Russian · phrasebook
Merry christmas in Russian
Merry Christmas in Russian is С Рождеством! (s Rozhdestvom), literally with Christmas: the greeting is the preposition с plus the holiday in the instrumental case. Russian Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7, not December 25.
Aurélien CuvelierAug 9, 2026 · Updated Aug 10, 2026The ways to say it
С Рождеством! (s Rozhdestvom), standard
С Рождеством Христовым! (s Rozhdestvom Khristovym), full form: with the Nativity of Christ; solemn, church-flavored
Счастливого Рождества! (schastlivogo Rozhdestva), a happy Christmas: genitive wish; less common than С Рождеством
How to use it
Every Russian holiday greeting uses the same machine: с plus the instrumental. С Рождеством, С Новым годом, с днём рождения. The verb (поздравляю, I congratulate you) is simply dropped, and the case does the work.
The Russian Orthodox Church keeps the Julian calendar, so Christmas lands on January 7 and is a quiet, religious day. The tree, the presents and the feast belong to New Year on December 31, which is the season's real celebration.
Watch out
Wishing С Рождеством on December 25 mostly earns a smile: the Russian date is January 7, and the big family holiday of the season is New Year, not Christmas.
The Russian New Year: the whole season explained, December 31 to Old New Year
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