If we were to pick one  the most con­fus­ing ques­tion from the his­tory of the USSR, no doubt it would have to be the Christ­mas date issue. Despite the fact that the Russ­ian Ortho­dox Church branches out of the Chris­t­ian com­mu­nity, the tra­di­tional day to observe Christ­mas is dif­fer­ent to the rest of the Chris­t­ian world. The Russ­ian Christ­mas day is cel­e­brated on the 7^th of Jan­u­ary, not Decem­ber 25^th, and it is not easy to explain why it is so.

The xpla­na­tion comes from the two dif­fer­ent cal­en­ders. In the Tsarist Rus­sia Christ­mas was cel­e­brated on Decem­ber 25^th, althouth there was a dif­fer­ence in days — as the Gre­go­rian cal­en­dar was accepted after the Octo­ber Rev­o­lu­tion of 1917 — on 24 Jan­u­ary 1918 the new Soviet gov­ern­ment  issued a decree that Wednes­day, 31 Jan­u­ary 1918 was to be fol­lowed by Thurs­day, 14 Feb­ru­ary 1918. But the Church, due to its open con­flict with the newly pro­nounced state, decided to keep the day where it was — and so ever since Christ­mas is cel­e­brated in early Jan­u­ary. Go figure.

Nev­er­the­less, the team of Realussr is delighted to announce our very first fes­tive sea­son together — we are a very young blog yet we have ambi­tions to grow and pros­per. We were only born in June/July this year, yet we see a won­der­ful life ahead of us. And today we present you with a present — a col­lec­tion of Soviet Christmas/New Year’s Eve post­cards. Please click on the flash bit below, zoom in and explore.  A bunch of warm wishes from all of us! Thank you.

If you would like to learn more please do not hes­i­tate to click the fancy carousel. Thanks for being with us.

Related posts:

1. Happy Birth­day Dear USSR! The Great Octo­ber Social­ist Rev­o­lu­tion. Novem­ber 7^th 1917.
2. Happy New Years!
3. Best of Win­ter 2009  –  2010
4. Soviet Union Timeline
5. Best of Fall 2009