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Showing posts from January, 2025

Epiphany 2025

  Russian January is …kind of… rich on holidays. January 7th- Christmas. January 14 - Old New Year. January 19th - Epiphany In the Orthodox Church, Epiphany, or The Baptism of the Lord, is one of the most important holidays and is celebrated in Russia on January 19 (January 6, Old style). The holiday is dedicated to the baptism of the Savior in the waters of the Jordan River by John the Baptist. The holiday is non-rolling, it is always celebrated on January 19th. It begins on the evening of January 18, when Orthodox Christians celebrate Epiphany Eve.  Christmas Holidays also end at this time. The period between these two holidays (we don’t talk about the Old New Year)  is called Yuletide (Christmastide, Holy Days). A special celebration of the 12 days after Christmas exists not only among the Slavic peoples, but also in other countries. The main tradition of the holiday is the consecration of water. It is believed that water consecrated on the eve of Epiphany has a blesse...

Old New Year

  Do you know what day is today (Jan 13)?  Russians celebrate the Old New Year on the night of January 13-14. How did it happen that Russians celebrate the New Year twice?  Simply by adopting a different calendar. Of course, it was not really simple, but after the October Revolution (1917), the Bolsheviks switched from the Julian calendar to Gregorian one. Because of this, all the dates moved 13 days ahead. The year 1919 began on January 1st but in accordance with the new Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar was 2 weeks behind the Gregorian one, as a result of which the celebration of the new year was postponed from January 14th to January 1st. The Old New year isn't an official holiday. There are definitely no people who would remember the old calendar. Russians, by definition, like to celebrate holidays. The more reasons to celebrate, the better. The Old New Year is usually less festive. There may be no more gifts under the tree.  Many Russians will wait until t...