Tomorrow, January 7th, is Orthodox Christmas. When I was growing up in Saskatchewan, it was called Ukrainian Christmas as we have a large Ukrainian population, many of which are Ukrainian Orthodox. My wife calls December 25th Catholic Christmas and January 7th Christian Christmas. So why the difference in dates of 13 days?
In 46 BC, Julius
Caesar developed the Julian Calendar which was the most accurate at the time
and was adopted by all the Christian world. The first
recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome on December 25, AD 336. Various
factors contributed to the selection of December 25 as a date of celebration:
it was the date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar and it was nine
months after March 25, the date of the vernal equinox and a date linked to the
conception of Jesus (celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation).
The Julian Calendar had a problem in that it was 11 minutes
longer than the astronomical year so ever 128 years was out one day on the astronomical year and after
1500 years, was 10 days behind. Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian
calendar in 1582. The Gregorian Calendar corrected the astronomical error with
the Leap Year and by jumping from October 4th to October 15th,
corrected the lag in days. Many countries immediately adopted this calendar.
However, the Orthodox Communities did not.
In 1918, Soviet Russia and a then independent Ukraine adopted
the Gregorian calendar, by which time the Julian calendar was 13 (or 14?) days
behind. The Gregorian calendar was quickly picked up by the secular world but
the Russian, Ukrainian and several other Orthodox Churches did not. They
continued to celebrate Christian holidays by the old calendar. Which is
to say December 25th on the Julian Calendar is January 7th
on the Gregorian Calendar. That is why Julian Easter Sunday is usually
on or after Gregorian Easter Sunday and many other recognized holy days are on
different dates.
Today, the Russian, Jerusalem, Serbian, Georgian, and Polish
Orthodox Churches live by the Julian calendar, as well as the monasteries on
Mount Athos in Greece and the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Christians of
Ukraine. This makes up roughly 56% of the world’s Orthodox Christians, and 6.6%
of all Christians (12% of the world’s Christians are Orthodox). The rest of the
Orthodox world lives and celebrates by the Gregorian Calendar.
While true Ukrainians celebrate tonight, Christmas Eve, with
12 meatless dishes, we carnivores at our house will have cold cuts, roast duck,
steamed fish and vegetables, and salads. Just the two of us. We ought to go to
midnight service but will ask Lina to light a couple candles for us as she is
faithful in attendance.
As a good prairie girl, I grew up calling it "Ukrainian Christmas" too. Enjoy your cold cuts and duck tonight, you heathens. What, not even a few perogies?
ReplyDeleteWe can eat vareneky anytime. We ate the fish instead. The duck will get roasted tomorrow.
DeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteThis is something I had often wondered about but lazy me had not thought to explore...
My pleasure. I love doing posts like this as I learn too.
DeleteHow cool to finally know the reason behind the date difference! Thanks for the explanation. Happy "Ukrainian Christmas" - enjoy your feast! :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you Diane. It is my kind of writing. We ate well and will again tomorrow.
Delete12 meatless dishes in one meal….. actually sounds rather fun! Vareneky/Perogi are good anytime too! :) I too called it “Ukrainian Christmas” when growing up.
ReplyDeleteOddly, I have never had the opportunity to eat duck. Chicken and turkey have been the only fowl I have had. No goose or squab either. I do very much like turkey and chicken, so I assume I would also really like any of the other three I mentioned.
PipeTobacco
I need to get a list of the meatless dishes. Buckwheat is one. Honey is another. I had not eaten duck or goose until moving to Ukraine. They tend to be fatty so need to have a rack in the roasting pan to keep the carcass out of the grease. Tanya is an expert at roasting them.
DeleteDecember 6 or so to me is when Epiphany. But my heart is into Yule.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on and stay safe
I just learned that Epiphany falls on January 6th. Since it also means "a moment of sudden and great revelation or realization" perhaps it is no coincidence that the Insurrection in DC also occurred Jan 6th?
DeleteI was principal in two villages in bush Alaska that were joined by a one mile road. The lower village was Russian orthodox and the upper village Catholic. The Catholic Christmas had always determined the school winter vacation - I insisted, and instituted an extended winter vacation encompassing both celebrations, though it required us to extend the school year by a few days. It is funny the animosity that exist between two branches of the same Christian religion.
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
You are a good man. As to animosity, as the Irishman said Are you a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist?
DeleteI knew it had to do with that as Isaac Newton was born on the old date of Christmas
ReplyDeleteNow I learned something. That is an interesting blog you have. You would be a terror at Trivial Pursuit. Drop back again, please.
Deletethat was very interesting...I love learning new stuff. I want to make perogies. I used to make them with my polish girlfriend who made them every year.but I've never made them on my own..
ReplyDeletePolish - perogies; Ukrainian - varenyky. They are wonderful. Cook by boiling, then fry in lots of butter with onions. I can eat 10. Used to eat 20. Getting old.
Delete