[orange]

To all my Ukrainian friends, Z Rizdvom Krystovym!

Tonight is Ukrainian Christmas Eve, to those of you who don't live in parts of the world where there are lots of Ukrainians. :)

[wizzkid89]

If it isn't rude, may I ask why its celebrate on another day than dec. 25.

[orange]

It's due to a difference in calendars. Most of the western world currently uses the Gregorian calendar, which was first implemented in 1582, and sanctioned by Pope Gregory XIII, hence the name Gregorian. However, the Ukrainian Church still uses the Julian calendar, which is much older... it was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE. Without getting too technical, basically the days of the two calendars are not exactly the same, so in the Gregorian calendar, Christmas falls on December 25, but in the Julian calendar, in falls in January.

A similar situation occurs with Jewish holidays. Jewish holidays such as Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Channukah, etc, are not on the same day of the calendar each year. This is because they are calculated according to the Jewish calendar rather than the Gregorian one.

Hope that helps!

[wizzkid89]

Thanks much appreciated, I knew about the calendars, but I didn't know the julian one was still in use, and I had know idea about the jewish holidays, it's actually pretty cool, thank you