"Orthodox and Coptic Christians don't believe Jesus was born on a different day; they just use a different calendar. Millions of Christians, including those in Eastern Europe and across the Arab world, such as Palestine, and Egypt, are celebrating Christmas today. Christmas Day commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, who was born in Bethlehem. However, for these communities, which number about 250 million people, the most important day of the season is not December 25, but January 7."
"The reason some Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7 is not because they believe Jesus was born on a different day, but because they are using a different calendar. The difference in the timing of Christmas stretches back to 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII ruled that the Catholic Church should follow a new calendar, called the Gregorian calendar, to replace the less accurate Julian calendar. The Julian calendar, which was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, overestimated the solar year by 11 minutes, causing the seasons to eventually drift out of place. Where the Julian calendar loses one day every 128 years, the Gregorian calendar loses one day every 3,236 years, making it a much more accurate approximation of a true solar year."
Many Orthodox and Coptic Christians observe Christmas on January 7 because they follow the Julian calendar, which currently lags 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian reform of 1582 corrected a cumulative error: the Julian year overestimated the solar year by about 11 minutes, causing seasonal drift over centuries. The reform skipped days to realign the calendar and reduced long-term error significantly. Most states adopted the Gregorian calendar, but many Orthodox and Eastern Christian churches retained the Julian calendar to preserve liturgical tradition, producing different Christmas dates for roughly 250 million believers.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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