To such a deeply religious people as the Byzantines, Christmas held a very special place in their hearts and their community.
I wanted to write a decent piece about a typical Byzantine Christmas but have run out of time; I now I have a whole twelve months to get something ready for next year.
In place of what I may have written I would like to recommend that you listen to Mike Duncan’s excellent podcast The History of Rome; he did a lovely episode about a Roman Christmas two years ago. It appears he has joined together three episodes here so it may take a little while to download, but you get two other great episodes with it (free!!). I have been listening to Mike’s podcast for over two years and we are only at the end of the first century AD! He still has around four hundred years to get to Romulus Augustulus.
Also, some Byzantine Christmas music from the wonderful Capella Romana …
Byzantine Blog 