You're bringing back some old memories for me @Ruby Begonia I haven't gone in recent years, I'm ashamed to say. I remember both Midnight Mass on Christmas, and Easter. At Easter service at the Russian Church, it was the blessing of the Easter Eggs ... never saw so many beautifully colored/painted eggs by all the Russian women of the church. They lined the walkway of the church with their baskets, waiting for the Priest to do his blessings. They were always so proud when the Priest would take one of their eggs and keep it. A side note .. you mention the service being in English ... that is where my downfall was in "learning" things in my youth. There was no learning, just being in attendance was good enough. ..sad, huh? I felt the spirit of the service though. Everything was over my head sitting in church for two hour mass at a Greek Orthodox Church. It never occurred to me back then to ask someone for explanations of anything. People would ask ... do you go to church? .. Why yes, I go to church! .. Things got lost in the translation of that.
I always preferred when the mass was still in Latin in my early years, it was more mysterious. I liked it better.
I know what you mean @Bonnie Thomas, if you went to a Russian speaking church. Back then, ethnicity was everything given they were all immigrants and needing to cling to the familiar. Our mass was celebrated in Latin back then, and they tried to teach it to us. But Latin stopped way back when I was a teenager. Even when the prayers were said in Latin, the Old Testament readings and the Gospel readings were always in English. I got away from it all, too, even while my son was young. We were always believers, just didn't go to church. Bonnie, your description of the Easter eggs was wonderful! My paternal grandmother, Ukrainian and Slovakian, used to paint the most intricate, lacy and beautiful Easter eggs! She would pack some in a shoe box with her homemade cookies and send them to us in CT from Pennsylvania! The Russians are famous for decorating eggs!
I was married in a Lutheran church since my husband was divorced and the pastor was Hungarian and we had quite a few hungarians at my wedding in Chicago. So he did the mass in Hungarian and English. I was married July 25 and it was 106 degrees that day and no A/C. It was torture.
Chrissy, a lot of people our age feel the same way. Yes, there was a mystical element in hearing the Latin that was thrilling. Oh, just listen to some of the Gregorian chant!
That's moving CC. ......... I always felt lifted from services I never understood. Over the years probably a lot of things have changed. I haven't been back in years and don't know how things are done anymore.
@Bonnie Thomas , churches have become modern and in English and the Catholic mass is long. I liked the churches of my youth, stained glass windows, dark, etc.
@Bonnie Thomas , you made me see the sidewalks and walkways full of beautiful eggs. It must of been a magical time for a little girl. Where did you grow up? I don't remember hearing anything like it around this part of Texas. That is the kind of thing I could look up in the library without getting caught by my father. When my boys were little I did make sure they got to do the coloring of eggs, and the hunt for them afterwards. When the boys turned eight I allowed them to join a church that I made sure wasn't the fire and brimstone type that I grew up in. I thought they had a better chance of understand what Easter, (and the rest of the bible), was about if they learn Christian beliefs from a kinder view point. I am not a Christain, but I wanted my sons to know and grow with into loving Christians.
We always had two hour masses at the Russian Church was I was young. Like I stated above, I don't know how things are done there anymore. It's been so long..