Posted on 12/24/2018 4:50:15 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Father Frost didn’t drop presents off for Russian children on Dec. 25. And he won’t on Orthodox Christmas (Jan. 7), either. Rather, Ded Moroz and his lovely snow maiden assistant, Snegurochka, are attached to New Year’s Eve, which in Russia is the new year and the secular bits of Christmas like trees and presents all rolled into one.
Initially, the Soviets tried to replace Christmas with a more appropriate komsomol (youth communist league) related holiday, but, shockingly, this did not take. And by 1928 they had banned Christmas entirely, and Dec. 25 was a normal working day.
Then, in 1935, Josef Stalin decided, between the great famine and the Great Terror, to return a celebratory tree to Soviet children. But Soviet leaders linked the tree not to religious Christmas celebrations, but to a secular new year, which, future-oriented as it was, matched up nicely with Soviet ideology.
Ded Moroz was brought back. He found a snow maid from folktales to provide his lovely assistant, Snegurochka. The blue, seven-pointed star that sat atop the imperial trees was replaced with a red, five-pointed star, like the one on Soviet insignia. It became a civic, celebratory holiday, one that was ritually emphasized by the ticking of the clock, champagne, the hymn of the Soviet Union, the exchange of gifts, and big parties.
Christmas itself was reinstated 25 years ago, in 1991. And it is indeed celebrated by religious (and even pseudo-religious) Russians. But the big celebrations are still reserved for New Year’s Eve.
“The New Year has become so ingrained in the society,” says Izmirlieva, “it is unifying.” Plus, “It’s for those who are not Christian, those who are anti-Christian, or members of other religions. It is still very strong.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...
If we date our calendar from the birth of Christ, should that be January 1st?
Christmas is still being sorted out in that part of the world.
Ukraine only instated Western Christmas (December 25th) as a holiday last year. And Orthodox Christmas (January 7th) remains a holiday. Though this might switch to the 6th now if I’m not mistaken.
I thought the birth was in the spring.
No. The New Covenant began with Jesus' circumcision--one week after His birth.
Please cite the Biblical authority for the exact date of His birth.
No one knows for sure, but it’s always been celebrated...from the 2nd Century at least, on Dec. 25, never the Spring.
In Greece children receive gifts on New Years Day, from St. Basil (Agios Vasilis). Oddly enough, St. Basil is depicted exactly the way Santa Claus(St. Nicholas)is.
Christmas is celebrated on December 25th by the Greek Orthodox Church.
Bionically, I understand, the context was springtime. Something about tending the sheep or such.
Heh
Bionically = biblicaly.
I cannot even address all the inaccuracies and it became too difficult to read after a time.
The Russian church uses the Julian calendar and always has...as do many other Orthodox churches in the world. It is often amusing to see people outside the church and esp those who have never been to Russia or spoken the language, spent any time in the culture, write pieces such as this proving themselves to be complete idiots as historians.
The calendar is the same, they just observe the holidays on different dates. For now, businesses remain open on December 25th, but may close on the 7th of Jan etc...
If I were setting up the calendar, I wouldn't start it at Jesus' birth, that event was unremarkable as all men are born, and there is no Biblical fixing of his birthday. The few clues we have, the shepherds in the fields indicate spring or summer.
Nor would I start with the day of his death, as all men die.
The truly extraordinary thing, the defining moment of his gift of salvation was his resurrection, an event with a clear Biblical authority to the exact date.
That's what I would have used, it's unique as few come back from the dead, and it has a known date, and it is proof positive of the good news.
Still, I'll celebrate on December 25th, with the rest of us...
...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
More evidence of the inherent evil of Communism.
“Ukraine only instated Western Christmas (December 25th) as a holiday last year. And Orthodox Christmas (January 7th) remains a holiday. Though this might switch to the 6th now if I’m not mistaken.”
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I dunno on that. I do know I’ve a friend of Russian ancestry who uses it as an excuse not to take the Xmas tree until it absolutely, positively has to be thrown out. Christmas for lazy people and procrastinators, I guess.
An optimist would say “Communist Russia celebrates Christmas”.
A pessimist would say “the dates are wrong! What nonsense! Christ was not born on that day!” as if they actually knew the exact date of birth of our Lord.
We don’t date our calendar from the birth of Christ. We date it from the perihelion, when the Earth is closest to the sun.
Bump
The next perihelion is on 1/3/19, not the 1/1/19
http://www.astropixels.com/ephemeris/perap2001.html
It would probably make more sense to date the start of the year from either the winter solstice or the spring equinox.
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