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[Alexandr Korol]

and January 1st. There’s also Orthodox Christmas, which takes place in January. And then there are holidays based on the Eastern calendar, like the Chinese New Year. We accept all of this. Why am I emphasizing that I’m an ordinary person? Because as people, we accept things as they are from birth – like washing our hands before meals or sleeping in beds. But we could just as well have been told to sleep on the floor, and we would have accepted it if that were the norm. We accept all these things because everyone does them, and we follow along. And that’s that. On one hand, things like washing hands or sleeping on the floor, or having breakfast, lunch, and dinner, vary in different cultures. These are just traditions, practices within a community, and we follow them so as not to stand out. But there are more global, larger-scale things that we encounter and accept without questioning. For example, December 25th. Did I attach great significance to it before? No. I knew that some people had invented various holidays. There are the 12 major Orthodox holidays, and there are Catholic holidays. Fine, but they differ from group to group. But if you dig deeper, you realize that for some reason, New Year is celebrated in a particular way. And for some reason, the whole world celebrates it. Except for the Chinese. Even the Chinese, though, recognize this New Year – or rather, Christmas. Even in Japan and China, everything is decorated for Catholic Christmas on December 25th. And why? Just because it’s fun, a good marketing opportunity to sell gifts? Well, there’s some truth in that. People celebrate it for their own selfish reasons, for their own comfort, of course. But someone still set that date and made it significant – December 25th. Now, let’s move on. It’s clear that calendars have been reworked and rewritten, sure. Just like people tell me that the Bible has been altered, and they wonder why I still read it. But you know, the one who alters it could very well be the same one who wrote it in the first place. So everything is still under control. What’s next? The fact that other gods were born on December 25th – I didn’t know that. Seriously, I never paid attention to it. Never did any circumstances bring me to this realization.
But after I finished writing the second volume of “Alternative History”, Big Alexander pointed this out and said, “Have you ever wondered why all the gods were born on December 25th?” And of course, he directed me in that way, and I started to study it more carefully and thoroughly – to understand what was happening and why. And again, for some reason, these stories about gods being born on December 25th have been preserved. There are many other prophets or gods we don’t know about. And again, notice the wordplay – different people