Is It Ever Too Late to Celebrate a Birthday?

[Astronuc]

So, Borek, what does "Name Day" mean?

Name day is apparently an Eastern European custom, and as far as I can tell, it has to do with Saint Days and those who have the same name, as in Michael, John (Ivan), Mary, Peter, Paul, . . . . , i.e. christian names. I think it is more a tradition in Eastern Orthodox rather than Roman Catholic, but perhaps there are proximal influences.

 

[Monique]

It's also a tradition in Scandinavian countries, such as Finland and Sweden. I never understood the significance of having such a day

 

[Borek]

So, Borek, what does "Name Day" mean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_day

Initially it was a day that was devoted - for some reason - to the saint of the given name. So, for example, my name day (imieniny as it is called in Polish) is on Nov 11th, as that's the date of the Saint Martin of Tours burial.

However, while tradition started with saints, there are many traditional names that don't have a saint, and TBH I have no idea where the dates came from. For example Eve name day is on Christmas Eve (together with Adam) - that can be some Christian tradition. But there is no Saint Bogdan nor any Christian tradition linked to it, yet Bogdan has a name day on Feb 6th (this is specifically Polish name, or perhaps specifically slavic one, with an easy to decipher meaning - "Bóg" means God, "dany" means given, "Bogu dany" means given to God, this is shortened to Bogdan).

Almost every calendar here has the names printed:

We (in Poland) very rarely celebrate birthdays (mostly kids do), we celebrate name days.

In effect New Year's Eve and New Year's party are called Sylwester, after the name day.

Edit: spent too much time preparing the post...

 

[Evo]

Happyn Birthday Borek!

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Happy Birthday Borek, belatedly!