we still have traces of traditional English dinners.

I guess often the season part of the liturgical celebration gets left out.

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msclavel
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Posted: April 24 2008 at 7:37am \| IP Logged

I spent many a Christmas in Peru when I was little. I loved going to the beach during Christmas

.
Hmmm, maybe its because I grew up with both experiences, I never had a problem with the differences. Certainly, there was less emphasis on Santa Claus. We called him Papa Noel, which I guess is closer to the British Father Christmas. Nativity scenes were abundant all over Lima. We did drink hot chocolate as part of Christmas dinner, and that was considered traditional. We ate pannetone,
which although Italian is traditional in Peru.
Lima is on the coast, but as you move inland the land very quickly is very dry and desert-like. I think when I was little I could easily picture Our Lord born in place much like where I was, so I didn't miss the snowy themes. And of course I was acutely aware of the extreme poverty all around us and my father always taught us to identify with the poorest of the poor, to be merciful and compassionate and see the dignity of these people simply struggling to survive. I think this also drew me closer to the Holy Family.
From my mother (Cuban) there was a love of the Feast of the Epiphany and we always awaited the Magi with as much anticipation as Santa.
I realize too that so much of how we celebrated Christmas, even when we were home in Virginia, was always rooted in those cultures and traditions. Our foods were always Peruvian and Cuban.

Hmmm, that's a lot about Christmas. Let's see, of course other important celebrations...St. Rose, St. Martin de Porres, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Teresa of Avila, Our Lady of Guadalupe. All sacrament receptions are opportunities for HUGE parties. We never celebrated Easter in Peru. In our home we did Easter baskets, Mass, the usual family Lent stuff. I don't think that differed much.

I think maybe I've veered a bit more about my hispanic culture...plus this is really long...hope it helps.

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