Orthodox Christmas
Next: January 7, 2027
Christmas, by the old calendar.
The story
Where it comes from
Many Orthodox churches still set their feast days by the Julian calendar, which Europe began replacing with the more accurate Gregorian calendar in 1582. The Julian calendar now runs 13 days behind, so their 25 December falls on 7 January. The Russian, Serbian and Coptic Orthodox churches, the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church all keep Christmas on this day, while the Greek, Romanian and Bulgarian churches moved to 25 December.
How it's celebrated
Customs differ from church to church. In Serbia, Christmas Eve centres on the badnjak, an oak branch or log brought into the home and burned, and on Christmas Day people greet each other with 'Christ is born', answered with 'Truly he is born'. In Ethiopia, Christmas is called Genna: the faithful, dressed in white, attend services that begin after midnight, then share feasts and the coffee ceremony with family and friends.
Did you know
- Before Genna, members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church keep a 43-day fast, the 'fast of the prophets', with no meat or dairy.
- The 13-day gap between the calendars will grow to 14 days after 2100, when Julian Christmas will fall on 8 January.
- Ye Genna Chewata, a traditional game rather like field hockey, is still played in rural Ethiopia at Christmas time.
Coming up next
- Elvis Presley's Birthday · January 8, 2027
- Thai Children's Day (Wan Dek) · January 9, 2027
- The First Balloon Flight in America · January 9, 2027
- The World's First Underground Railway · January 10, 2027
- The First Insulin Injection · January 11, 2027
- Coming of Age Day · January 11, 2027