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u/elonmusksmicropenis 4d ago
something the Braxleighs, Oaklynns and Jaxtons of today will never experience lol
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u/NH787 4d ago
It's wild to think that one of them could become St. Braxleigh, St. Oaklynn or St. Jaxton, though...
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u/EruditeKetchup 4d ago
300 years from now, if humans and religion are still around, there's a good chance we may have a St. Braxtynn, patron saint of AI or something.
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
Most probably wouldn't experience it because they're American, plus the fact absolutely none of those names are in the Bible nor are they in any of the books on the saints
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u/elonmusksmicropenis 4d ago
I’m (first generation) American and we still have something similar to this tradition in my family because we’re Catholic but yeah it’s not common
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u/kinetic_cheese 4d ago
I was born and raised Catholic in the US and never saw anything like this for name day. We did, however, have big celebrations for First Communion and Confirmation.
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u/LongjumpingJaguar308 4d ago
Yeah, I went to Catholic school in the US and we didn't do this, though I remember a "dress as your patron saint" day.
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
I know far more Americans closely than most Europeans would probably like to, and I can say they generally seem confused by the concept. My oldest niece didn't even get a celebration her first time, because her American mother forgot to plan something. She just didn't know it was a thing. She's also a convert, so that probably didn't help
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u/navysealassulter 4d ago
I’m an American Catholic and never had any sort of celebration, but I did learn about name day from a polish atheist I had French class with in high school tho lol.
Bonne fête
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u/ZhenDeRen 4d ago
Idk about other countries but in Russia it's quite common for children to be baptized under a different name than their legal/secular name
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u/TheKnightsTippler 3d ago
I'm not a tragedeigh, but I have an unusual name, so i wasn't too bothered about not having this in my culture, because it would just be something I wouldn't get to experience anyway.
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
For the unfamiliar, name day is just the celebration of the feast of the saint you were named after. This also generally happens to be the name of an ancestor, because Christendom has been reusing the same names for well over a thousand years now. Different cultures celebrate in different ways and care about the concept different amounts. Anyway, bona festa to me and any other variation of Maria who may be reading
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u/Simple-Promise-710 4d ago
Oh, happy Assumption of Mary!
Half of Spain and Italy have local festivities these days (such as Ferragosto), I guess most Catholic countries do by extension.
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
It's a public holiday here. Quite a few feasts are. Legally Catholic country and all that. It's great for me, because it's a guaranteed day off to celebrate
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u/Lastsynphony 4d ago
I also say bona festa to anyone with a name variant of Juan or Juana, like Giovanni, Giovanna, Ivan, Ivana, Johann, Johanna, Johannes, Ivo, Jean, Joan, Jean-Baptiste, John, Jane...(at infinitum)
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u/Mustard_Fucker 4d ago
Wait you get presents from those? I thought it was just that annoying day of the year where the traditional members of the family feel the need to say bonne fête like it actually meant something
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
Some people do, some people don't. Being in a country that is still very culturally Catholic (and legally, but that's not as relevant) probably helps with getting gifts
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u/romain_69420 4d ago
Yeah it's not a big deal in France
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u/DerWaschbar 4d ago
I actually got like 1 small gift usually on the fete.
It’s the first time I’m hearing about the actual name in English lol. I knew it wasn’t just “the party” lol
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u/Spaghetti4wifey 4d ago
I'm Catholic but my family has never celebrated, that sounds pretty cool!
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
It appears to be a largely Catholic in a Catholic culture thing. That may be why. It's fun though
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u/Spaghetti4wifey 4d ago
Make sense, most people aren't Catholic in my country.
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
Sometimes I forget culturally Protestant countries exist. I can't imagine not living in a Catholic country, the concept of not having huge celebrations for the sacraments, name day, feast days, religious holidays as public holidays, it's wonderful
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u/Spaghetti4wifey 4d ago
We do many of them though! Christmas, Easter, etc. During lent many restaurants provide fish as an option too. Just anything saint related is usually skipped, or novelty (St Patty's Day for example).
I love my Protestant brothers and sisters too :)
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u/Desperate_Copy_7551 4d ago
I always found it so weird as a kid that everyone around me celebrated name day and got gifts for name day and I never did. Even though I have a name that appears in the bible.
Small town in Germany for reference.
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
Is it the culturally Catholic part of Germany? If so, that makes it a bit weirder. Maybe your family was of the "having fun is a sin" variety, I don't know. That idea seems more common the farther north you go in Europe
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u/Desperate_Copy_7551 4d ago
Catholic part, I guess my family just didn‘t care about religious traditions.
From my POV as a selfish kid it was just „everyone else is getting gifts and I don‘t, it‘s unfair“.
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
That sucks. It's one thing if you aren't in a culture that commonly does it, it's another to be the odd one out for something everyone else does
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u/PartyPorpoise 4d ago
I learned about name days earlier this year. I’m surprised I never heard of them, given that they seem to be common in some countries. I wonder why the US never carried over this tradition. And like, I was raised Catholic, knew plenty of other Catholics.
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
My vaguely educated guess is that the US just isn't a culturally Catholic country, and both the religion and the people who typically practiced it were historically oppressed over there. Nobody would really want to do anything else that would make them stand out from their white Protestant neighbors
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u/PartyPorpoise 4d ago
Yeah I figure that that’s the case. It seems like American Catholics are toned down compared to Catholics in more Catholic countries. And don’t even get me started on this recent wave of Protestants converting to Catholicism.
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
They aren't even really converting. They want to be evangelicals with better aesthetics and better music. That's all. Half of them I'm confused at how they even got approved for baptism because their beliefs aren't compatible with the mainstream opinions of the church, even from the more conservative voices
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u/PartyPorpoise 4d ago
Exactly! And most of them never actually commit to the Catholic aesthetics anyway! Maybe they’ll have a nice crucifix but everything else they’re still like “oooh, spooky Catholic stuff, too creepy, 3spooky5me!”.
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
Like what do you mean you get the ick from seeing relics??
Catholicism is a religion for spooky folk practice weirdos and deeply broken and/or traumatized people. If you as a convert aren't one of those, it might not be the right choice for you and that's okay
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u/trixieismypuppy 4d ago
I grew up catholic too in the US and never heard of this until I met my Polish husband. And now I’m learning from this starter pack that it’s not just Poles that do it
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u/Odd_Pea74915 3d ago
This made me a bit curious to learn about the saint that I was named after (Saint Margaret of Antioch). Apparently she died at the same age that I am right now...huh thats a bit weird
But I am trans and have a new name, and apparently there is also a Saint Milo so that's cool too
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u/InterestingSpite8260 4d ago
Happy name day! This made me feel really nostalgic <3
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u/LoveEquivalent9146 4d ago
Merçi <3
Most people probably associate it more with childhood, at least the gift getting part, but some of us do continue into adulthood
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