Now it's time to celebrate 'Old Christmas' - January 7, 2016

Reporter's note: Twenty plus years ago my family and I were living in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Some new people moved next door to us and at Christmas we noticed they left their Christmas tree up until mid-January. Our daughter went to school with one of the neighbor's kids and learned the new family was Russian Orthodox. They celebrated 'Old Christmas,' which is a couple of weeks after December 25, more specifically January 6 or 7.

I hadn't thought much about this until my wife went to seminary many years later, in the Atlanta area. In one of her classes the students visited a large Greek Orthodox Church, in a suburb of Atlanta, that ministered to local Orthodox congregants. About ten years later we were living in Arlington, Washington, one block from an American Orthodox church. That congregation also celebrated Old Christmas, but also had an additional service on December, 25.

I decided to learn more about Old Christmas and why it is still celebrated on January 7. Basically, the two different dates for celebrating Christ's birth are the result of 'calendar confusion.'

How December 25 became Christmas

First, a word about why Christmas is celebrated by most Christians on December 25. The Bible account gives scant information about the time of year of Christ's birth. Based on the account of the shepherds who first got the news of Jesus' birth, the weather was cold-suggesting it was winter and the sheep were corralled. Or, it could have been spring lambing, also a colder time of the year, when the sheep would have required extra vigilance from the shepherds.

Early writings give little emphasis to the celebration of Christ's birth as a special time for Christians. Interest in celebrating Christ's birth grew important to Christians and by the fourth century there were written mentions of two dates being observed-December 25 in the Western Roman Empire and January 6 in Egypt and Asia Minor. One theory is that early Christians dovetailed their celebration of Christmas to coincide with pagan holidays already common in the era. The choice of the December date may have been to attract pagans to a celebration and make the idea of becoming Christians more palatable. That explanation of choosing December 25 still has a lot of supporters.

In the early 1900's a French scholar took a different approach suggesting that since Christ was crucified during Passover, documented in the New Testament, his birth date could best be calculated from the time of his death. That process of deriving December 25 as the date of Christ's birth still has its proponents as well. The short answer is - no one really knows with certainty why Christ's birth is celebrated on December 25 in most of the world.

Calendar confusion a factor

Until the time of Julius Caesar (born 100 BC) the Roman year was organized around the phases of the moon. That process of tracking days was not very accurate and Caesar was convinced to create a new calendar based on the cycles of the sun. The Julian calendar, named in his honor, was better but still had some problems with accuracy. By the sixteenth century the calendar was 10 days off reality.

In 1582 reforms of the calendar by Pope Gregory XIII changed the calendar to avoid the problems with gaining time each year and causing the 10 day gap from reality. That new calendar (the Gregorian calendar) was adopted throughout Catholic Europe. It's the calendar we still follow five hundred years later.

Despite an improved calendar, not every country accepted it. It was not until 1752 that England accepted the new calendar. By official act England decreed that in 1752, to catch up to the new calendar, September 2 would become September 14. Before this change Christians in England celebrated Christmas on January 6 and many people refused to change their Christmas celebration date despite a new calendar. In other parts of the world, particularly the nations with Orthodox churches (in 1054 the western and eastern Catholic churches had split with the eastern churches generally referred to as Orthodox) the January date is still celebrated as Christmas. The exact date varies between January 6 and 7, but for the most part falls on January 7.

Celebration of Old Christmas today

As might be expected, the ways Orthodox Christians celebrate Old Christmas on January 7 is as varied as how most Christians celebrate Christ's birth on December 25. Even local Christian churches in our area have different ways of celebrating Christmas, as do individual families.

Current Old Christmas celebrations in the U.S. are less about presents and try to avoid the commercialization so common in modern times and are more about personally preparing to celebrate Christ's birth. Many Orthodox Christians fast before Christmas Day, shifting their focus from themselves to others. They use the time for praying, helping others and preparing themselves to celebrate Christ's birth. They may attend a special liturgy on Christmas Day and some traditions burn frankincense to commemorate the gifts the three wise men brought to Jesus.

Many American Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25, following the revised calendar. Whether they use January 7 or December 25, Christmas is a time of "peace and unity." A Christmas meal with family often follows the formal worship service. Some families cover the dinner table with a white cloth, symbolizing Christ's purity, and place straw on the table to symbolize the humble place where Jesus was born.

Whether you follow the Gregorian calendar, and celebrate Christmas on December 25, or chose January 7 for your remembrance of Christ's birthday, it's a special occasion for all Christians. Perhaps the diverse dates and traditions make it even more special and interesting.

Happy Old Christmas if you are just now preparing to celebrate.