Christmas on two dates: who interfered with the holiday calendar in Ukraine and why

In 1917, Orthodox Christians in the Russian Empire celebrated Christmas on December 25. This may seem strange, as for hundreds of years Orthodox Christians had been accustomed to a different date — January 7. This date only became a public holiday in the calendar the following year, in 1918. To solve this calendar puzzle, one must delve into history — to the times when there was no "our era" yet. Two calendars — one story.In ancient times, two calendars coexisted: the Byzantine and the Jewish. Both counted time from the creation of the Universe. According to Roman calculations, this significant event occurred approximately 5509 years BCE, while according to Jewish sources, it was somewhat later, 3761 years BCE. The New Year for Romans and Byzantines began on September 1st, whereas Jews celebrated it on Rosh Hashanah, a holiday that falls annually between mid-September and early October.According to the Roman calendar, the year lasted only ten months, so the holidays shifted each time not just to different days, but even to different seasons. To sort out this chaos, in the year 5464 from the creation of the world (45 BC according to modern chronology), Emperor Julius Caesar introduced a new calendar. In it, the year lasted 365 days and 6 hours. These additional six hours every four years made up an extra day — February 29 in a leap year.When was Christ born?The exact date of birth of Jesus of Nazareth was established according to the Julian calendar, but this happened almost five centuries after its creation. The date of birth of the Son of God was officially determined only in 431 AD — during the church council in the city of Ephesus. However, Christmas began to be celebrated more than three centuries after that.Why December 25th?In fact, the exact date of Christ's birth is unknown — the Bible does not specify it. The choice of December 25 was not accidental. On this day, the Roman Empire celebrated the festival of Sol Invictus — "the Unconquered Sun." This was the date of the winter solstice according to the Julian calendar, when the days begin to get longer, symbolizing the victory of light over darkness.In addition, from December 17 to 23, Rome hosted the Saturnalia, a multi-day pagan festival dedicated to the god Saturn. It was a joyful holiday, full of goodwill and charity. Romans believed that Saturn once walked the world and taught people justice. During the Saturnalia, people decorated their homes, gave gifts, and held feasts—traditions that later became part of Christmas celebrations.The Catholic Church established December 25 as the official date for the holiday to replace ancient pagan winter rituals with a Christian celebration. Thus, Christ began to be called the "Sun of Truth" instead of the pagan sun god, and his birthday coincided with ancient celebrations of the return of light.Despite the calendar being streamlined and the date of Christmas being determined, the church continued to count years according to the Byzantine calendar for almost a thousand years. This was how chronology was kept in Rus', and in Muscovy, the new era was introduced by Tsar Peter I in 1699.Caesar's ErrorBut the calendar's troubles didn't end there. It turned out that the astronomical measurements of Caesar's time were inaccurate. The astronomical year—a complete orbit of the Earth around the Sun—is 11 minutes and 14 seconds shorter than the calendar year. Over 128 years, these extra minutes accumulate into a full day. Over a millennium and a half, more than ten extra days have accumulated.Pope Gregory XIII dared to reform Julius Caesar's calendar. By his order, after October 4, 1582, October 15 immediately followed! And to eliminate the calendar error in the future, Pope Gregory ordered the abolition of extra leap years — three for every subsequent 400 years. This almost completely corrected the Julian inaccuracy.Resistance to change.Calendar reforms have never been popular. For example, Britain switched to the Gregorian calendar only in 1752 — and even then with great protests. Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus did so in 1918. The existence of two calendars created problems in economics and politics. A train traveling from the Russian Empire to Austria-Hungary was a real time machine — upon crossing the border, it transported passengers 14 days back in time!The Central Council switched the Ukrainian People's Republic to the Gregorian calendar in January 1918, in sync with the Bolsheviks in Russia. That is why their coup on October 25, 1917 — the "Great October Revolution" — was celebrated two weeks later in the USSR, on November 7.Religious schismStates changed the calendar, and most Orthodox churches also switched to the New Julian calendar — the same Gregorian calendar, but even more accurate. However, the Russian Orthodox Church remained with the archaic calendar of Julius Caesar. Therefore, Christmas on December 25, which was in all church calendars of the Moscow Patriarchate, shifted to January 7.Subsequently, the Orthodox had many opportunities to switch to the state calendar, but, according to historians, Stalin was quite satisfied with such a split between the church and the country. Especially since it separated the Russian Orthodox Church from the outside world.Today, only the faithful of Russia and Belarus, as well as the Orthodox of Ethiopia and Eritrea, still use the old Julian calendar.New Year instead of ChristmasThe communists left December 25 as an official holiday, simply removing the word "Christ's" from it. And in 1935, to replace Christmas, they began to actively promote a newly created holiday – New Year's Day. Along with the holiday, a new character appeared – Ded Moroz.However, the roots of this image go much deeper. In Slavic mythology, Moroz was a character who could appear both as a grandfather and as a grey ox. He was called by different names: Triskun, Studenets, Karachun, Zymnyk — and he was far from a kind old man.The ancient Frost lived in an icy hut in the land of the dead, which could be reached through a well. He was the personification of a harsh winter that could freeze people along with their livestock and supplies. People tried to appease him with sacrifices — in some tribes, even human ones. A young girl was tied to a tree in the middle of the forest, and if she was found frozen in the morning, it was believed that Frost had accepted the sacrifice. This is how the legend of the Snow Maiden originated.There was also a custom at Christmas to invite Moroz (Father Frost) into the house, offering him kissel and kutia. If Moroz did not appear, he was ordered not to appear in the field and not to harm the harvest. The main figure among the carolers was a frightening, gloomy old man who was not allowed to speak throughout the evening — the formidable spirit of Winter, respectfully called Ded (Grandfather).The Soviet authorities transformed this eerie figure into a kind New Year's grandfather. This was a deliberate replacement for the banned Christian Saint Nicholas. The official debut of the "good" Ded Moroz took place in 1937 at a New Year's tree celebration in Moscow. The pagan spirit of cold became a symbol of the Soviet New Year.

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