MERRY CHRISTMAS IN RUSSIA OR WHY RUSSIANS CELEBRATE IT IN JANUARY 2015?
Frist of all, we would like to wish "Merry Christmas!" to everybody celebrating it on this day!
The Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC (708 AUC), was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect in 45 BC (709 AUC), shortly after the Roman conquest of Egypt. It was the predominant calendar in the Roman world, most of Europe, and in European settlements in the Americas and elsewhere, until it was refined and superseded by the Gregorian calendar.
The difference in the average length of the year between Julian (365.25 days) and Gregorian (365.2425 days) is 0.002%. However, the Julian calendar does not compensate the difference of the tropical year which is a few minutes shorter than 365.25 days. As a result, the calendar year gained about three days every four centuries compared to observed equinox times and the seasons. This discrepancy was corrected by the Gregorian reform of 1582. The Gregorian calendar has the same months and month lengths as the Julian calendar, but inserts leap days according to a different rule. Consequently, the Julian calendar (Old Style, O.S.) is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar (New Style, or N.S.). For instance, 1 January in the Julian calendar is 14 January in the Gregorian.
The Julian calendar has been replaced as the civil calendar by the Gregorian calendar in all countries which formerly used it, although it continued to be the civil calendar of some countries into the 20th century.
Most branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church still use the Julian calendar for calculating the dates of moveable feasts, including Christmas and Easter (Pascha). And this year the celebration of Christmas fell on 7th January 2015 (Catholic Christmas date: 25/12/2014) and Easter will be celebrated on 12th April 2015 (Catholic Easter date: 05/04/2015).
Russia is on holidays until 12th January 2015.
