Author Archives: Lindsay

About Lindsay

Lindsay has been writing about Pittsburgh since 2005. She likes pretzels from the Pretzel Shop on Carson St., used book stores, her rollerblades and she hopes to learn to skateboard someday soon.

Merry Christmas! A Guide to Orthodox Christmas Services in Pittsburgh

I have been feeling like Christmas went past too fast this year. I didn’t get to look at enough trees or holiday lights and I am still listening to the Christmas station on Pandora. I just posted a photo from New Years Eve to the IheartPGH Instagram account and realized I had not posted any holiday photos of Pittsburgh at Christmas since December 12. I was trying to capture a panorama of the perfectly Pittsburgh scene at Pennsylvania Macaroni Co, and happened to snap a guy wearing a Santa hat in the photo.

Thankfully for me, there are a few more days left to celebrate the holiday season. While I was raised Presbyterian in Sq. Hill. My fathers side of the family is Ukranian Orthodox from McKees Rocks. As a kid, I thought this was the best thing ever because I got to celebrate Christmas and open presents in both December and January. My fathers side of the family still celebrates Russian Christmas, but now on the Saturday that is most convenient for everyone to get together.

I have become more and more interested in local churches and church services. These church buildings are beautiful structures that are steeped with Pittsburgh history and the filled with stories of the people who have been worshipping there. Each year the Post-Gazette writes an article about Orthodox Christmas and every January 7th, I read the article I pledge to attend a service the following year. Yesterday, I remembered that it wasn’t quite yet the 12th day of Christmas and started searching for a Christmas service to attend. It turns out, and I suppose this is telling sign of change in this city, it is not easy to find out the time and location of these Orthodox Christmas services. The churches that hold these services are not necessarily the ones that posting weekly updates on Twitter and Facebook.

One of the things I have learned from blogging about the ‘burgh is that I am probably not the only one searching for this information. Thankfully there is a very comprehensive list of Pittsburgh Orthodox Churches at PittsburghOrthodox.com. I don’t know anything about who put this site together, but I am thankful for this list. I rather enjoyed visiting the websites for these churches. There is some impressive architecture and iconography to see. I am also eager to learn more about this tradition of burning of the Yule log. I am hoping I can make it to one of these services tomorrow.

Pittsburgh Area Orthodox Christmas Services

Photo Credit: St. Nicholas McKees Rock Facebook Page

I read all of the past articles about Orthodox Christmas and I visited each of the websites for the churches on the PittsburghOrthodox.com list and here are the Christmas Services I could find. There are many more churches that don’t have websites, so I suspect this is only a partial list, but it is a start. If you know of any other services, please leave the details in the comments below.

Carnegie	St. Peter & St. Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church 220 Mansfield Boulevard- Carnegie, PA 15106	Wednesday, January 6, 2016 6:00pm Sviate Vechir dinner 8:00 pm Nativity Eve Service Thursday, January 7, 2016 10:00 am Nativity Day Service Monday, January 18, 2016 6:00pm Theophany dinner 8:00pm Grand Compline Theophany Eve Service Tuesday, January 19, 2016 10:00am Liturgy for Theophany
Homestead	St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Homestead 903 Ann St., Homestead, PA 15120Phone: 412-461-3264 (rectory); 412-804-8865 (mobile)	Services for the Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas): Wednesday, January 6, 8pm – Vigil of the Nativity Service (Choir to sing Christmas carols starting at 7:30pm) Thursday, January 7, 9:30am – Divine Liturgy for the Nativity of Our Lord (Choir to sing carols at 9am)
McKeesport	Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church 330 Shaw Avenue, McKeesport, PA 15132
Whitehall	Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Cathedral 450 Maxwell Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15236 412-882-3900 info@htsoc.com	Wednesday, January 6, 2016 – Christmas Eve 5:00 P.M. – Cutting of the Badnjak at the Picnic Grounds on Hamilton Road. 7:30 P.M. – Blessing and Burning of the Yule Log. 9:00 P.M. – VIGIL SERVICES Thursday, January 7, 2016 10:00 am – CHRISTMAS – NATIVITY OF OUR LORD – DIVINE LITURGY Saturday, January 9, 2016 10:00 am – ST. STEPHEN ARCHDEACON, PROTOMARTYR, DIVINE LITURGY AT 10:00 A.M.
Monroeville	St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church 2110 Haymaker Road, Monroeville, Pa Facebook Page	Wednesday January 6, Badnje Vece in the spirit of celebrating Christmas Eve. All are invited. The badnjak will be lit at 9:00PM followed shortly by the Yule Log Ceremony. Christmas Matins begin at 10:00PM and all are encouraged to stay. (Confession begins at 8:30PM on the 6th for those planning on takling Holy Communion on January 7th during Christmas Day Divine Liturgy starting at 10:00AM.)
Aliquippa	St. Elijah Serbian Orthodox Church 1198 22nd St, Aliquippa, PA 15001 Facebook page	Complete Holiday Schedule is available here. Wednesday, January 6, 2016 3:30 pm – line up for Yule Log 4:00 pm – Cutting of the Yule Log 4:30 pm – Children’s Program 10:00 pm – Christmas Eve Vigil

Other Orthodox Events of Interest

I found this event on the website for Saint Anthony Orthodox Church in Butler and thought it was interesting that they are doing a service at Lake Arthur.

Sunday, 10 January, 1:30 pm: Outdoor Blessing of the Waters. After Divine Liturgy, we will gather at Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park, joining the parishes of Sts Peter and Paul and St Andrew, as well as the nuns at Transfiguration Monastery. The blessing of waters will “expand” our celebration of the Lord’s Baptism by bringing the blessing of the Jordan to all of creation.

Past Articles & Photos about Orthodox Christmas in Pittsburgh

[iheartpgh/orthodox-christmas-celebrations-in-pittsburgh” target=”_blank”>View the story “Orthodox Christmas Celebrations in Pittsburgh” on Storify]

Pittsburgh Holiday History Project

As Macy’s was preparing to close its doors at the end of the summer, I was thinking about how shopping at a downtown department store was a thing that the next generations of Pittsburghers would not get to do this holiday season. There are still lots of traditions to be had downtown and all around this city, but there downtown department stores are now gone. In my lifetime, there was Horne’s, Gimbels, Kaufmann’s, Saks, Lazarus and briefly Lord & Taylor. But there are future generations of Pittsburgheres who will only associate the name Kaufmann with the family who built the Frank Lloyd Wright house, Fallingwater. So I started thinking, what other holiday traditions have come and gone, or changed over time in Pittsburgh. I am sure there are many other holiday traditions that go beyond department stores and shopping malls. I want to know what other people remember about the holidays from Pittsburgh’s past.

I would like to ask your help in helping to capture some Pittsburgh holiday history. Take a break from talking about politics, and talk about something that I am pretty certain everyone at the table will agree on… Pittsburgh. Think along the lines of NPR’s Storycorps, but Pittsburgh style (you know, with fries on top). While you are sitting around the holiday table this week, or maybe while you are out for a drive, will you interview your family about Christmases of Pittsburgh’s past?

Here are three questions to get you started, feel free to add more or less.

Shopping – what are your memories of holiday shopping in Pittsburgh? What was the name of the store? Is it still open? If not, what is there now?
Food – was there a special food that you had for the holidays? Was it something made in the home? Bought at a store? Do you still include this food in your celebrations today? [Feel free to share recipes if you have them, and are willing to share!]
Worship – Did you go to church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Where did you go to church? Is that church still standing? Were there any special holiday traditions at this church?

Share your stories of Pittsburgh holiday history…

Please share your stories in the comments below or if you have a blog, write up a blog post or two and share the link here as well. If you are sharing on social media please use #pghxmaspast.

What are you going to do with all of these stories?

Not sure yet. I would love to share a timeline of key dates (and photos – please share photos if you have them). I would really like to put together a timeline of department stores in Pittsburgh. Or maybe we can create a map of places past and present. I have been talking with a local archivist about how we could possibly record some of these stories to be shared in the future. At the very least I would love to share some of them here on the blog.

I am curious to see how memories change over the decades. When did things shift from shopping downtown to visiting shopping malls? How have holiday church services changed? How many churches are still standing and how many are gone?

Update Enough Toys Have Been Donated! (Was: Pittsburgh Police Replace Stolen Toys)

Update Tue 12/22 12:50pm – Police Have Toy Enough Donations

The City of Pittsburgh sent out the following press release at 12:50pm.

From the City of Pittsburgh

MEDIA ADVISORY

Hundreds of Christmas Presents Stolen

Sent 12/22/2015 @ 12:50 pm

There has been an amazing response from the public to assist. We do not need any further donations. Also, Toys For Tots has stepped up with a $10,000 donation to replenish toys. Please express our heartfelt gratitude to the public and let them no that no more donations are required. We will be in touch with additional details when possible.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PITTSBURGH, PA – The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is investigating a burglary overnight in which 400 children’s Christmas presents were stolen from a community center. The toys were donated by Toys for Tots and would have been distributed to deserving families in Zone 5 neighborhoods.

Detectives are hard at work tracking down the actors. Zone 5 Cmdr. Jason Lando will discuss the details of the burglary and a plan to replace those presents at 9:15 at police headquarters, 1203 Western Avenue.

Reporters are asked to gather in the lobby.

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Early this morning, I was forwarded the following email from Officer Jason Lando, who is the Commander of the Zone 5 Police Station overnight from a Pittsburgh friend who happens to be out of the country, but wanted to see if there was any way to help.

The same message was also posted on the Zone 5 Facebook page here.

I was hoping and holding my breath that we would not have to use the #pghsavesxmas hashtag this year. I had spent the weekend following up with some of the groups that we were able to help last year to make sure everything went smoothly with toy drives this year.

But last night, toys for over 400 children were stolen from a local community center. Commander Lando is asking for donations of Gift Cards so that police can quickly replace stolen items in time for the holidays.

Here is how you can help:

Drop off gift cards at the Zone 5 Police Station, located at 1401 Washington Blvd. (this was the place where the drivers tests used to be, now next to the cycling track)
Like and share this post from the Zone 5 Police Facebook Page about how to help
Like Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Zone 5 on Facebook

Donating Gift Cards vs. Toys:

One of the things that we learned last year doing the toy drive is that we never had enough toys for older kids, so gift cards are a good way to help because officers can buy exactly what they need.

Updates:

8:24am – Post-Gazette Article about Theft

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Goat Rodeo Cheese

Yes, cheese as a gift! Locally made cheese made by the girls at Goat Rodeo Farm in Allison Park. One of my goals for this list of the 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh is to suggest gifts that are useful. If you have read the book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” you have probably spent some amount of time in the past year thinking about how you have too much stuff, and how to get rid of that extra stuff. This has spilled over into my thoughts about gift purchasing. I don’t want to get more stuff, which I will then have to figure out how to get rid of, so I should probably not give more stuff.

So in the interest of giving awesome gifts, that do not fall under the category of stuff, the next gift on the list is cheese. I learned about Goat Rodeo Cheese from their Instagram account. It is cheese lovers porn, with some photos of some pretty handsome goats.

Fresh chèvre dark chocolate #brownies !! Pick up our recipe this Saturday at Bloomfield Farmers Market! #local #food #cheese #Pittsburgh #goatcheese

A photo posted by Goat Rodeo Farm & Dairy (@goat_rodeo_cheese) on Aug 18, 2015 at 5:33pm PDT

Last weekend, I was visiting Penn Mac with a friend where the following conversation occurred:

Actual convo I’m having at Penn Mac. Friend “I’m making bad cheese choices” me: “there are no bad cheese choices”

— I heart PGH (@iheartpgh) December 12, 2015

After spending a significant portion of our afternoon sampling cheese and prosciutto, I am convinced that local cheese would make a great gift for any food lover on your list.

For your friend who loves Blue Oyster Cult… Goat Rodeo has just released a new cheese – More Cowbell.

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Shop: Goat Rodeo Cheese is available at East End Food Coop and several other local markets.

Follow: Goat Rodeo on Facebook & Instagram

You can see the other 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh here.

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Map of Pittsburgh Quilt Pattern

This is the ideal gift for a Pittsburgh quilter. I realize that this gift isn’t for everyone, but it is such a spectacular idea I decided it deserved a spot on the list. Meet the Pittsburgh Quilt Pattern from Haptic Lab. Haptic Lab calls this a kit, but it is really just the map of Pittsburgh for stitching, you will have to get all of the other stuff to make this a quilt, so I am calling it a pattern. (Apologies if I am not using the correct quilting terms here, please correct me in the comments below. )

I love quilts, probably because quilts were like the first analog blogs. Long before blogging came on the scene, some quilts were created to tell a story. Not only can a quilt tell a story, but they are a fairly functional item that can be used everyday. I’m pretty sure a quilt is more useful than a blog when it comes to providing comfort and warmth. I am a want-to-be quilter. I’ve never completed a quilt, but I have purchased enough fabric from Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse to possibly make a quilt for everyone in my neighborhood. (By the way, Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse is THE BEST place to buy gift wrapping supplies around).

Photo of the Pittsburgh Friendship Quilt I took with my Blackberry Pearl in 2008.

Photo Credit: My Blackberry,circa 2008.

Also, one of my most favorite things I’ve visited in the name of documenting Pittsburgh was going to the Quilt Company East Quilt Show to see the Pittsburgh Friendship Quilt. If you went on a field trip to the Science Center in the late 80s you might remember signing your name to a 2.25″ x 2.25″ square of fabric. Fascinating story of how the Science Center lost the quilt – how you lose something this big is another story, but the Quilt Company East found the thing and restored it piece by piece. You can see more, not-so-great, taken with my Blackberry Pearl, photos of the Pittsburgh Friendship Quilt here.

Pittsburgh Quilt from Haptic Lab, lets assume this is a gold fabric.

If you are a knitter, then you have likely seen the website Purl Soho. It is a blog and store in New York that has some of the most beautiful and not so difficult patterns out there. If you aren’t a knitter, there are tons of knitting patterns out there, but not many that make things you might actually want to wear.

A knitting friend of mine discovered these city quilts on the Purl Soho website and has begun work on stitching her own version of the city. Because Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh and not Hollywood or Boston or Brooklyn, Haptic Lab only sells the Pittsburgh version as a kit and the photos of the Pittsburgh map don’t do it justice, so for the sake of showing you the potential of this quilt and pattern, here is what the Haptic Lab Paris Quilt looks like. (Pittsburgh is often considered the Paris of Appalachia, so at least there is some common thread).