Why are Russians celebrating Christmas on January 7? | Explained

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill delivers the Christmas service in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

As everyone is busy chasing resolutions for the new year, Christians in Russia are getting into the Christmas spirit — they are waiting to break their 40-day fast with a giant feast joined by friends and family. 

However, they are not alone.  

About 12% of Christians across the globe are getting ready to celebrate Christmas on January 7. 

Why is Christmas being celebrated on January 7? 

For a long time, the Christian world followed the calendar adopted by Roman Emperor Julius Caesar in 46 BC. According to the calendar, one year was the time it took the Sun to go around the Earth. However, the calendar overestimated the solar year by 11 minutes. Over the years, the Julian Calendar and the solar year got increasingly out of sync. 

With advances in astronomy, Pope Gregory created the Gregorian Calendar in 1582 to rectify some mistakes of the Julian Calendar. The majority of the Christian world adopted the Gregorian Calendar with Great Britain adopting it in 1752. Slowly, the secular world embraced Pope Gregory’s calendar as well. 

Some Christians — known as Orthodox Christians — did not like the change and stuck with the Julian Calendar. By 1923, there was a 13-day difference between the two calendars, putting the Orthodox Christmas 13 days after December 25. Therefore, in some Eastern Orthodox churches, including the largest one in Russia, people celebrate Christmas on January 7. 

What are some Orthodox Christmas traditions?

A boy bites traditional Christmas bread to mark the Orthodox Christmas Day festivities in Belgrade, Serbia on January 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Followers of the Orthodox Church fast for 40 days before Christmas and stay away from meat. After the Christmas Eve mass on January 6, they throw a giant feast to celebrate the last day of their fast. At the feast, 12 traditional dishes are served, meant to represent Christ’s apostles. Some of the dishes include cabbage soup, baked apples, vegetable stew, and bread. Some groups indulge in caroling, decorating houses with wheat sheaves and the Serbian churches burn an oak branch or a young oak tree which is accompanied by the proclamation of the birth of Christ. 

Why and how did Ukraine change its Christmas date?

Christianity is the largest religion in Ukraine and historically, the Russian Orthodox Church has dominated the religious lives of Ukrainians. However, in 2023, for the first time in over a century, Ukraine did not celebrate Christmas on January 7. In July 2023, the Ukrainian government passed legislation changing the day Christmas is celebrated in the country from January 7 to December 25. The law signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukrainians wanted to “live their own life with their own traditions and holidays”. 

A military Orthodox chaplain conducts a Christmas Eve mass for service members of the 72nd Chorni Zaporozhtsi Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, at a position in a front line in Donetsk region on December 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

The newly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine also changed its Christmas date to December 25. 

Why was the Ukrainian Orthodox Church banned? 

There are two Orthodox churches that Ukrainians frequent — the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). The UOC has historically sided with the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow.  

On August 20, 2024, Ukraine adopted a law that banned religious groups linked to Moscow. The move specifically targeted the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which the government has accused of complicity in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The UOC claimed that it cut ties with Russia after the invasion but the Ukrainian Government has expressed mistrust over the claim and launched dozens of criminal proceedings, including treason charges, against the church’s clerics. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, places a candle as he attends Christmas service in the ancient Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, in Gorodnya in the Tver region, about 135 km (84 miles) northwest of Moscow, on January 7, 2005.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Like Ukraine changed the date of Christmas to December 25 in 2023, Russia will be forced to change its date in 2100. As the divide between the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar continues to grow, the Orthodox Church in Russia will have to start celebrating Christmas on January 8 in about 75 years.