In the past, January 6th would be a day of preparation ahead of the Christmas meal of 12 meatless dishes for those who celebrate Ukrainian Christmas Eve and Day, but many have moved their celebrations to December 24th and 25th.

Last year, the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity voted to transition to the revised Julian calendar, which means December of 2024 was its first time recognizing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in December instead of on January 6th and 7th. Father Taras  Makowski says lots of soul searching went into the decision.

He explains that many churches which have traditionally celebrated Christmas in January are switching to December, because they are now following the revised Julian calendar. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in 2023 that Christmas day would be moved from the Traditional January 7th to December 25th because the January date is observed by the Russian Orthodox Church and the goal is to abandon the Russian heritage, but Makowsky says that this is separate from what is happening elsewhere. Many churches who observe the Julian Calendar are moving to the new, revised calendar, with dates that align with the Gregorian calendar and Taras believes in time, all churches will transition.

He notes that for the first 1600 years, all churches celebrated on December 25th, until the Gregorian calendar was brought in. That’s when the dates were officially changed for those following the Gregorian calendar and the Orthodox churches continued with the Julian calendar,
Holy Trinity Cathedral will still have a Divine Liturgy of the Nativity tomorrow (Tues) morning at 10, for those who want to recognize the old dates.