Orthodox Christmas in Sitka

January 6, 2017 is Christmas Eve in Orthodox Christian parishes across Alaska. Orthodox faithful will go from house to house on foot, in cars or on snow machines, singing carols and sharing food behind a shiny, spinning pinwheel which represents the Star of Bethlehem.
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Although most Orthodox Christmas traditions were brought intentionally to Alaska by the Russians during the colonial era, the spinning star was not one of them.
The Reverend Michael Oleksa is the parish priest in Si