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In Ukraine, we celebrate Christmas in duplicate

According to the Orthodox calendar, the nativity is celebrated on January 7th, but the Ukrainian Parliament decided to make the Christmas celebration official on December 25th.

The Parliament's decision has an immediate first effect: the center of Kiev on the morning of 25 December is in absolute calm as the city wakes up slowly, under a blanket of snow fallen for a good part of the night. The car traffic is in no way comparable to that of the capital on the usual days, proof of the willingness of Ukrainians to stay at home or to walk on foot while until now, December 25 was only a day like the others.

Usually, Ukrainians continued to work until the New Year, the true big celebration of winter, before hibernating until January 7: the Orthodox Christmas. A family party without avalanche of gifts contrary to what Western European households sometimes know.

A transition voted in 2017

The Ukrainian Parliament voted in November 2017 a law formalizing two dates for Christmas: December 25 Catholic and January 7 Orthodox, as is the case in three other countries of Eastern Europe: Belarus, Moldova and Albania.

Historically, since 1918, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been following the Julian calendar, the same as in Russia, which, unlike Gregorian, has some peculiarities of calculation that could move the date of the Nativity Day. Thus, the 25th of December Julian, corresponding to the Gregorian 7th of January, will remain the date of the feast of the Nativity (the birth of Christ) until 2100.

Only, there is also a minority of 1 to 3% of Catholics and Protestants in the country, who celebrate Christmas on December 25 Gregorian. On the other hand, Greek-Catholics, a religious movement that is very present in Western Ukraine, began to shift towards Gregorian December 25 in recent years. The mentalities are gradually changing in the country, and if the Gregorian 7 January remains for the majority of Ukrainians the date of Christmas, we feel very slowly rising a desire to celebrate the nativity at the same time as a large majority of Europeans.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine in the background

At first sight, one might think that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, but it seems that the new calendar was adopted in order to give the Ukrainians the freedom to choose their Christmas date according to their personal convictions or their religious practices while the country is characterized by a great diversity of Christian currents.

Nevertheless, a few weeks ago, Ukraine gave birth to a unified national Orthodox Church , after more than three centuries of domination by the Moscow Patriarchate. And if the Christmas date remains insignificant in the conflict between the two countries on the political and religious level, December 25 Gregorian should become more important, as a way for Ukraine to get closer to its neighbors from Western Europe to better distance and differentiate themselves from Russia.

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