YPOK 5 BLOG
Believe it or not in Russia Christmas is not celebrated on
December 25th, but rather on January 7th! It wasn’t always
this way; prior to the 1917 Revolution Christmas was celebrated on the 25th
and similar to the United States it was a holiday complete with Christmas trees
and gifts. After the Revolution, Christmas, along with other religious
celebrations, were band throughout Russia. It wasn’t until about 75 years
later, in 1992, that thanks to the Russian Orthodox Church the holiday was
again openly observed. However, this time it would be celebrated on January 7th
because the Russian Church uses the old Julian calendar which is thirteen days
behind the Gregorian calendar which we use. Either way no matter what day it’s
celebrated it’s a good thing Russia got their Christmas back!
Christmas nowadays is a huge holiday in Russia with many traditions and customs. As far as Santa goes, Russians refer to him as St. Nicholas who is very popular. Legend has it that 11th century Prince Vladimir returned home from a trip to Constantinople to be baptized and told stories of miracles performed by St. Nicholas. During the communist years in Russia St. Nicholas was transformed into Grandfather Frost. Another common tradition in Russian, one which people around the world are probably familiar with, is the Babouscka. Little children in Russian wait up at night to try and catch a peek at Baouscka as she runs by. She is a really old and poor lady who, as legend has it, did not offer food to the Magi during the search for the Christ Child. So to this day she still wonders around looking for baby Jesus. But, on Christmas on Christmas Eve she stops by the houses of children and leaves them small gifts.
been brought back as a Christmas tradition these days.
http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/worldxmas/russia.htm
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