The church calendar consists of passing and enduring holidays. The main holidays in Orthodoxy are twelve. They are called so: twelfth holidays. Most of them are related to gospel events, but there are those that are based on important events described in the tradition.
The year begins with the Nativity of Christ. Everyone knows that it is January 7th, but since the Orthodox Church uses the old style, for her it is not at the beginning, but at the end of the year: December 25th according to the Julian calendar.
The second holiday of the year is the Epiphany or Epiphany. The holiday is called so because the whole Trinity first appeared here: the Son (baptized), the Holy Spirit (dove) and the Father (voice). This is January 19th. The Christian holidays of Christmas and Epiphany on the calendar are close to each other and the days between them are called Christmas time. This is a festive time when regular fasting is canceled on Friday and Wednesday, and joyful chants sound in the temples. But according to the Gospel story, these two events are separated from each other by thirty years, and logically, Christmas is followed by the Presentation of the Lord, when the Mother of God brought her Son to the Temple. The celebration is celebrated on February 15th. All these are Christian holidays, which are celebrated annually on the same dates.
But the main Christian holiday is, of course, Easter. Its date depends on the moon, Passover and some other factors. Christian holidays associated with Easter - the Lord’s entrance to Jerusalem, as well as the Ascension and Trinity. It is impossible to indicate their exact number, each time it is necessary to count from Easter a certain number of days. The Lord’s entrance to Jerusalem, for example, a week before Easter, the Ascension Day — forty days later, and the Trinity — fifty days later. Christian holidays in 2013 or in the coming 2014 is better to watch on Easter. This is the name of the special calendar of holidays and other church events associated with Easter.
On April 7, exactly 9 months before Christmas, the Annunciation is celebrated, when an angel appeared to the Virgin and told her the good news. This is the day of the conception of the baby Jesus.
All other Christian holidays of April-May are passing, so the next one can mark the day of Peter and Paul, the Holy Apostles. This is the end of Petrov’s post. The time from the beginning of the Great Lent (usually the end of February to the beginning of March) to the beginning of the Petrov Lent (end of May - June) is regulated by Easter, and after the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul everything again goes the same every year.
The Assumption of the Mother of God is celebrated on August 28, September 21 is the Nativity of the Mother of God, September 27 is the Exaltation of the Cross. The Exaltation of the Cross and the Intercession (October 14) seem to have no gospel foundation, these are events that occurred much later. But they are important for every Christian, therefore these holidays are twelve.
The last holiday of the year is the Introduction to the Temple of the Mother of God. Historically, this event happened before all other Christian holidays, even in the days of the childhood of the Mother of God.
In order to find out what a Christian holiday is today, just look into the Orthodox calendar. There, besides great memorable dates, saints' days are marked, which are celebrated daily.