Merry Christmas — 6 January
Specialized Children’s Home, Kharberd, Ararat Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online
Most readers of this site probably know that Armenians celebrate Christmas on 6 January, but for those that don’t, Parev.net explains why.
It is frequently asked as to why Armenians do not celebrate Christmas on December 25th with the rest of the world. Obviously, the exact date of Christ’s birth has not been historically established - it is neither recorded in the Gospels. However, historically, all Christian churches celebrated Christ’s birth on January 6th until the fourth century.
According to Roman Catholic sources, the date was changed from January 6th to December 25th in order to override a pagan feast dedicated to the birth of the Sun, which was celebrated on December 25th. At the time Christians used to continue their observance of these pagan festivities. In order to undermine this pagan practice, the church hierarchy designated December 25th as the official date of Christmas and January 6th as the feast of Epiphany.
However, Armenia was not affected by this change for the simple fact that there were no such pagan practices in Armenia, on that date, and the fact that the Armenian Church was not a satellite of the Roman Church. Remaining faithful to their Church traditions, Armenians continue to celebrate Christmas on January 6th until today.
