From December 25 through January 4, the Church suspends the usual Wednesday and Friday fasts so we can celebrate the Incarnation without interruption. This is the Nativity through Theophany fast-free period.
It’s one of the Church’s designated fast-free weeks. During these days, you don’t fast on Wednesdays and Fridays like you normally would. The Church wants us to feast, not fast, because God has become man and we’re still celebrating.
Why the Church gives us these days
The Nativity isn’t just December 25. We celebrate the Afterfeast for eleven days, extending the joy of Christ’s birth through a full liturgical season. Think of it like this: when something momentous happens in your life, a wedding, the birth of a child, you don’t celebrate for just one day and then go back to normal. The event ripples outward. The Church understands this. God entered human history as an infant in Bethlehem. That’s worth more than twenty-four hours.
So the Church relaxes the fasting rules. She’s not being lax. She’s being maternal. During the Nativity Fast we prepared ourselves through discipline and anticipation. Now that Christ is born, we feast. We eat. We gather. We rejoice.
This isn’t permission to gorge yourself or ignore prayer. It’s an invitation to celebrate with your whole life, including your body. Food and drink aren’t obstacles to holiness during these days. They’re part of how we mark the feast.
What this means practically
You can eat meat, dairy, fish, whatever. Wednesday and Friday aren’t fast days during this period. If you’ve been carefully observing the Wednesday and Friday fasts all year, this break might feel strange at first. That’s normal. Some people even feel a little guilty, like they should be fasting anyway. But obedience to the Church’s rhythm is more important than our individual impulses toward rigor.
Your priest might have specific guidance for your parish, so check with him if you’re uncertain. But the general rule across the Orthodox Church, Antiochian, OCA, all of us, is the same. Fast-free means fast-free.
When it ends
January 5 is the Eve of Theophany, and it’s a strict fast day. The celebration stops. We fast completely that day in preparation for the Feast of Theophany on January 6, when we commemorate Christ’s baptism in the Jordan. So you get eleven days of feasting, then a hard stop.
Theophany itself is a feast day, so January 6 is fast-free again. But the special fast-free period we’re talking about is really December 25 through January 4, with that strict fast on the 5th marking the transition.
The bigger picture
This period connects two great feasts: the Nativity and Theophany. At the Nativity, God becomes man in secret, born in a cave, announced to shepherds, revealed to Magi. At Theophany, His divinity is proclaimed publicly at the Jordan when the Father’s voice speaks from heaven and the Spirit descends as a dove. The eleven days between link these revelations together. We’re living liturgically in the unfolding mystery of who Jesus is.
Some people call this the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” and there’s overlap with that old Western tradition. But we’re not just keeping a quaint custom. We’re participating in the Church’s liturgical life, which has its own logic and beauty. The fast-free period isn’t arbitrary. It’s the Church breathing, inhaling during the fasts and exhaling during the feasts.
A word for Southeast Texas
If you’re coming from a Baptist or non-denominational background, this whole idea of fast-free periods might seem odd. You might not have fasted regularly before becoming Orthodox, so what’s the big deal about not fasting? But once you’ve lived through a few cycles of the Church year, once you’ve kept the Nativity Fast and then hit December 25, you’ll understand. The contrast makes the feast actually feel like a feast. Your body knows it. Your stomach knows it. And that’s part of the point.
The Church isn’t just teaching your mind. She’s teaching your whole person, and that takes time. So if this is your first year, just follow along. Feast when the Church says feast. Fast when she says fast. Trust the rhythm. It’s been working for two thousand years, and it’ll work for you too.
