Georgia Celebrates Orthodox Christmas

Georgia marks Orthodox Christmas today. The celebrations in Orthodox countries began at midnight on 'Christmas Eve', January 6, 2019.

The reason the date varies so much from the Christmas in Western countries is down to a difference in calendars.

In the West they use the Catholic-created Gregorian calendar, which was introduced by Pope Gregory in 1582.

But Georgia, and several other Orthodox countries, still use the Julian calendar - which was created by Julius Caesar in 45BC. This means that there is a 13-day gap between the two calendars.

The Patriarch of Georgia, Ilia II, delivered Christmas liturgy at the Holy Trinity Church at midnight. Before the liturgy, the Patriarch’s epistle was read in the church, while after the liturgy, the Patriarch preached and congratulated his parish on Christmas.

Christmas ended the 40-day fast that started on November 28.

Traditional Georgian Alilo, will begin at 14:00 in Tbilisi today. Every year people take to the streets in order to take part in the procession called Alilo, and bring gifts for the needy as well as each other.

The Patrol Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that several streets of Tbilisi will be blocked in connection with the Christmas Alilo march on January 7.

In particular, the traffic is restricted from 11:00 on the territory of the First Republic Square, from 14:00 on Rustaveli Avenue, Pushkin Street, Baratashvili Street, Avlabari Square, Meskhishvili, Gonashvili, and Samreklo streets.

In addition, patrol police officers will regulate the movement of vehicles on these streets and traffic will be resumed as soon as the Alilo march is finished.

By Thea Morrison