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According to the Armenian Apostolic Church, the week preceding the Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ - December 30-January 5 - is fasting period and people eat food of exceptionally vegetable origin.

According to the old Armenian Calendar, the New Year was celebrated on August 11, which didn’t coincide with the fasting period. Later the new calendar was accepted and as the result of it, people started to celebrate the New Year on December 31, which coincided with the period of fast preceding the Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The period of fast comes to an end in the evening of January 5, when a candlelight Divine Liturgy is celebrated and the great tiding of Jesus’ birth is proclaimed to the faithful. People greet each other saying, “Christ is Born and Revealed! Blessed is the Revelation of Christ.”