Ukrainians should celebrate Christmas on Monday, December 25, not January 7, according to the old rite together with Russia, for the first time since 1917 – a symbolic decision by which Volodymyr Zelensky distanced himself from a country that is at war with Moscow, AFP notes.

In the summer, when all eyes were focused on a counteroffensive, President Volodymyr Zelnsky managed to pass a law according to which Christmas is celebrated on December 25, instead of January 7 – one of a number of measures by which Kyiv distanced itself from Moscow, writes Novosti. .ro.

“For a long time, the Ukrainian people obeyed the Russian ideology in almost all spheres of life, including the Julian calendar and the celebration of Christmas on January 7,” reads the preamble of the law adopted by the deputies.

But “(…) the fruitful struggle for one’s own identity contributes to the awareness and desire of every Ukrainian to live his own life, with his own traditions, his own holidays,” says this text.

The law also illustrates the several-year gap between the churches in Kyiv and Moscow, deepened by the Russian invasion that began on February 22, 2022.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which for centuries was under the religious tutelage of Russia, in 2019 declared itself autocephalous and independent from the Moscow Patriarchate.

In May 2022, the Ukrainian church, which remained loyal to Moscow, declared its independence after Russian Patriarch Kirill spoke out in support of the war.

Several Orthodox churches around the world, including in Russia and Serbia, still use the Julian calendar for their religious holidays, rather than the 16th-century Gregorian calendar.

During the times of the Soviet Union, the authorities promoted atheism, and Christmas traditions – decorated trees and gifts – were transferred to New Year’s and New Year’s, which became and remains the main holiday for many Ukrainian families.

On Christmas Eve, Ukrainians have a tradition of eating 12 fasting dishes, among which “kutya” is a dessert made of boiled wheat grains, honey, raisins, walnuts and poppy seeds.