An Icon of St Anna with her daughter the Virgin Mary
Happy Name Day!
July 25th is the Orthodox Feast Day of St Anna.
Normally, on feast days I just send text messages to my family & friends who are called Anna and say “Happy Name Day” or pull on their ear when I see them. I have no idea why we pull people’s ears on their name day. I guess it’s another one of those superstitious Greek traditions that I will research and write about in a future post.
But today was a little bit different. Today, we actually went to Church to celebrate the feast day of St Anna. My husband and I went together, along with my mother in law and our thea… we went to pray for a baby.
There are lots of religious and cultural traditions for couples that want to have children. Many people pray to the Archangel Gabriel for a child, and some pray to Panagia. Some eat the apple of St Irene and others travel across the world to light candles in the Holy Monasteries in Greece.
My husband and I prayed to St Anna. We did this for personal reasons, which perhaps I might talk about when I am ready to share our story. But for now, I will just share the story of St Anna and St Joachim to celebrate this special day.
St Anna’s Icon is beautifully decorated with flowers.
The Story of St Anna and St Joachim:
They say that St Anna and her husband St. Joachim were a childless couple. They prayed for a child but they could not conceive. The childless couple were publicly humiliated and rejected by all. They were seen to be cursed and they were treated like their infidelity was contagious. Nobody, not even their Priest would allow them back in to their Church. Their offerings were not accepted and they were shunned by all.
But St Anna and St Joachim, did not loose faith. They continued to pray and one day the Archangel Gabriel appeared to St Joachim and said that their prayers had been heard. Anna was to conceive and she would give birth to a daughter; and she shall be called Mary.
St Anna was a really old woman when she gave birth to her daughter Mary – apparently she was in her 80′s so, too old to ‘naturally’ fall pregnant. It was a miracle. Their daughter Mary is known to us as the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus or Panagia. That makes St Anna, Jesus’ yiayia.
You can read more about St Anna and St Joachim by going to the website of the Greek Orthodox Church of St Anna on the Gold Coast or to the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.
♦
Did you pray to a Saint for your Baby?
♦
Related posts you might like:
- Saint John’s Fires ~ Unmarried Girls Discover Their Future Husbands
- Flipping of the Baby at the Krevati Ceremony
- My Greek/Cypriot Wedding
Filed under: Greek Customs (in Greece), Other Greek Traditions, Superstition Tagged: archangel gabriel, Babies, feast day, greek, Greek Orthodox Church, greek traditions, holy monasteries, Orthodox, tradition
