Ringing in the New Year

Since Russians love to party, it may not seem so surprising that some of them celebrate the New Year twice – “new” New Year on January 1st and “old” New Year on January 14th. Religion adds two more major holidays to the winter calendar. December 25th (which is sometimes called “European Christmas”) is observed by non-Orthodox Christians, whereas January 7th is the date of Christmas for members of the Orthodox Church. A few people even celebrate both Christmases, thus managing to have four holidays in three weeks’ time.

The Old and the New