Eastern Orthodox Christmas
Eastern Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7, a date determined by the Julian calendar, which is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar used by most of the world. This holiday is observed by various Eastern Orthodox Churches, including the Greek, Serbian, Russian, and Coptic Orthodox Churches. While most Eastern Orthodox Christians follow the January 7 date, some branches, such as the Greek, Romanian, and Bulgarian Orthodox Churches, now celebrate Christmas on December 25, and Ukraine has also recognized both dates since legislation passed in 2017.
The Christmas season for Eastern Orthodox Christians begins on November 15, marking a period known as Nativity-Lent, characterized by fasting and reflection. Key celebrations occur in significant religious sites such as Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity and Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Traditions can vary widely; for instance, in Russia, New Year's Eve often overshadows Christmas, leading to minimal gift exchanges on January 7. In Ukraine, caroling and nativity reenactments are popular, while Serbian customs include the burning of a yule log and baking special bread with a hidden coin for luck. In Egypt, January 7 is also observed as a national holiday for the Coptic Orthodox community.
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Eastern Orthodox Christmas
Eastern Orthodox Christmas
January 7 is the traditional date for the observance of Christmas by the Eastern Orthodox Church, based on the Julian calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in the year 46 b.c., which is 13 days behind the newer Gregorian calendar used by the rest of the world. Those who observe this date include the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem and the Serbian, Russian, and Coptic Orthodox Churches as well as the monks of Mount Athos in Greece. Some branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church, including the Greek, Romanian, and Bulgarian, have adopted the Gregorian calendar, however, and observe Christmas on the more common date of December 25. In 2017, the Ukrainian Parliament passed legislation dictating that December 25 would also be observed as an official holiday in the country in addition to January 7. The Eastern Orthodox Church has tens of millions of members throughout Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Russia, despite decades of communist repression in the latter country during the Cold War, and despite a substantial emigré community in the United States.
The Eastern Orthodox Christmas season actually begins on November 15, 40 days before January 7. This period is known as Nativity-Lent, a time of repentance and self-sacrifice (like the season of Lent leading up to Easter) when Christians must abstain from meat, fish, and dairy products. All Eastern Orthodox peoples attend services on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, with some of the more noteworthy celebrations occurring at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Jesus is said to have been born, and Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Worshipers also gather in Ljubljana in Slovenia and Prague in the Czech Republic, in cathedrals named for Saints Cyril and Methodius, the brothers who arrived from Constantinople in a.d. 863 to convert the Slavs.
Observance of Eastern Orthodox Christmas is as diverse as the cultures that celebrate it, although in Russia, where generations of people were raised as atheists under communist rule, New Year's Eve remains the more popular holiday. A poll taken in 2003 revealed that only 9 percent of Russians exchanged presents on Christmas day, with 88 percent preferring to do so on New Year's Eve, when they gather with family and wait for Grandfather Frost, the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus. As of 2020, as the majority of Russians continued to place greater emphasis on New Year's Eve, Christmas day in Russia—a national holiday—remained fairly quiet; the Russian Orthodox worshippers celebrate with Christmas cakes and caroling. Caroling (kolyady) is also a favorite custom in Ukraine, where young people sing door-to-door. Another Ukrainian custom involves vertep, or nativity reenactment, in which the birth of Christ is played out in churches and other public gathering places. Fireworks mark Christmas celebrations in Grozny, the Chechen capital, where the city's church is decorated with Russian fir trees. Serbs attend mass on Christmas Eve and are given straw, representing the manger in which Christ was born, and a yule log to burn in their fireplace, representing the fire the shepherds used to keep Jesus warm. On Christmas morning, Serb families bake special Christmas bread with a gold or silver coin inside. The person who finds the coin is supposed to have good luck during the coming year. In Egypt, where the majority of Christians in the country belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, January 7 became a national holiday in 2003.
Bibliography
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