Happy New Year

I remember one Ukrainian priest I met who insisted on exchanging New Year's greetings on this day and organized a visit to his bishop, together with a New Year's Moleben and concert.

To me, this makes great sense.

The fact is, our Church liturgical calendar does not really recognize any other New Year than the one on September 14th. Yes, this is part of our heritage from Judaism (even though the Hebrew lunar calendar makes New Year's fall on different dates in the Gregorian calendar). But a lot of our Church's heritage is taken from Judaism.

To recognize and celebrate September 14th as the Orthodox New Year is to acknowledge a very spiritually meaningful event. This marks the beginning of the New Year of Grace, the opening to the rich liturgical celebrations that punctuate the year and make available to us the Grace of Christ which is the Holy Spirit. The Christian Year is, in fact, an Icon of Christ Himself, as we celebrate again the Economy of Salvation wrought by the Holy Trinity through Christ. We have gotten into the habit of celebrating our birthday together with our Namesday. Yet, our Namesday is by far the more spiritually meaningful. The same is true of September 14th!

There is also the cultural argument in favour of a heightened observance of September 14th. Celtic Christians, in the U.S. especially, are revitalizing much of their ancient Celtic traditions. Among these is the celebration of the Celtic New Year on October 31st ("Hallowe'en"). Their year is divided into four parts with three months: Samhain or the Celtic winter beginning on November 1st; Imbolc or the Celtic spring beginning on February 1; Beltaine or the Celtic summer beginning on May 1st and Lughnasadh or the Celtic autumn beginnin on August 1st.

Other Christian traditions associated with diverse nationalities also often celebrate their liturgical New Year's Days. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates September 13 as its New Year's Day as well.

The so-called "civil New Year's Day" has never remained the same over time, unlike the liturgical September 14th.

Originally, the Roman calendar recognized April 1st as New Year's Day. This is where the "April Fool's" traditions come from. Accountants will still talk about March 31st as the "fiscal year end." This is why September, October, November and December get their names from, literally, the "seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth months." One arrives at this calculation only by counting from March where March is the first month.

It was only in the nineteenth century that Britain adopted January 1st as New Year's Day from the one in March. Earlier, Christmas Day marked the beginning of the New Year in the West and then the Octave, or eighth day of the Feast of Christmas which is January 1st.

In 1918 after the Bolsheviks came to power, the Julian Calendar was officially dropped as the civil calendar of Russia and its subject nations. January 1st became the civil new year and Ukraine and Russia today celebrate January 1st as the civil new year's day, disregarding the date of January 14th as the Julian calculation.

I've received Christmas cards from my relatives in Ukraine that wish a happy new year's day first and then come the Christmas greetings. It is unlikely that this will change, whether or not the Church's influence has been re-established. To celebrate Orthodox New Year's Day on September 14th is to go around this problem.

Liturgically, the Orthodox Nativity Season is marked by three Holy Suppers, on the Nativity Eve, on the Eve of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus and on Epiphany Eve. A very Holy time for us, nothing is taken away from this Season by a more spiritual emphasis than is found in what are really quite pagan civil new year's traditions. Malankas and other celebrations will also continue. But I think the Malanka held each year by St Vladimir's Ukrainian Institute in Toronto sets an example to all others where such "Malankas" are merely an imitation of the new year's party celebrations to be seen in mainstream society.

The main reason I think we should celebrate Orthodox New Year's Day is that it allows for a more spiritual ushering in of the New Year of Grace. The civil new year's is anything but. When I was in Montreal several years ago for New Year's, I saw that there are parishes who solemnize the civil new year in a very religious way. But drinking and carrying on seems to be the general rule for December 31st.

While I am in no way advocating the abolition of January 1st celebrations, the fact is, they will go on nomatter what and in the way they always have. September 14th is a way to mark the New Year in a deeply Christian way. 

On this day, we can wish one another much continued growth in Christ in the new liturgical year with a traditional Orthodox three-fold kiss in honour of the Holy Trinity. Molebens can be served for the new year, visits to the Bishop and other celebrations can be held. For us, it can be one more way to affirm our unique Ukrainian and Orthodox tradition and identity.

Happy New Year - Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!

Dr. Alexander Roman