Epiphany, celebrated here, marks the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist, and falls on the 12th and final day of Orthodox Christmas. (Picture: Cemal Yurttas/ dia images via Getty Images)
Merry Christmas… again!
If you’ve just taken down your decorations for Twelfth Night and were actually looking forward to getting back to some normalcy, we’re sorry to say Christmas is back. Sort of.
Some countries will be observing Orthodox Christmas today, January 7.
Find out what it all means and why it’s celebrated here…
What is Orthodox Christmas and why is it celebrated on January 7?
Many Orthodox Christians annually celebrate Christmas Day on or near January 7 to remember Jesus Christ’s birth, described in the Christian Bible.
The discrepancy in dates is all to do with which calendar countries around the world follow.
In Great Britain, we follow the new Gregorian calendar but some countries still follow the old Julian calendar, created by Julius Caesar in 35AD, for religious festivals.
Orthodox Christmas is celebrated in 16 countries (Picture: Cemal Yurttas/ dia images via Getty Images)
The Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar after Pope Gregory of Rome developed it in 1582.
The Julian calendar miscalculated the length of a solar year, creating an 11-minute discrepancy each year, which built up over time and caused it to fall out of sync.
However, while the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar many countries retained the historic Julian calendar dates to mark certain religious festivals including Christmas.
Which countries celebrate Orthodox Christmas?
There are 16 countries around the world that mark Christmas Day in January.
Many of these are in the Soviet bloc, the Middle East and parts of Europe.
They include:
Russia
Ethiopia
Greece
Serbia
Eritrea
Egypt
Israel
Macedonia
Montenegro
Moldova
Ukraine
Belarus
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Romania
Bulgaria.
How is Orthodox Christmas celebrated?
Christmas is not only celebrated on a different day in these countries but it is also celebrated in different ways.
In Serbia the day is spent hunting for an oak branch to be burned during Christmas dinner. Meanwhile in Belarus people eat pancakes and fish on a table of straw and in Montenegro a loaf of bread with a coin inside is broken during dinner with the person receiving the coin gaining good luck.
Followers of the faith ‘save’ a wooden cross during the Epiphany service in Istanbul (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)
Next year, if you don’t fancy turkey… (Picture: Getty)
Those in Russia eat 12 courses – including beetroot soup, fish and stuffed cabbage – on Christmas Eve to pay tribute to the 12 apostles while in Kazakhstan there is a midnight liturgy at the cathedral in Almaty.
People in Macedonia chop an oak log into three pieces on Christmas Eve to represent the Holy Trinity and in Ethiopia males play a game called ganna with a curved stick and wooden ball and eat a spicy meat stew called ‘wat’.
A goat is usually slaughtered and eaten in Eritrea while christians in Egypt feast on meat, eggs and butter on Christmas Eve after a long fast beforehand from November 25. A pig is slaughtered as a Christmas meal in Romania.
And in Greece a sprig of basil is wrapped around a cross an placed in water while other countries celebrate Christmas in a similar way to Britain with a Christmas tree and blessings.
MORE : What does Christmas dinner look like around the world?
MORE : Unusual Christmas traditions from around the world – from eating KFC to skating to mass
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Millions are celebrating Christmas today rather than two weeks ago.
