You are probably used to celebrating Christmas on 25 December, but Russians have this holiday on 7 January. Why is that?

Why is Russian Christmas celebrated on 7 January?

Christmas is celebrated on the date when Jesus Christ was born. How can this date be different across various Christian confessions?

Russians don’t question the date of the birth of Christ, but the Christian Orthodox Church of Russia had been resisting to switch to the new calendar for the last 100 years.

Julian vs. Gregorian calendar

Our life exists within timetables determined by astronomical bodies such as the Sun and the Earth. Biologically, we are programmed to function within Circadian rhythms that are mandated by the periods of light and darkness.

• 1 year is the period that takes the Earth to complete the full orbit around the Sun.
• 1 day is the period including day and night, which is the time that takes the Earth to rotate around its own orbit.

Astronomers were looking into positions of the Sun and planets for thousands of years and creating various chronologies to map time. The calendar created by one astronomer was then corrected by someone else, who managed to measure the length of the days as compared to the position of the Sun better.

Julian calendar was an adjustment of the timetable used in the Roman Empire previously. It was adopted under Julius Caesar in 46 BC (46 years before the birth of Jesus). The calculations were done by a team of Greek astronomers with the help of mathematicians. It was a much more precise chronology than the Roman calendar used previously.

But Julian calendar still wasn’t precise enough, and this is why in another 1600 years (1582) Pope Gregory XIII ordered to modify it further (thus the name of the current timekeeping chronology, Gregorian).

• According to Roman calendar, there were 355 days in a year.
• According to Julian calendar, the year consists of 365.25 days (this is why every fourth year there is 29 February, as it was in 2020).
• According to Gregorian calendar, the year is slightly shorter: 365.24219 days.

This adjustment seems like minor, but it’s significant. By Julian chronology, there is an extra day in a year every 128 years. This impacts the dates of true solstice, which were used to calculate times of growing crops and seasons.

In a way, Julian calendar is like a clock that slowly falls back and gets behind. If it’s not getting adjusted, soon it’s hard to tell the time.

The reason why Russian Christmas is on 7 January is because the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church still uses the old Julian calendar to calculate dates of events, including the birth of Jesus Christ. They refuse to switch to the more astronomically precise Gregorian calendar.

Even in 2021, the Russian Orthodox Church refuses to switch to Gregorian calendar and calculates dates by the old Julian chronology, which brings it 13 days behind the current official dates. Thus, Russian Christmas is 13 days behind the western Christmas: 7 January instead of 25 December.

Why does the Russian Orthodox Church still use the old Julian calendar?

Basically, it’s all about politics. In this case, church politics between different Christian confessions.

Although the more precise Gregorian calendar was mandated by the leading Christian church to be adopted in 16th century, not all countries took it abroad at once. For instance, Russia was still living under the old Julian calendar in 1917 when the Communist Revolution that removed the last Tsar occurred.

We should remember that in 16th century when the switch to a new calendar (which required a jump to a date 11 days ahead at the time) was mandated, the Christian church was one of the major ruling bodies in European countries. However, the Russian (Eastern) branch of the Christian church had a fall out with the western branch during one of recent meetings between representatives of various confessions (much alike summits of heads of states in our time). Thus clerics of Russia vehemently opposed the new rule by their theological opponents.

The Russian Orthodox Church maintained a stronghold on the state of Russia and its tsar until the Revolution of 1917. When communists came to power after the revolution, one of the first decrees of the new government was to separate the church and the state. In other words, announce to the Christian Orthodox Church of Russia that they no longer had any say in how the country and the government would operate.

No wonder that when a degree to switch to Gregorian calendar came a few days later, the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church weren’t too keen to follow the civil suit. The church decided they wouldn’t be switching dates of their celebrations to match the Communist government’s new calendar and would maintain the same dates.

This is why the celebration of Christmas in the Russian Orthodox Church is on 7 January. 13 days is the time that the Julian calendar is behind the Gregorian calendar in the 21 century AC.

Ukraine and Belarus have 2 public holidays for Christmas: 25 December and 7 January. In Russia, only 7 January is a public holiday, while 25 December is a regular working day.

Christmas vs. New Year’s Eve in Russia

When the communist government started its oppression against the Orthodox church (communism was a kind of religion, in a way, and communists didn’t need any competition), they needed to make people to stop celebrating Christmas, the most significant holiday of the year.

To achieve this goal, the New Year’s Eve was made into a holiday that absorbed all the customs of Christmas:

• Christmas fir tree became New Year’s tree.
• Christmas gifts became New Year’s gifts.
• Christmas family feast became New Year’s family gathering and meal.
• Red Christmas hats became New Year’s hats.
• Santa Claus in Russia called Father Frost (“Ded Moroz”), but he comes on New Year’s Eve and not on Christmas.
• And so on.

In short, if you think of a Christmas tradition in your country, it’s probably done in Russia on New Year’s Eve. You can say that Russian New Year’s Eve is western Christmas and New Year’s Eve rolled into one.

When after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 the oppression of religions stopped, and the Russian Orthodox Christian Church started to gain grounds. Today it’s again a powerful force, aligned with the current government of Russia, getting a lot of financing from the state.

However, the traditions of celebrating New Year’s Eve hadn’t transferred back to Christmas. New Year’s Eve is still the most loved and popular holiday in Russia, while Christmas 7 January is rather a religious celebration and event.

• 7 January is a public holiday in Russia, as well as in Ukraine and Belarus.
• However, in Ukraine and Belarus 25 December is also a public holiday, while in Russia it’s a regular working day.

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