Saints Festival

Photos from a recent Saints Festival held at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, NY

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St. John Chrysostom Saints Festival

By Rosemary Shumski

I held our second annual Saints Festival at my church on October 15^th and I used as the theme “Fishers of Men.” The children dressed in costumes as a saint or biblical figure. We then had a costume parade into the hall where they stood on stage in front of their parents and other parishioners. The children were asked to share at least one fact about their saint or biblical figure.

We then had lunch. (One of the items served was goldfish crackers.) I found fish napkins and decorations at a party store so the hall was decorated with a fish theme. After lunch, one of our parishioners dressed in costume and told them the story of Christ and the fishermen and explained its significance. She then taught them the Troparion for “the fishermen most wise.”

Most blessed art Thou, O Christ our God,
Who when thou hast made the fishermen most wise,
Did send down upon them the Holy Spirit,
And by them didst draw the world into thy net,
O Lord of mercy, Glory to thee.

After singing, we did a craft. I found a kit at Michael’s craft store to go along with the theme. The kit contained everything you needed to make 30 foam fish, including self-adhesive stickers and glitter pens. It was on sale for only $4.99. This worked well for children of all ages. After decorating their fish, they attached a magnet to the back and had a nice favor to take home.

After that, they played games. I created a fishing game by cutting fish shapes out of card stock. (I attached a magnet to each fish where the mouth would be.) I put the fish in a large plastic tub. I then made fishing poles by taking dowel rods and tying string to them with a paper clip at the bottom as a “hook”. We had 3 or 4 children “fishing’” and set a time limit (say 2 minutes).Whoever caught the most fish was the winner. Someone else made a game by having fishing poles with a plastic ring attached. The children would then try to pick up small soda bottles that were laying on their side with the ring.

As they were leaving, each child got to take home a blue cellophane bag filled with candy, which was donated by some of the parents. (One of the items in the bag was Swedish fish.) I also made them a booklet to take home. I printed the biblical quotation, “And He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ “ on letterhead I purchased at Office Max that had fish around the border. I found a coloring book that had pages with Christ and the fishermen and the twelve Apostles. I went online and located some word puzzles, and a song that helps you learn the Apostles’ names, along with the Antiochian Gospel Program for the First Sunday of Luke. I then typed up a page giving some suggestions of how children could help share their faith with others, such as wearing their cross, making the sign of the cross when praying in public, (for ex: at a restaurant before a meal), talking about their church, inviting a friend to come to church with them, etc.

The children really enjoyed themselves and also learned something at the same time.

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What Can You As a Child Do To Share Your Orthodox Christian Faith With Others?
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1. Learn as much as you can about your faith.

2. Let people know that you are a Christian.
A. Wear your cross.
B. Make the sign of the cross when praying in public, such as before meals.

3. Talk about your church.
A. Tell people the name of your church and where it is.
B. Tell them that you are an Orthodox Christian.
C. Know what the word “Orthodox” means so you will be able to explain it to your friends if they ask you. (It means right belief.) Tell them that the Orthodox Church was the original Christian Church founded by Christ and the Apostles.

4. Invite a friend to come to church with you.

5. Be kind and friendly to all people because God created everyone in His image.

6. Try to behave as a Christian should behave. Set a good example for others.

Saints Festival Brooklyn

St. Nicholas Cathedral Brooklyn, NY

On Sunday June 18th, All Saints Sunday, St. Nicholas Cathedral of Brooklyn held their first Saints festival. Hosted by their Teens, all the Sunday school children were assigned saints and given the history and a picture of them. From this the children and their families created costumes depicting their respective saints. While the children paraded a story of their Saint was read to the people in attendance. Two teams watched the children and listening to the story the teams competed to see who could guess more saints correctly. It was so much fun and everyone involved learned a lot about the amazing feats and strengths of our Holy Saints.

Photos:

Saints Festival 2005

SAINTS FESTIVAL

By Rosemary Shumski

On October 9, 2005, the JOY club (Junior Orthodox Youth) of St. John Chrysostom Church, York, PA, held its first annual Saints Festival. Children from preschool to age eleven were invited to attend. They were encouraged to dress as a saint or Biblical figure (although it was not required) and to know one fact about their saint to share with everyone.

The social hall was decorated with a “heavenly” theme. The tables were covered with light blue tablecloths and centerpieces made from polyfill (used to stuff pillows.) I wrapped a bud vase in polyfill to represent a cloud and put silver star garland inside the vase and around the “clouds.” Using silver poster board, I cut out a crescent moon for each centerpiece, and placed it in the clouds. I used the remainder of the polyfill to make more clouds around the storytelling area, which was also decorated with silver star garland. I bought a pennant banner with crosses on it (which is usually used as a baptismal decoration) and put that up as well.

The children proceeded into the church where their parents were seated. They lined up by height, with the younger children in front, and the older, taller children in the back. Each child stepped forward, told the name of the saint they were portraying and at least one fact about their saint. Group photos were taken. Approximately twenty five children were in attendance.

Lunch was then served to the children in the social hall. Sign –up sheets had been posted in advance and parents brought specific items. On the menu were: “Heavenly ham and Cheese Sandwiches” “Fruits of the Spirit” (fruit salad) “Salt of the Earth” snacks (chips and pretzels) drinks (juice pouches) and desserts (such as Angel food cake.)

Once lunch was finished, a story was read. We used the book, “The North Star” (which again fit in with the theme) about Saint Herman of Alaska, in order to show the children that we have saints from North America. After the story, the children were asked 10 questions about saints. I then talked about Saint Raphael a bit, since he is an American saint and also to demonstrate that not all saints lived 2000 years ago. Books about the lives of saints were also on display for children and parents to peruse.

Next we did a craft. I cut gold poster board into pieces that were about 4 inches high and 9 inches long. I folded them in half. I printed icons of St. Michael the Archangel on the computer. In a fancy font, I printed the following prayer and cut it out using pinking shears:

St. Michael

Great victor over Satan,

Protect me from all evil.

The children glued the icon on one side of the poster board, and the prayer on the other. I purchased stick-on earrings at Wal-Mart (which were .97 cents per card) in the party favor section. These were used as little “jewels” to decorate the icon. I also found some cross stickers at Wal-Mart (.84 cents per sheet) and the children used one or more stickers to decorate their icon as well. (This provided them with something nice to take home which they could put in their rooms, and a prayer to say at night if they were afraid.)

After that, we played games:

“The Memory Game” (Items are placed on a tray. I used such things as a cross, prayer book, icon, prayer rope, etc. There should be about 8 items. Have the children look at the tray for about 15 seconds, and cover it up. Then have them write down as many items as they can remember. Young children can just tell someone verbally.)

“Toss Aside All Earthly Cares” (Bean bag toss game.)

“Pin the Halo on the Angel”

As the Saints Festival concluded, each child was given a treat bag to take home. Candy was donated by the parents and treat bags were tied with silver star garland.

The children had a lot of fun while learning about the lives of saints in the process. Both the children and the parents asked if we could do this again next year, so we’re planning on making the Saints Festival an annual event.

Photos:

Saints Questions and Answers

For younger children:

1. Which saint is the mother of God?

2. Which saint baptized Jesus?

3. This saint killed a dragon.

4. Which saint is the mother of Mary?

5. This saint gave bags of gold coins to a family who was poor.

For older children:

6. Which saint found the cross on which Jesus was crucified?

7. This saint’s name means “golden mouth” because he was a very good speaker.

8. Which saint was kept prisoner in a tower built by her father because he did not want her to learn about Christianity?

9. This saint was one of the first deacons in the church and the very first martyr.

10. This saint is considered to be an equal to the apostles because she converted so many people to Christianity. People tried to kill her because of her faith, but God saved her from death several times.

ANSWERS TO SAINTS QUESTIONS

1. St. Mary or Theotokos.

2. St. John the Baptist

3. St. George

4. St. Anna

5. St. Nicholas

6. St. Helen

7. St. John Chrysostom

8. St. Barbara

9. St. Stephen

10. St. Thekla