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“Until the Soviet period, the Feast of Nativity was the major holiday. From December 30 people would fast and pray until the evening of January 5 when they went to Chragaluyts (The Lighting of the Lamps service) held in a church. In the Soviet time everything was done to discourage people from attending church and replace religious belief with atheism. It is no accident that residents of post-

Soviet republics continue to celebrate the New Year with great festivity and pomp. In Europe, for example, Christmas is the major holiday. It is celebrated on December 25, while New Year festivities include only drinking champagne, setting off fireworks, and laying  a New Year table only for one night. We, the post-Soviet states, celebrate both New Year and Christmas, while outside that post-Soviet territory the Christian world celebrates Christmas,” Fr. Ruben said noting that the faithful adhere to the customs when observing Christmas, while other families may confine themselves to a supper without attending churchr to take part in the religious ceremony.

The New Year brings new faith and new hope that everything will be well: you can see smiling, happy people even in New Year photos taken in the 1990s when life was difficult. They smiled because they believed that miracles take place. Let all of us have the strength and reason to hope…