Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, mainly because it only comes once a year, much like a birthday.There is significance in the day for all manner of reasons, from the birth of Jesus Christ to a simple bank holiday with all the family which makes it special for everyone in some way. With key differences between families, it is no wonder the holiday is often celebrated in completely different ways in a number of countries. Some are known for celebrating Christmas twice, and this is because of calendar synchronisation.
Which cultures celebrate Christmas twice?
Christmas is primarily a European holiday, which was taken over to others when certain countries spread their influence around the globe.
Ultimately those which put the most emphasis on the day are the most religious, with the US and UK at the forefront.
However one of the most religious parts of Europe is around Russia and the Baltic states, where certain countries are known for celebrating the day twice.
The countries which celebrate Christmas twice are Belarus, Eritrea, Lebanon Moldova, and Ukraine which only recently started.
Ukraine’s official Christmas Day was on January 7th, known as the Orthodox Christmas.
Long ago, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII changed the long-used Julian calendar, to the now widely used Gregorian calendar.
The new calendar would be roughly 13 days ahead of the former Julian calendar, meaning countries which chose not to adopt it would ultimately run on later dates.
The nature of the Soviet Union in this part of the World meant Christmas – traditionally the holiday of capitalism – was not celebrated until the USSR collapsed in 1991.
After this, countries would choose which days they would like to have their Christmas, the older Julian date or the current Gregorian one.
Some countries opted for two, including Ukraine, which recognised December 25 as a national holiday in 2017, and elected to still celebrate their Julian one on January 7.
In Ukraine, many citizens still stick to the one tradition date in January, but celebrations take place on both days regardless.
One of the reasons a remote Canadian tribe was attracted towards the Russian Orthodox church was the abundance of feast celebrations, with some countries celebrating both traditional and Gregorian Christmas during the 19th century.
Sergei Kan, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, alleges one of the core reasons a remote Canadian tribe named the Tlingit was attracted to the Russian Orthodox Church was because of feast celebrations.
In his book, ‘Memory Eternal: Tlingit Culture and Russian Orthodox Christianity Through Two Centuries’, he expands on the two Christmas dates’ importance.
He writes: “New opportunities to celebrate Orthodox feast days, particularly Christmas and Easter, which opened up for the Sitka Tlingit in the early 1880’s, played a major role in attracting them to the Russian Church.”
The Orthodox church would celebrate both the ‘American’ 25th celebration, and the later one, which had a different significance.
Mr Kan says: “Christmas/nativity season, which began on December 25 with the “American Christmas” and ended on January 19, when water was made holy by the priest during the feast of epiphany, coincided with the traditional ceremonial winter season further contributed to its prominent role in the new annual cycle.”