Circumcision of Christ

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The Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord is a Feast Day celebrated on January 1 as a holy day of obligation (a day on which Catholics must attend Mass). It is a feast celebrating not only Christ consenting to submit to Jewish Law, but also the first time the Redeemer spilled his blood for mankind.

Traditional Catholics and Prayer Book Anglicans still celebrate this Feast under that name, but most Catholics now, with the revisions of the Mass that followed the Second Vatican Council, celebrate January 1 as the Solemnity of St. Mary, the Mother of God, also a holy day of obligation. Likewise, contemporary Anglican calendars give January 1 as the "Naming of Jesus".

Eastern Orthodox Churches also celebrate this Feast on January 1 of either Gregorian calendar or Julian Calendar depending on which style is used in a particular church. In Russia, the day of Old Style Circumcision (January 14 in XX and XXI centuries) is known as "The Old New Year", because before 1918 it was the New Year day.