For many people across the world, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, mainly because it only comes once a year, much like a birthday.
![Graça Machel was born in 1945 [CGTN]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'100'%20height%3D'100'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "Graça Machel was born in 1945 [CGTN]")
With the passing of December 25th, many faithful’s therefore have no option but wait for 365 days before they can splurge on gifts and sing Christmas carols until dawn.
However, this is not true for a few countries who have not one but two Christmas celebrations.
Here are five countries across the world who celebrate Christmas twice.
Eritrea follows the Gregorian calendar which is derived from the older Alexandrian calendar.
January is a very important month in Eritrea; Orthodox Christians in Eritrea begin the month of December with a 40-day fasting and all-vegetable diet that continues until January 7, when Christmas is celebrated with feasting, family and a lengthy church service.
The Eritrean youngsters celebrate Christmas on 25 December. In this day they would be involved in partying, exchange of gifts, cards as well as celebration with family and friends. Many Eritreans, mainly the elderly, take December 25 as a normal day.
In 2018, Ukraine recognised December 25th as an official holiday, along with the traditional Orthodox Christmas on January 7th.
In mostly Orthodox Ukraine, recognising December 25th is part of a westwards turn. But its celebrations are more frugal than in the West.
On Christmas Eve, Ukrainians toss straw under the table to recall Christ’s manger. The traditional meal, called “poor kutia”, consists of 12 meatless dishes (after kutia, a porridge with raisins, honey, nuts and seeds). “Rich kutia”, with meat dishes, follows on Christmas Day.
In Belarus those who are members of the Orthodox Church celebrate Christmas on January 7, while Protestants and Catholics celebrate on December 25.
The country of Moldova is split between two faiths and two countries.
The Moldovan Orthodox Church, which like the Russian Orthodox Church follows the old Julian calendar, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia, or Bessarabian Orthodox Church, which like the Orthodox Church in Romania, follows the modern Gregorian calendar.
Moldova picked the Orthodox one, but added December 25th in 2013 as part of its tilt towards the EU.
Russian-aligned Orthodox believers therefore celebrate their Christmas on January 7, rather than December 24, and mark the New Year on January 13-14.
The others celebrate Christmas along with the rest of the Western world on December 25 and the New Year on January 1.
Lebanon is underpinned by a policy of celebrating everyone’s religious holidays and has long recognised the Armenian Christmas on January 6th.
In Lebanon, 35% of the population follow a form of Christianity called Maronite Catholic. These Christians build manger scenes in their homes called a Nativity Crib. The crib is more popular than a Christmas Tree. It's traditional for the scene to be based around a cave rather than a stable. It's often decorated with sprouted seeds such as chickpeas, broad-beans, lentils, oats and wheat that have been grown on damp cotton wool in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
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