Dubai: The festive season continues at Global Village as visitors can enjoy spectacular celebrations marking Russian Orthodox Christmas until Saturday, January 8.
Organisers said guests can visit the Russian Pavilion to meet Russian Santa Claus, more commonly known as Ded Moroz or Father Frost, and his granddaughter Snegurochka, who also host a special festive show every day.
Evenings at Global Village will also be filled with music and entertainment with Russian-inspired Christmas musical performances and food stalls serving delectable treats and traditional favourites. Celebrations will be capped with fireworks on January 7 and 8 at 9pm.
Global Village transformed into a glittering wonderland last month for the festive season with adventures for guests to enjoy with family and friends. The park has one of the largest festive trees, standing at 21 metres, and a market with décor, gifts, hot drinks, and delicious desserts for festive celebrations.
History of Orthodox Christmas
Christmas is celebrated every January 7 by Orthodox Christians in Central and Eastern Europe and the Coptic Christians in Egypt because the Julian calendar they follow is 13 days behind the Gregorian Calendar.
The Julian calendar actually pre-dates the Gregorian calendar used by most Christians but the change happened in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII ruled that the Catholic Church should follow a new calendar – called the Gregorian calendar, as it was closer to the solar calendar than the Julian calendar.
At that time, 10 days were removed when the switch to the Gregorian Calendar happened. Some countries switched much later and more days were deleted. In Russia, when the Bolsheviks decided to switch to the Gregorian from the Julian calendar in 1918, 13 days were dropped from February that year. The Orthodox Church, however, still followed the Julian calendar to celebrate Christmas and New Year, which fall on January 7 and 14 respectively in the Gregorian calendar.
