Ukrainians defy Moscow with first Dec 25 Christmas

Many Ukrainians will on Monday celebrate Christmas Day on Dec. 25 for the first time, after the government changed the date from the Orthodox Church observance of Jan. 7 in a snub to Russia.

Ukraine passed a law in July moving the celebration to Dec. 25, the day when most of the Christian world marks Christmas.

The law signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that Ukrainians wanted to "live their own life with their own traditions and holidays."

It allows them to "abandon the Russian heritage of imposing Christmas celebrations on Jan. 7", it added.

Christianity is the largest religion in Ukraine, with the Russian Orthodox Church dominating religious life until recently.

Like the Russian Church, most eastern Christian churches use the Julian calendar, dating back to Roman times, rather than the Gregorian calendar used in everyday life.

The date change is part of hastened moves since the invasion to remove traces of the Russian and Soviet empires, such as renaming streets and removing monuments.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, a newly created independent church that held its first service in 2019, has also changed its Christmas date to Dec. 25.

It formally broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church over Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The political rift has seen priests and even entire parishes swap from one church to another, with the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine growing fast and taking over several Russia-linked church buildings in moves supported by the government.

The historically Russia-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church, meanwhile, is keeping the Jan. 7 Christmas date. This church claims to have cut ties with Russia because of...