Ah, so THIS is the saint from whom we here get the name for secular New Year's Eve. I learned in your links that "In the West, the liturgical feast of Saint Sylvester is on 31 December, the day of his burial in the Catacomb of Priscilla. This is the last day in the year and, accordingly, in German-speaking countries and in some others close to them, New Year's Eve is known as Silvester."
Ah, so THIS is the saint from whom we here get the name for secular New Year's Eve. I learned in your links that "In the West, the liturgical feast of Saint Sylvester is on 31 December, the day of his burial in the Catacomb of Priscilla. This is the last day in the year and, accordingly, in German-speaking countries and in some others close to them, New Year's Eve is known as Silvester."
ReplyDelete@ Dina - In Italian we currently say “San Silvestro” for New Year's Eve.
ReplyDeleteYes, like Dina said in German and Saint-Sylvestre in French. He looks a bit like Saint Nicholas to me, but that's another December story.
ReplyDeleteIn Polish New Year Eve is also called 'Sylwester'. To be honest with you, I don't think Ive ever seen his statue before.
ReplyDeleteI knew none of this... interesting. I also thought it was St Nick.
ReplyDeleteThe rabbis here hate it when so many Israelis celebrate a day on the non-Jewish calendar named for a very anti-Jewish pope.
ReplyDeleteI love that brick work! Beautiful.
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