The meaning of Christmas in Russia and how its celebrated

The most frequent conversation starter for me in the month of December is the topic of Christmas. Growing up in a Western society with an orthodox background meant that I, unlike my friends, did not participate in the frantic shopping marathon leading up to December 25th. Instead, I had to always specify that I had to wait a couple of days later to exchange my gifts with family on the New Years Eve - this is our tradition. Meanwhile, Рождество Христово (Rozhdestvo Khristovo), otherwise known as the Orthodox Christmas, commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ every year on January 7th and has absolutely nothing to do with gifting or the involvement of Father Christmas in the scene. From what I have witnessed personally and in my own experience of celebrating Christmas on the 25th of December, the celebration had lost its previously honoured holy significance in the modern age and in effect carries a capitalising consequence for Christmas themed commodities such as gift sets, clothing, drinks etc. An Orthodox celebration of Christmas, on the other hand,  is a private ceremony, carrying a deeper religious significance to those who celebrate it. The orthodox believers would fast for a period of time leading up to Christmas, meaning that they have to refrain from consuming dairy, meat and eggs. This year, the Nativity Fast lasted from November 28th 2018 until January 6th 2019. On the last day, there is a feast in celebration of the end to a fast. At night, the believers would make their way into their local churches where they would stay through the night, listening to a divine service commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Why is Orthodox Christmas celebrated on January 7th and not on December 25th?

First of all, before you get yourselves confused, Orthodox church, like Catholic and Protestant churches branches out from Christianity. It is NOT a separate religion.

The reason why we celebrate Christmas on two different dates is explained in the variation of solar calendar counts (the way we count days, months and years). There are two variations of solar calendar counts: Julian calendar - was the first solar calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC and the one that the Orthodox church chose to remain today when counting the dates for celebrating Christmas and specifically in regard to Easter; Today, however, we live by a different solar calendar called, Gregorian calendar. It was introduced in 1582 and was first adopted by Catholic countries, such as -  Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. The difference between this new adaptation and the one introduced by Caesar was in their method of counting leap years. The Gregorian calendar also added new rules for calculating  Easter dates, and 10 days were dropped in October 1582, and so as a result, the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ fell into a new date that happened to be the 25th of December according to their calculations.

What do Russians do during Christmas:

This holiday is a brilliant juxtaposition of paganism and Christianity celebrated at once. Although, the orthodox church does not approve of acts associated with pagan traditions today, it has been a part of Russian culture for many many moons prior to the christianisation of Kievan Rus' in the 9th century. For the reasons that I am going to refer to later in the post, on the week leading up to Christmas, the superstitious believers (mostly women) gather around at night to perform cartomancy, share spells, carry out rites to attract a good fortune.

During this week and especially on the night of Christmas eve in the pagan times our ancestors would cast spells and perform a number of rituals in hopes for a good year without draught, wishing their loved ones good health and so forth. They believed that this time of year carried a mystic energy, so they would dress up, sing songs in celebration of a new sun, not the birth of Jesus.

When the christianisation of Russia happened in the 9th century, the transition from paganism to Christianity brought its own adaptations into history of celebrating Christmas. Once Christmas was celebrated instead of a pagan honouring of a new sun, activities that involved spells or divination were forbidden and more so were associated with a practice of dark magic and evil. Nonetheless, due to the collective superstition of people and belief in supernatural these traditions found their place in todays celebration of Christmas.


Growing up, I remember my nan and mother telling me stories from their childhood celebrating Christmas. Both of them were born in the USSR, when the government propagandised anti-religious campaigns, and for this reason people remained their interests in magic during this time of year. Today, I am going to share with you a couple of ways in which you too can predict (using this term very loosely) your fortune in the new year.

divination by the book - choose any book that you own at random. Name a page number and a line number (from top or bottom; ie: age 86, 3rd line from the top). What you read is going to be an answer relating to a question that you might have had on your mind but overall, it is down to your own interpretation 

fortune-telling - on separate pieces of paper write down various wishes or events for a new year, those could be predicting you: a move to a new place, new life opportunities, a new relationship, money and what ever else comes to mind but do not forget to include an blank piece of paper. A blank piece of paper will signify no changes in your life for this year. Put the pieces into a hat and let others pick their fortunes.

Another great entertainment for this time of year is reading. My favourite choice of the season is a selection of folklore tales called "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka" by Nikolai Gogol. The tales are written between the years of 1831-32 and perfectly convey the mood of Christmas Eve back in the day. I actually managed to find a couple of translated copies available on Amazon, so you can definitely get your hands on those.

I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas break and if you have any additional information, leave your comments down below.

Love,

S.