How Russians Celebrate New Year

However, the Byzantines changed the date to September 1. This is because it was believed that the Antichrist would descend on September 1, 1492. While Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1918, the Russian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar. In 1699, Peter the Great declared that the New Year will be celebrated “the European way” as Russians taking time off in September, a working month in Europe, lost too much money.