St Barbara and Eid El Burbara
On 4 December in the Maronite calendar we venerate St Barbara. She was a Martyr who lived in the fourth century. Her father was a rich man and they lived in Heliopolis which is modern day Baalabek in Lebanon. Barbara was extraordinarily beautiful and her father built a tower to hide her. From the tower, there was a view of hills stretching into the distance. The desire to know the True God consumed her soul. A priest disguised as a merchant came to the city. After instructing her in the mysteries of the Christian Faith, he baptized Barbara.
When her father learnt that she was a Christian he grabbed a sword and almost struck her with it. Barbara fled, but her father rushed after her. She fled and his in the hills and hid. Finally, her father found her and handed her over to the prefect of the city. St. Barbara was tortured. Another woman Juliana was moved by St Barbara’s courage and denounced the torturers in a loud voice, she was also seized.
Both women were repeatedly tortured. Sts. Barbara and Juliana were beheaded. Barbara’s father delivered the fatal blow to his own daughter.
Eid il-Burbara or Saint Barbara's Day, is celebrated on December 4 by Maronites in Lebanon. Children dress up in costume and masks remembering Saint Barbara who disguised herself in many different characters to elude her father and the Romans who were looking for her.
The traditional food made on this feast is Burbara, a bowl of boiled wheat grains, pomegranate seeds, raisins, anise and sugar. It is offered to children who go from one house to another in costumes.
As parents, we must learn that we can’t lock our children away from the world, but encourage them to go out and find Christ in it.
This Christmas let us listen to Pope Francis and follow the example of St Barbara and seek out our faith so we might encounter our Lord.
“Christmas is an encounter! It's a journey to encounter Him, to find Him through our hearts and our lives. To find the living God and to find Him through faith.”
Pope Francis
