They follow the Julian calendar
A remote British island won’t be celebrating Christmas for another two weeks.
Foula in Shetland is made up of a tiny community of just 30 inhabitants that still hold a strong Norse tradition of folklore and music.
Unlike the rest of the UK, they still adhere to the Julian calendar so like several European countries such as Serbia and Russia, they celebrate Christmas on January 7th.
This also means they will celebrate New Year a week later.
The three and a half miles long by two and a half miles wide and at one point sustained 287 people.
In 1982, Foula got running water and by 1984, was set up with full electricity supplied by a diesel generator.
Currently, it has a renewable energy system, mainly photo voltaic, backed up by diesel.
The isle is very remote and prone to bad weather. Previously, attempts by a visiting Church of Scotland minister, the Reverand Tom Macintyre, to reach it for one Christmas service had to be abandoned after three tries.
Getting to Foula means you have to either take the ferry from Walls in Shetland’s west mainland, which takes around two hours, or a flight from Tingwall, which is much quicker at 15 minutes.
The name Foula means ‘bird island’ in old Norse and was the location for the film The Edge of the World.
The RMS Oceanic was also wrecked on the nearby Shaalds of Foula.
The Julian calendar is still used by the Berbers of the Maghreb in the form of the Berber calendar, while the UK and the rest of the world use the Gregory calendar.
Last Christmas, The Daily Mail reported that Ukrainian Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas on December 25 for the first time.
Traditionally, Ukraine has also celebrated Christmas on January 7 as they too use the Julian calendar.
