Christmas Elsewhere

A country-by-country atlas of how Christmas is actually kept

How long until Christmas?

There is more than one answer.

Three dates, three calendars, all of them Christmas. Counting from your own clock, to midnight where you are.

25 December

Most of the Christian world, and most of the secular one

—days
—hrs
—min
—sec

Next: Friday 25 December 2026

The answer almost everyone means by the question. It is also the answer the Greek, Romanian and Bulgarian churches give, having taken up the Revised Julian calendar in 1923 — that calendar agrees with this one on fixed feasts until 2800, so their Christmas and this one are the same morning.

In the dataset

Sources
  1. Christmas | Origin, Definition, Traditions, History, Date, Meaning, & Facts — Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2026-09-17. Quick Facts, Feast date: "December 25 (January 6 or 7 in many Eastern churches)". Article revised 17 September 2026.
  2. Julian calendar — Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2026-09-17. For the Revised Julian claim: "others have used the Revised Julian calendar, which closely resembles the Gregorian calendar, since 1923 for such dates."

25 December, on the Julian calendar

Churches that never left the Julian calendar for fixed feasts

—days
—hrs
—min
—sec

Next: Thursday 7 January 2027

Not a different date — the same date, on an older calendar. The Julian year is eleven minutes too long, and the error has accumulated to thirteen days, so Julian 25 December falls on 7 January by the civil reckoning. This site computes that rather than storing it: the gap becomes fourteen days in 2100, and the feast moves to 8 January without anybody editing a file.

In the dataset

No researched country record yet. Countries appear here as they are researched, never before.

Sources
  1. Julian calendar — Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2026-09-17. "Some Eastern Orthodox churches continue to use the Julian calendar for determining fixed liturgical dates"; and "The current discrepancy between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is 13 days. However, the difference will become 14 days in 2100."
  2. Why Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas in January — National Geographic - Erin Blakemore. Retrieved 2026-09-17. Independently states the drift and its consequence: "They celebrate Christmas on January 7-until 2100, that is, when it will move to January 8." Updated 30 December 2022.

6 January

The Armenian Apostolic Church

—days
—hrs
—min
—sec

Next: Wednesday 6 January 2027

The oldest answer of the three. The birth and the baptism of Christ began as a single feast on 6 January, and the Armenian Church has kept that tradition unbroken since. So this is not Epiphany standing in for Christmas — it is Christmas, never moved.

In the dataset

No researched country record yet. Countries appear here as they are researched, never before.

Source
  1. Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord, and the Feast of the Naming of Jesus — Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. Retrieved 2026-09-17. "The Armenian Church celebrates the holy birth (Sourp Dznount) of Jesus Christ on January 6." The same page carries the history: the birth and baptism "began to be observed on January 6" and "The Armenian Church has maintained that ancient tradition to this day." A church body stating its own feast date. NOTE: an earlier draft of this blurb added that the Greek-speaking world split the feast at the end of the 4th century. Widely repeated, and this page does not say it, so it was cut rather than cited to a source that does not carry it.