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In some Eastern European and Middle Eastern countries Christmas is officially celebrated on January 7.
That is because many Orthodox Christian churches follow the Julian calendar for religious celebrations.
The Julian calendar runs 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, the standard international calendar in use today.
"When
we open the church calendar on January 7, we're actually looking at the
date December 25," Father Alexander Morozow of the Russian Orthodox
Church in Canberra said.
"So we still have that same date, we're just using a calendar that hasn't caught up.
"It's like a clock that's running 13 days slow."
The Julian calendar took effect under the reign of Julius Caesar in 45BC.
In
1582, Pope Gregory XIII created a new calendar to correct the
discrepancy between calendar time and calculated astronomical time. It
became known as the Gregorian calendar.
But to begin with only Catholic countries adopted the changes and Orthodox Christian countries remained on the Julian calendar.
Over
time, those countries adopted the Gregorian calendar for secular use
but the Orthodox churches continued to base their liturgical calendar on
the Julian timetable.
In 1923 a revised version of the Julian
calendar was introduced bringing Christmas Day in line with the
Gregorian calendar, but it was only adopted by some of the Orthodox
Christian countries including Greece, Cyprus and Romania.
Russia,
Ukraine, Serbia, Belarus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Macedonia, Moldova and Montenegro continue to celebrate Christmas on
January 7.
Traditional differences and Lent
Many Orthodox and western Christmas traditions are the same, like Christmas trees, gift giving and carols.
But one point of difference is the period leading up to Christmas.
"We're
used to here [in Australia] having the lead up to Christmas as a time
of celebration, with Christmas parties and things like that," Father
Morozow said.
"Whereas in the east, in the Orthodox church,
that's a time of preparation and the celebration really starts from
Christmas and goes onwards."
For most Orthodox Christians, Christmas is the beginning of celebrations after 40 days of Lent.
"Those who observe Lent don't eat meat or dairy foods for that period," Father Morozow said.
"So on Christmas Day they tuck into all the things that haven't been on the menu for the previous six weeks."
While each Orthodox Christian country has its own unique traditions, they all include church services and great feasts.
Many
have their own version of Santa Claus too, like in Russia where Ded
Moroz (Grandfather Frost) and his granddaughter Snegurochka (Snow
Maiden) deliver presents to the children.
Father Morozow expects that one day all the Orthodox churches will
update their calendars, but for now he said celebrating Christmas on
January 7 had its benefits.
"Having Christmas on January 7 makes it easier to have a church feast day.
"The
increasingly commercial elements and last-minute buying presents over
this period are sort of swept over us and we can concentrate on the
spiritual dimension of Christmas."
Topics:
christianity,
religion-and-beliefs,
human-interest,
community-and-multicultural-festivals,
canberra-2600,
act,
australia,
serbia,
russian-federation,
ukraine,
ethiopia,
egypt
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