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banacrazy
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Location: Paris, France
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Re: Holidays from Your Country
Russian Christmas
Russians celebrate their Christmas thirteen days after Western Christmas, on January 7th according to the the Russian Orthodox Church that functions by the old Julian calendar. For those who do not know the differece between calendars, I'll explain. What we use today everywhere in the world is the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is the calendar that is used nearly everywhere in the world. It is a modification of the Julian calendar. So the first calendar was Julian. It was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and was used by everyone for centuries. After the introduction of the new and more accuarate Gregorian calendar, Julian calendar remained however in use into the 20th century in some countries. Russia was one of those countries. Then, after the Russian revolution in 1917, Russia started using the same calendar as everyone - the Gregorian. But the Russian church remained firm in its convictions: one cannot change the date of religious holidays, so untill this day all the religious holidays, Christmas included, are celebrated according to the Julian calendar in Russia. Julian calendar falls behind the Gregorian. That's why all the religious holidays in our country are later than in the rest of the world. So we celebrate Christmas on January the 7th, because actually January the 7th by Gregorian calendar is December 25th by the Julian calendar.
The New Year's Eve is a huge holiday in Russia. For us it is very important and everyone celebrates it. So we get our presents on New Year's Eve and not on Christmas which is celebrated afterwards. The New Year's is celebrated as everywhere else by the Gregorian calendar because it is not a religious holiday.
Our Santa Claus isn't called Santa Claus but Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz) and represents the spirit of winter and joy of the winter festivities. So he does not come on Christmas but on New Year's Eve and brings presents. On Christmas people just get together with friends and families, eat and spend the day together. Those who are religious go to church on the Christmas night (6th to 7th January).
That's how our Grandfather Frost looks like
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Nov/21/2005, 3:04 pm
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justv
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Re: Holidays from Your Country
Beautiful pictures! Thank you, so much. I love learning about other traditions.
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Nov/21/2005, 3:25 pm
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Jewels3
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Location: THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!
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Re: Holidays from Your Country
Thanks for sharing that, Lilie! 
The pictures are absolutely beautiful. What does it say on the cards?
--- Dreamy....
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Nov/21/2005, 3:36 pm
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Xycolsen
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Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
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Re: Holidays from Your Country
Awesome Lilie !!
I didn't know any of that...
Well, Christmas here in the States...
I think everybody knows what we do from watching our movies etc...
So I'll give you a history of how things started here...
We are a melting pot of different cultures
so everything we have comes from somewhere else...
The Poinsettia
The American tradition of poinsettia was started by Dr Joel Poinsett,
the first US ambassador to Mexico, brought the plant back in 1828.
Mexicans has long revered the poinsettia because it resembled the Star of Bethlehem.
Christmas Lights
In 1895, Ralph E. Morris invented the electric Christmas lights.
In addition to literally making the season brighter, electric lights made it safer,
as they were an alternative to candles and open flames.
Fruit Cake
The custom of fruit cake came out of the need to make sweets from foods availible in winter --
and in pre-industrial times, that meant using fruit preserves.
In America, fruitcakes have been a popular yuletide delicacy since Colonial times.
Although, I think they are really gross...
The Christmas Tree
The Christmas tree tradition was spread across America by German immigrants beginning in the early 1800s.
The Germans baked fancy ornaments for their trees and then ate the ornaments when the trees came down.
After Christmas, these frugal people would strip the needles and wrap the branches in cotton
to extend the tree's life for several Christmases to come.
Santa Claus
The legend of Santa Claus, for example, had origins in Europe and was brought by Dutch
settlers to New York in the early 18th century. Traditionally, Santa Claus—from the Dutch Sinter Klaas—was depicted as a tall,
dignified, religious figure riding a white horse through the air. Known as Saint Nicholas in Germany, he was usually
accompanied by Black Peter, an elf who punished disobedient children.
In North America he eventually developed into a fat,
jolly old gentleman who had neither the religious attributes of Saint Nicholas nor
the strict disciplinarian character of Black Peter.
Christmas Cards
In the United States, German-born printer Louis Prang made advances in color
lithography that enabled him to mass-produce a colorful Christmas card in 1875.
The card sold extremely well, and soon the custom of
exchanging Christmas cards spread throughout the country.
I think that about sums it up for the Americans...
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Nov/21/2005, 5:11 pm
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