CHRISTMAS EVE, PO NAŠOMU

CHRISTMAS EVE, PO NAŠOMU

T’was the night before Roždestvo

And all through the house

The Rusnaks all gathered

To eat sauerkraut.

The kolach was nestled

All snug in its dish

While babalky were cooking

And so was some fish.

Women in their babushkas

And men in their caps

Had all settled down

With food in their laps.

When out on the lawn

There arose such a clatter

We all left our meal

To see what was the matter.

Away to the window

Cetka flew like a flash

Screaming "Lock all the doors

And hide all the cash."

And what to our wondering eyes

Should appear

But a pagač-shaped sleigh

And reindeer.

With a little old Rusnak

So lively and quick

We knew in a moment

It was Big Južik.

More rapid than ružanci

His reindeer all came

As he shouted, "On Stefan,"

And each reindeer's name.

"On Stefan, on Petro

On Janko and Georgij

On Vasil, on Andrej

On Pavel and Dimitrij."

Then out to the smokehouse

The reindeer all flew

With a sleigh full of kolbas  

And Big Južik, too. 

Down the smoke vent he came

 With a leap and a bound 

Dancing a csardas

And twirling around.

He did a short polka

Then went to his work

And gave us pirohi

Then turned with a jerk.

We gave him kapusta

And Zedo's old clothes

Then we sang D’ivnaja Novina

And up the smoke vent he rose.

But we heard him exclaim

As we took off our coats.

"Veselyj Svjat to all

And to all dobru noc!"

Merry Christmas to All

 

Христос раждається! 

Christos Raždajetsja! 

Christ is Born!

The Board of the
Carpatho-Rusyn Society

Lake Michigan Chapter

wishes all its members and friends

a Blessed Christmas

and

a Happy and Healthy New Year.

VISIT WITH ST. NICHOLAS

LINCOLN CHAMBER PRODUCTIONS ISSUES "A BYZANTINE REQUIEM" CD

Timothy Woods conducts the Ecclesia Choir in Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago.

 A desire to give worship to God through the performance of the highest quality sacred music in liturgical settings and to perform beautiful secular and sacred music in concert settings led Timothy Woods to found the Lincoln Professional Chamber Ensemble. In December of 1992, the then music director at Holy Family Catholic Church in Lincoln, IL conducted the group’s first performance.   For the next four years, small chamber concerts and recitals were produced in central Illinois.

After moving to the Chicago area in 1996, he formally incorporated the organization as Lincoln Chamber Productions in 1997 to provide an umbrella organization for the production of musical projects.  In the fall of 2006, LCP created the Ecclesia Men's Choir, a liturgical choir dedicated to singing the great music of the Church, both East and West, with the goal of facilitating good will between Catholic, Orthodox, and other Christian churches.  In August 2011, the Ecclesia Choir of both men’s and women’s voices made its debut.  The groups provided concerts and music for Liturgies at churches and universities through-out the Chicago area.  

LPC’s most recent release is A Byzantine Requiem CD.  Tim explains this seemingly oxymoron of his harmonization of the beautiful melodies of the Ruthenian Funeral Rite with “this performance was arranged specifically with a mindset toward speaking to both Eastern and Western Christians.  The entire text of this service is from the Eastern tradition, but some of the harmonizations are more Western.  Still others are very much in the Ruthenian style.  And some are a careful blending of both.  The mystery of death touches everyone, but we interpret that experience largely from the culture in which we grow up.  A Byzantine Requiem gives a fresh experience to traditional Carpatho-Rusyn melodies, and all in a spirit of deep prayer.”  According to Woods, those who have ordered a copy find it to be a powerful meditation on the journey from this life to Eternal Life, all from the vantage point of Eastern Christian spirituality.

A Byzantine Requiem CD may be ordered for $10 including postage from:  LCP, c/o Timothy Woods, 7921 W. Carrie Ct., Frankfort, IL 60423.  Checks should be made payable to Lincoln Chamber Productions. 

Additional information about the Lincoln Chamber Productions may be found at ecclesia-lcp.com