First, I should say that in our Church, the great festival—the one with all the traditions, special foods, special rituals, special greetings—is Easter. But in our country, what brings together believers from every region and nonbelievers alike is New Year's Eve. After the Revolution of 1917, Christmas celebrations were banned. When they were eventually restored, they came back as secular observances tied to New Year's instead.
Father Frost arrives with his granddaughter, the Snow Maiden, on New Year's Eve. That's when we decorate the tree, exchange mountains of gifts, and sit down to a feast that lasts all night. Then there's the calendar problem. Our Church follows the Julian calendar; the country follows the Gregorian. So Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7—after New Year's—which creates real hardship for those of us who observe Advent fasting, nearly as strict as Lent: no meat, no dairy, no eggs.
And it makes no sense to ring in the new year before the Lord is even born. So in our small way, we've adopted a practice rooted in the Christmas mystery itself. The Catholic Christmas is dynamic—the Child is born on December 25, and the Magi arrive only on January 6. The Orthodox Christmas is static—everything is already there, everyone is present at once, as seen from heaven. We begin celebrating with the Catholics. We set up the tree and the nativity scene. We celebrate the birth of the Christ Child in the smallness of that remote, silent cave. Then we keep celebrating until Orthodox Christmas, when we acclaim the glory of the world's salvation—all the earth learning of the Lord's arrival.
After the great gifts of New Year's come those brought by the Magi. On the night of January 6 to 7, chocolates appear under the tree. Children go from house to house carrying a star on a pole, singing Christmas carols in exchange for sweets. We keep it going until Epiphany on January 19, when we bless the waters and bathe in holes cut through the ice that covers the rivers. So we're blessed to have the longest celebration season of all—from December 24 to January 19, it's always festive!
Olga—Russia