The beginning of Christmas carol and the upcoming of a new year brings us clear consciences. As time passes and it reaches the day of Epiphany the convention of bringing down the adorned decoration de-spirits our mind. This makes us more domineering. This is as we know that there are also some countries who have not yet started their celebration. The start of Orthodox Christmas Day 2019 will be on the midnight of 6th January. This is basically due to the difference in the dates of two distinguished calendars.
The churches in Britain celebrates the Christmas on 25th December. We abolish the decoration of the Christmas tree on the day after twelfth night. The day is known as Epiphany which is on 6th January. This day the Christmas celebration would end. These people celebrate the twelfth night as the day when three kings from heaven came to gift Jesus with Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The Gift of Magi has great significances. The three kings arrived and John baptized the Jesus on the day of Epiphany.
The significant difference between the two calendars is of around 13 days. The Julian calendar falls 13 days behind the Gregorian Calendar. The western countries follow the new 16th-century Gregorian calendar. The countries in the middle east are still celebrating Christmas day according to the Julian calendar.
Countries those Follow the Orthodox Calendar
The countries in the west like Britain, Spain, Portugal, Poland, low catholic countries and Lunenburg follow the new Catholic Gregorian calendar. Paul Gregor gave the Catholic Gregorian calendar in 1582. Thus many western countries including Britain follows it. For all of us, the Christmas falls on the 25th December. The countries celebrate it until the day of Epiphany. These countries follow the same tradition.
While there are some countries like Russia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania, Israel, Ukraine, Egypt etc follows the same orthodox Julian calendar. The calendar they use is given by Julius Ceaser in 45 BC. The countries in the Middle East follows the revised Julian calendar which falls 13 days behind the calendar used in the west.
When is the Orthodox Christmas?
The date according to Julian Calendar is on 7th January. The celebration starts right from the midnight and will continue till 19th January. Other traditions are similar to that of the western countries. Just the days falls apart otherwise they follow all the superstitions in the same way. They celebrate Jesus’ birth in January and for them, the twelfth night will be on 19th January. Almost one-third of the Christian population lives in Russia. Around 85 percent of them follows the Julian Calendar. Thus many people are waiting to celebrate Jesus’ birth in January. For them, the celebrations have not yet even started.
We consider festivals as the best part of every year. It brings lot many new hopes and happiness to the lives of the people. Though the dates can be different the emotions behind each festival is exactly the same. For those who are according to the Gregorian calendar, it is the time to say goodbye to Christmas. We will surely be waiting eagerly for this time again in the next year.
