One of the most wonderful things about Christmas is that it’s amazingly inconsistent. Christmas traditions celebrated from family to family (much less from culture to culture) varies widely. That might bother some people, but I find it alluring.
Imagine: a new way to celebrate my favorite holiday. And even better, we legitimately get to celebrate Christmas three times a year!
Huh?
December 25 does not, necessarily, make Christmas. Admittedly, it is a logical date to celebrate the Savior’s birth. It’s exactly nine months after March 25; the traditionally accepted date for the Annunciation–according to the Bible, the Archangel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would carry the Christ child.
December 25 was enshrined in Christian tradition by A.D. 320. The Roman Catholic Church and the various Protestant denominations celebrate it as Christmas every year since. But it’s not the only day that Jesus’s birthday is celebrated across the world.
The Epiphany
According to tradition, the Three Wise Men arrived at the manger in Bethlehem to adore the Christ Child precisely 12 days after his birth. Based on a December 25th date, the Epiphany is on January 6 (hence the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” apparently). Liturgical calendars mark this as the “Epiphany”.
Many early Christians accepted December 25 as Christ’s birthdate, but felt that The Epiphany was of more significance (partially because that’s also the date when Christ was baptized by his cousin John, 30 years later), so that’s when they celebrated his birth.
The Armenian Apostolic Church agreed then and still does, so they celebrate Christmas on January 6.
One day more
If January 6 seems like a long time to wait before you can open your presents, try waiting one day more. That’s officially Christmas for most of the Eastern Orthodox World…at least, according to the religious calendar most Western Christians use. By Orthodox lights, it’s December 25, right enough.
You see, the Eastern Orthodox communion still follows the old Julian calendar, which most of the world traded in for Pope Gregory XIII’s spiffy new calendar back in 1582. Well, the Eastern and Western Catholic churches had long since spilt by then, so the Eastern Orthodox Church rejected the new calendar.
Since the Gregorian calendar jumped us ahead by 13 days, suddenly, it looked to the rest of the world like the Easterners were celebrating Christmas on January 7…when in fact they considered their Christmas to be December 25, and still do.
So there you are–even the most basic of Christmas traditions can vary from place to place!
