| Saint Sylvester's Day Feast of Saint Sylvester | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also called | Silvester |
| Observed by | Anglicanism,Catholicism,Eastern Orthodoxy,Lutheranism,Reformed |
| Type | Christian |
| Significance | Feast Day of Pope Saint Sylvester I Final day of theGregorian calendar year |
| Celebrations | Fireworks, Theatre-going, Feasting,Making a toast, Partying[1] |
| Observances | Attending aWatchnight Mass, often held around midnight |
| Date | 31 December (Western Christianity) 2 January (Eastern Christianity) |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | New Year's Eve,Christmastide,New Year's Day,Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus,Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God |
Saint Sylvester's Day, also known asSilvester or theFeast of Saint Sylvester, is the day of the feast ofPope Sylvester I, asaint who served asPope from 314 to 335. Medieval legend made him responsible for the conversion of emperorConstantine. Among theWestern churches, the feast day is held on the anniversary of Saint Sylvester's death, 31 December, a date that, since the adoption of theGregorian calendar, has coincided withNew Year's Eve. For these Christian denominations, Saint Sylvester's Day liturgically marks theseventh day ofChristmastide.[2]Eastern churches celebrate Sylvester's feast on a different day from the Western churches, i.e. on 2 January. Saint Sylvester's Day celebrations are marked bychurch attendance at aWatchnight Mass that is often held around midnight, as well as fireworks, partying, and feasting.[1]
Under the reign ofPope Sylvester I, several of the magnificent Christianchurches were built, including theBasilica of Saint John Lateran,Santa Croce Church, andOld St. Peter's Basilica, among others.[3] During the papacy of Sylvester I, theNicene Creed, which is recited by communicants of the vast majority of the world's Christian denominations, was formulated.[3] Sylvester is said to havehealed, in the name of Christ, the emperorConstantine the Great of leprosy.[3] After dying, Sylvester wasburied on 31 December in theCatacomb of Priscilla.[3]
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Several countries, primarily in Europe, use a variant of Silvester's name as the preferred name for the holiday; these countries include Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Slovenia.[4]
In the capital of Austria,Vienna, people walk pigs on leashes for their Saint Silvester's Day celebration in hope to have good luck for the coming year.[5] Many Christian households in Germany mark Saint Silvester's Day by practicing the custom ofBleigiessen usingSilvesterblei (Silvester lead), in whichSilvesterblei is melted over a flame in an old spoon and dropped into a bowl of cold water; one's fortune for the coming year is determined by the shape of the lead.[6] If the lead forms a ball (der Ball), luck will roll one's way, while the shape of a star (der Stern) signifies happiness.[7]
Christians of Belgium have a tradition that a maiden who does not finish her work by the time of sunset on Saint Silvester's Day will not get married in the year to come.[5]
Along with exploding fireworks, theSaint Silvester Road Race, Brazil's oldest and most prestigious running event, takes place on Saint Sylvester's Day and is dedicated to him.[8]
In Israel, New Year's Eve is referred to asSilvester to distinguish it fromRosh Hashanah—theJewish New Year—which occurs in either September or October.[9][4]
As some Israelis consider Pope Sylvester to have been anantisemite, the observation of New Year's Eve has been divisive among parts of the country's Jewish population, and celebrations tend to be relatively modest in comparison to other countries.[10][9][4] In 2014, a report by awearable technology manufacturer found that an average of 33% of Israelis went to bed before midnight on 31 December; notably, the Silvester is not an official holiday in Israel and January 1 is a regular workday, unless falling on a weekend.[11][4]
Soviet diaspora (such asRussian Jews) that celebrateNovy God—asecular observance of the New Year with elements ofChristmas that was established by theCommunist Party[12]—have sometimes been criticized for celebrating an anti-semitic holiday. In the mid-2010s, campaigns emerged to promote the holiday tofirst and second-generation immigrants in Israel, as well as non-Russians, in an effort to buildcultural awareness.[10]
On Saint Sylvester's Day, "lentils and slices ofsausage are eaten because they look like coins and symbolize good fortune and the richness of life for the coming year."[13]
On the morning of Saint Sylvester's Day, the children of a Christian family compete with one another to see who can wake up the earliest; the child who arises the latest is playfully jeered.[5] Men have, for centuries, masqueraded asSilvesterklaus on Saint Sylvester's Day.[14]
As late as the 19th century, thenominally ChristianOssetians - an ancientIranian people of theCaucasus descended from theScythian nomads of the steppes – still had a class ofshaman-like soothsayers calledBurkudzauta orKurysdzauta who would, on the eve of Saint Sylvester's Day, undertake dream journeys to theland of the dead in order to wrest from the warlike dead a bountiful harvest in the year to come. This practice was first documented in the year 1824 by pioneeringethnographer and orientalistJulius Klaproth.[15] Italian historianCarlo Ginzburg has noted (in his workEcstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath) marked parallels between this Ossetian 'combat inecstasy' and those formerly practised by thebenandanti ofFriuli and also by certain other shaman-like figures in Hungary and theBalkans.[16]
The German New Year's Eve is called Silvester in honour of the 4th-century pope under whom the Romans adopted Christianity as their official religion; there's partying all night long.
On New Year's Eve there are fireworks in the streets, and at midnight begins the marathon known as the 'St Sylvester's Day race'.
Media related toSilvester at Wikimedia Commons