Belgrade, Serbia

The Julian calendar and why I love it

Published: December 25, 2008

It’s Christmas today, and you would think it’s being celebrated in Serbia as well. It’s not, because we celebrate it on – 25th of December. Time is relative, people, just because you think it’s 25th today, doesn’t mean it really is the 25th.

Wikipedia articles on Julian and Gregorian calendar will explain in depth the history, differences and everything you want to know about the reasons for this confusion.

Serbian version of a Christmas tree, photo by Stojan Ilic

Short version – the Julian calender is about 14 days behind the Gregorian calender, and Serbian Orthodox Church decided not to make the shift from the former to the latter. That’s why Serbian 25th of December happens on 7th of January, and Serbian January 1st occurs on January 14th.

There are some who oppose this time lag in Serbia and suggest that we should synchronize the Serbian Orthodox holidays with the mainstream holiday calendar.

But it’s only because they fail to see the advantages! Let me try to list the reasons why we should stick to the current situation:

It doubles your pleasure:
Two opportunities to celebrate something (and eat and drink and have fun in the process) are better than one. In this case four opportunities if you count the double New Year. Serbian denizens working for foreign companies appreciate this fact with a special passion.

It is much more relaxed than the Gregorian Christmas.
No boxing day, no shopping rush hour, no war on Christmas, none of those crap. Just relax and enjoy the slow life. Imagine if we were to celebrate on the same day when the rest of the Christian world is stressed out!

You don’t have to buy presents:
It’s not the part of the Serbian Christmas tradition, so nobody will mind if you don’t buy anything for them. On the other hand it’s not forbidden to buy presents, so you won’t be bound by religious dogma to return a present if someone buys something to you. Did I mention that there is no Christmas shopping rush hour?

You also get to have a special Christmas tree:
Badnjak looks like an old school version of the westernized Christmas tree – like before it was pimped with decorations, angels and other bling-bling. It’s cheaper, lighter, there are no Chinese plastic versions of it (yet), and it’s more eco-friendly. Badnjak comes when the green tree (which is bought because of the first New Year) is already becoming to annoy you.

It’s a great conversation starter as shown in the following example:
A great looking individual: “Hey, merry Christmas!”
You: “Thanks, but I celebrate it in two weeks”
A great looking individual: “Really, how come?”
You: “Well, [the version of the story that somehow makes you look cool]”
A great looking individual: “Wow, how cool! Let’s make out!”
You:

I believe there’s more, but these are the first to come to mind. You can expect another “Merry Christmas” from this blog in about two weeks.

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