DUSHANBE, January 6, 2012, Asia-Plus — Russian Orthodox Church is celebrating Christmas Eve today. Public liturgies are being performed in all churches in Russia and Russian Orthodox parishes abroad.
In all, there are more than 29,000 parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) abroad. Orthodox Christians living in Tajikistan are also celebrating Christmas Eve today evening.
The ROC continues to regard Tajikistan as its canonical territory with its six parishes in Tajikistan forming part of the Central Asian diocese of the ROC based in Tashkent.
In Dushanbe, Orthodox Christians will attend the Divine Liturgy, the analog of Christmas Midnight Mass in Catholicism, were vespers are observed, at St Nicholas Church, the Orthodox cathedral for Dushanbe. About 500 parishioners reportedly attend St Nicholas Church on the main Christian holidays.
Six Orthodox churches and one regimental chapel now function in Tajikistan.
Orthodox Christians fast for 40 days preceding the Nativity of Christ. The strictest fasting happens on Christmas Eve. Nothing is eaten on Christmas Eve until the first star appears in the sky. The traditional meal consists of 12 meatless dishes, but the central element of the celebrations on Christmas Eve is a sweet grain pudding called kutia. A period of celebrations lasting eleven days called Svyatki ensues after the Christmas Day. Svyatki are a weird combination of both Christian and pagan traditions that stem from historical interconnections between the two religious philosophies in most Eastern European Orthodox states.
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated generally on December 25 as a religious and cultural holiday by billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide. Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world”s nations, is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians, and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season.
The precise day of Jesus” birth, which some historians place between 7 and 2 BC, is unknown. In the early-to-mid 4th century, Western Christianity first placed Christmas on December 25, a date later adopted also in the East. Theories advanced to explain that choice include that it falls exactly nine months after the Christian celebration of the Annunciation, or that it was selected to coincide with either the date of the Roman winter solstice or of an ancient pagan winter festival in order to supplant these celebrations and replace them with a Christian one.
The original date of the celebration in Eastern Christianity was January 6, in connection with Epiphany, and that is still the date of the celebration for the Armenian Apostolic Church and in Armenia, where it is a public holiday. As of 2012, there is a difference of 13 days between the modern Gregorian calendar and the older Julian calendar. Those who continue to use the Julian calendar or its equivalents thus celebrate December 25 and January 6 on what for the majority of the world is January 7 and January 19. For this reason, Ethiopia, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, and the Republic of Moldova celebrate Christmas on what in the Gregorian calendar is January 7; all the Greek Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on December 25.
