Silvester
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Silvester (also spelled sylvester, szilveszter, or sylwester) is the day of the Feast of Pope Sylvester I, a saint who served as Pope of the Catholic Church from 314 to 335 and oversaw both the First Council of Nicaea and Roman Emperor Constantine I's conversion to Christianity.[1] The feast day is held on the anniversary of Sylvester's death, 31 December, a date that, since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, has coincided with New Year's Eve. Because of this coincidence, 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.[2]
In Israel, there is a common urban legend that conflates the Slavic tradition of Novy God with this feast day, contributing to prejudice against former-USSR immigrants, saying they celebrate this anti-Semitic pope who convinced Constantine to prohibit Jews from living in Jerusalem and promoted anti-Semitic legislation. This common misconception has likely been created since the feast day was known by many immigrants from Europe who came to the country around the time it became a Jewish state.[2]
Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate Sylvester's feast day on 2 January.
References
- ↑ A History of New Years
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
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