By Rachel Melikian
Why is New Year’s Day observed on January 1st instead of August 11th, as it was in the ancient past, or during the spring harvest festival? The Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, televised globally, kicks off the US New Year. We moved into AD 2025 in the third millennium with the New Year, but we no longer use AD; instead, we just use 2025 because, as everyone knows, 2025 years have elapsed since His birth.
Jesus Christ’s birth served as the foundation for the Gregorian calendar, which is the basis for the New Year. Christmas falls on December 25th in the old year, but not January 1st in the new year. Why is this the case? Still, instead of January 1, Armenian Christmas falls on January 6. The dates were selected for theological reasons. However, Christians worldwide originally celebrated Christmas on January 6th; today, it’s known as the Armenian Christmas.
Even in the Julian calendar, the New Year began on January 1st. However, January 1st commemorates Octave Natale, the day, eight days after Jesus’ birth, when Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to the temple. However, Christmas, the Feast of the Nativity, and Theophany are observed on January 6th, while Octave Natale, the Feast of the Naming of our Lord Jesus, is on January 13th in the Armenian liturgical calendar.
The Star of Bethlehem
The Star of Bethlehem shone over the Nativity Church over two millennia ago. Since then, the Armenians have guarded the Nativity Church, and due to calendrical differences, they celebrate the Nativity of the Holy Child on January 19 (Jan 18-20) instead of December 6 in Jerusalem.
The three Magi, aka the three Kings or the Wise Men, turned their face to the Christmas Star. Jesus’ apostles established the three-day Armenian Christmas, observed on January 5th as Christmas Eve, January 6th as Christmas, and January 7th as Christmas Memorial Day.
For Armenians, Santa Claus comes on New Year’s Eve rather than on Christmas. Santa Claus’ cultural tradition originated from Saint Nicholas and was celebrated on December 2 until it was shifted to December 25 for Christmas in the United States.
Divination in the skies?
Because they don’t know what the shepherds were doing outdoors, scientists, historians, and astrophysicists struggle to determine the exact month of Jesus’ birth. Some scholars contend that Christ was born in the spring or summer, either in April, June, September, or October. Which scientific method does accurately predict the month and day of Christ’s birth in a given year? None!
Like King Herod the Great, astronomers focus only on the precise day, month, and year of Jesus’ birth, unaware of the Gospel account of His birth or the star of Bethlehem. As a result, they cannot pinpoint the exact month Jesus was born. Indicating that they are researching a scientific study on gambling chance or star divination in the skies. Since our years are 12 months, we have a one in 12 chance of being correct when we undertake scientific conjecture in guessing someone’s birthday.
The actual date of Jesus’ birth remains unknown to scholars, just as no one knows anyone’s birthday unless told; hence, no exact date of Jesus’ birth would be known to us. Anniversaries center on the anniversary date; each year indicates the person’s age and rotates around one’s birthday rather than the New Year. Everybody is different in terms of age and the day and month they were born. Since everybody has a unique birthday, birthdays are celebrated 365 days a year or 366 days in leap years.
Christ’s birth and Armenia’s new year
The Gospel provides historical context for Jesus’ birth rather than an exact date.
The years before Jesus’ birth are known as BC (Before Christ), while the years after His birth are known as AD (Anno Domini). Other academics, however, have chosen to use the years with the notations of “Common Era,” the Christ Era is denoted by CE instead, and “Before the Common Era,” the Before the Birth of Christ Era is denoted by BCE instead.
The victory of Armenia’s forefather, Patriarch Hayk Nahabed, over Baal marks the start of the Armenian New Year on August 11 and lasts until at least September 7.
We read in the Bible about the fall of the Tower of Babel in Babylonia. At this time in history (BC, before the time of Christ), the great-great-grandson of Noah’s Ark, Hayk Nahabed, vanquished Baal when Baal waged war against Hayk after the collapse of the Tower of Babel. According to biblical history, Babylonia’s Tower of Babel, built in an attempt to reach God, fell when God confused their languages. Thereafter, to commemorate Hayk Nahabed’s victory over the fall of the Babylonian Baal of the Tower of Babel, the world celebrated the New Year on August 11 in ancient times, based on the battle between Good and Evil.
New Year’s Day is a new birth, a triumphant historical and prophetic occasion rather than a fixed date for the birth of Christ. More importantly, Baby Jesus’ birth heralded the beginning of a new era, a time of salvation, the arrival of the Messiah, and the start of a new millennium in the Messianic age.
Where do we look in AD 2026?
Today, at the dawn of AD 2026, a quarter century into the third millennium in the year of our Lord, Anno Domini, where do we look? Toward the Christmas Star to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior? Or toward the world’s evil elites who would pretend to be “gods” just like they did during the Tower of Babel era?
From Noah’s Ark to Hayk Nahabed and our Lord Jesus Christ, these three pivotal historical events demonstrate that evil in the world ceases when we turn to God. Repentance causes global evil to wane, and the New Year starts victorious. “God is Born,” a Christmas carol sings.
Christmas feast & holy family
Thus, feasting is a commemorative celebration, especially after major victorious events that are landmarked on our calendar. Feasting and fasting are biblical practices, yet gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins, is also addressed in Scripture. So, we must refrain from gluttony and know when the season of feasting and fasting is, as Jesus told us.
Claiming the feast on the Christmas table is not “biblical,” some oppose Christmas celebrations and say that everything about Christmas is “pagan.” Yet ironically, they celebrate, enjoy, and feast on the New Year, make New Year’s resolutions, watch the fireworks and the Rose Parade. None of these are apparently mentioned in the Bible.
On Christmas Eve and Day, how are you enjoying your meals? Who will be seated at the table and invited to celebrate with your family? It is Christ’s birth. Are you and Jesus enjoying dinner together and praying with your family? “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup [dine] with him, and he with Me,” Rev 3:20.
Armenians observe a fast and attend church. Following the church’s blessing, Armenians gather around the Christmas and New Year’s Eve tables to celebrate the arrival of these holidays. The Christmas feast table reflects the joy of Christ’s birth and honors the Holy Family rather than a traditional family gathering. Remember that the nuclear family is valued in the United States, and in Armenian culture, the family is considered sacrosanct.
For the three days of Armenian Christmas and two days of New Year’s Day, there should be enough food for everyone, including extended family members, friends, and guests who will visit to wish Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Because we attend church before feasting and rejoicing, we welcome Christmas and New Year’s with church mass and divine liturgy.
Ringing bells: Big Ben, Times Square or the bell-towers?
Sing the carols: “Ding Dong Merrily on High” and “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” so you’ll know that the tinkle or chime we hear is the Christmas church bells, but the ringing of bells at the stroke of midnight is a cultural phenomenon, like London’s Big Ben or the New York City ball drop at Times Square. Do you hear anything? The shepherds joined the Holy Family in celebrating the birth of baby Jesus as they listened to the angels sing. “The shepherds sing with the angels / They give the Good News to the world Christ is born and revealed,” the Armenian hymn sings.
Lights on the tree
“I am the light of the world,” said Jesus. However, some Christians discover that it is anathema to bow before the Christmas tree to get their presents delivered by Santa Claus, making the tree an “idol.” However, they have forgotten that they have to put the humble stable below the tree. The purpose of Christmas tree lights is to see and find Jesus’ manger beneath the tree, not your i-gifts. Thus, you are bowing to baby Christ and not to the tree, just like the three Magi who came to worship baby Jesus, bowed before Him, and presented the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Without Jesus’ light, nobody, not even astronomers or astrophysicists, will be able to determine the precise time and day by watching the stars and the sky if they don’t see. Because His birth was concealed from Herod, the King, you can’t do precisely what Herod the Great could have wanted to know exactly, because Herod was in darkness and wanted to massacre the Holy Child.
Earth & son
In addition to calendrical years, our years are not determined by liturgical, academic, fiscal, tax, or astronomical years. The Earth’s revolution around the sun lasts one year. A leap year has 366 days, while the Gregorian year has 365 days. Therefore, rather than the Internal Revenue Service’s tax period, which occurs in April, we begin the year and end the New Year with the birth of Jesus.
Rachel Melikian is former GCC Woman of the Year
Also by Rachel Melikian: The Story of the Armenian Van Cat