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SunNetwork Online News, in India, January 7, 2003
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Jan 07 - Christmas being celebrated in January is not an unusual thing.for
Orthodox Christians believe that the night of January 6th actually
represents the eve of Christ's birth when the first star, symbolising the
star of Bethlehem, appears in the sky. Celebrations took place all across
the former Soviet Union and in Bethlehem.
Candles lent a warm glow to the beautiful churches as clerics led Christmas
services across the former Soviet Union and other countries.
The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians held a traditional
ceremony to mark the baptism of Jesus Christ by throwing a wooden cross into
Istanbul's Golden Horn estuary.
Ecumenical Patriach Bartholomew the first, led worshippers in the Epiphany
ceremony of the Blessing of the Waters. After the throwing of the wooden
cross into the water, two men plunged in from a boat and competed to be the
first to grab it, despite snow and near-freezing air temperatures. Carlo
Tarinas was the winner and he was awarded a golden necklace by Bartholomew.
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Christmas Celebration on Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv, Ukraine
photo by the ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
(Click on image to enlarge it)
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Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled to Suzdal, one of the so-called
"Golden Ring" of old Russian towns surrounding Moscow, for a midnight mass.
In Moscow, street performers put up a show of lights and fire symbolising
light and darkness which came down to the earth on Christmas eve according
to an ancient Russian folklore.
For Orthodox Christians who follow the Julian calendar instead of the 16th
century Gregorian calendar, Christmas falls on the night of January 6th.
There are more than 200 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.
The church of the nativity in the West Bank City of Bethlehem, a long
embattled site, held celebrations. The Greek Patriarch, Eireneos the first,
travelled from nearby Jerusalem for the celebrations at the traditional
birth place of Jesus. However, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was unable
to attend the mass as Israel has barred him from leaving Ramallah.
Celebrations were witnessed in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev and also in the
Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
http://www.sunnt.com/news/world/world.asp?id=11789
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