A line in the Facebook Newsfeed from Новая Газета reads:
“Кто сегодня не выспался, тот православный.”
Which means literally “He who didn’t get enough sleep today, is orthodox”.
Why would an Orthodox person be under-rested today? Because yesterday was православное рождество (Orthodox Christmas) which in Russia/Ukraine is celebrated on the 7th of January but most of the festivities happen late on Christmas Eve. Well, in Russia 7th of January is a work day so all the people that were up late attending mass and doing their traditional feasts had to get up and go to work today.
You can read more about these traditions in some of my previous posts that I wrote during our Western Christmas season. Here, here and here.
Here is a very informative video about Christmas traditions in Western Ukraine, the traditions are quite similar in Russia, depending on how religious the family is.
