WHY IS THE NEW YEAR IN RUSSIA CELEBRATED 2 TIMES?

It's an old tradition of Russia and some other countries.

My family respects this holiday too, we still have the New Year tree at home and.....even our bunny is going to celebrate it-))

The New Year has come, and the next time people will meet it only in a year, BUT in Russia and some other countries people will celebrate it for the 2nd time TOMORROW!)

 Yes-yes, we like holidays so much, and we celebrate them twice!-) Just kiddig)) This tradition covers only the New Year. Why? Let's see.

The night from the 31 of December to the 1st of JAnuary is called the New Year's meeting, like in the most of countries BUT the night from the 13 of January to the 14 of January is called the Old New Year.

The tradition to celebrate the Old New Year comes from the divergence of the Julian calendar (or else the calendar of the "old style") and the Gregorian calendar - the one by which almost the whole world now lives. The divergence of calendars in the 20-21 centuries is 13 days.

The modern calendar originates from the ancient Julian calendar, which was introduced from January 1, 45 BCE as a result of the reform carried out in 46 BC by Julius Caesar. 

In the 7th century on Christmas, the date of March 1, 5508 BC was officially adopted as a starting point (the creation of Adam by  God) for the calendar of the Orthodox Byzantine era "from the Creation of the World."

Since the Baptism of Rus by the Grand Duke of Kiev, Vladimir  in 988 and for almost 500 years, the beginning of the year in Russia, as in Byzantium, was considered March 1.

 In 1492, on the initiative of the Ivan III, the beginning of the year was officially postponed to September 1 and was celebrated for more than two hundred years.

Later the start of the world was shifted to January 1, 1700.  The year 1699, therefore, turned out to be the shortest for Russia, since it lasted only four months - from September to December. 

The accuracy of the Julian calendar is not high: every 128 years one additional day accumulates. By the middle of the 20th century, almost all countries of the world used the Gregorian calendar. 

In Russia it was introduced after the October Revolution.

 The year in the Gregorian reckoning is longer  for 26 seconds. The difference between the old and the new styles is 11 days for the 18th century, 12 days for the 19th century and 13 days for the 20th century. 

The days of the week in the two calendars are the same, and therefore the day of the week is preserved when passing from one of them to another. The corrected calendar has received the name of "new style", and for old Julian the name "old style" was used.

The Old New Year is celebrated not only in the territory of Russia.

 On January 13, the festive table is also covered in the following countries:

Greece;Macedonia;Romania;Serbia;Montenegro;Switzerland, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia

Today, the popularity of the Old New Year isn't great (because people just are too tire to celebrate it again after all what they have eaten and drunk-)) BUT it's still loved and respected by many people especially among elder generations. This holiday is quieter than the usual New Year, because there is no such hurry and crazy preparations. We all have a chance just to enjoy it.

Do you know about it? Would you like to celebrate it twice?) You're welcome tomorrow!)

Hello from my bunny to you, friends)