RUSSIAN NEW YEAR
New Year's Traditions in Russia
In the Soviet Union Santa is replaced with Grandfather Frost. He looks much like Santa Claus but arrives on New Year’s Eve with his bag of toys. He wears blue instead of red. Father Frost can punish any evil doer by freezing them. Often kids dance around the tree, tell rhymes to Father Frost then receive their presents. They have large decorated trees in the centers of the major cities. The most formal New Year’s celebration is party held at the Kremlin. As many as 50,000 attendance tickets are sold in the weeks before the annual event. The Russian meal on New Year’s is primarily meat and potato dishes. New Year in Russia is celebrated on January 1, the first day of the Gregorian Calendar. In earlier times, New Year was celebrated in the month of September. Later, this day was forbidden by Czar Peter, the Great. In 1699, a decree was read about counting of years from Birth of Christ since January 1. Thus, this day was declared as a New Year’s day in Russia. Since then, New Year became a family holiday for the people of Russia.
Amongst the most popular New Year symbols is a New Year’s Tree called Novogodnaya Yolka which is topped with a bright star and decorated with various sweets. Another popularly celebrated New Year tradition is the arrival of Ded Moroz or Father Frost and his granddaughter Snegurochka the snow girl. They bring in New Year presents for the good children and keep them under the New Year’s Tree. Children sing a song to make Father Frost happy.
New Year verve can be seen by the family get-together, use of fireworks, delicious meals etc. The most important part of the New Year activities is the sumptuous dinner with light music and champagne. The most important meals include meat, green peas, pickles, mayonnaise, onion, carrots and potatoes.
Russians also follow the tradition of listening to the New Year Speech from the President on New Year’s Day. There are some more fascinating traditions followed at the time of New Year and the famous one is the tradition of fortune telling. Many people especially women and unmarried girls are excited to know about their future indulge in this acitivity.
New Year Celebrations in Russia
New Year is more of a winter vacation in Russia. Schools remain closed from January 1 till January 13. The main New Year celebrations begin from night of December 31. People usually prefer to spend the day with their friends and family members. Party clubs, hotels and discotheques are all jammed up at the time of New Year. The main New Year celebrations come to an end on January 13th, when the country celebrates the Old - Style New Year. This day is not declared as a public holiday but is celebrated to mark the beginning of the year according to the Julian calendar.
Russians decorate their homes with a Christmas tree and often put pine leaves on their front doors, and in the house. The Russian Christmas tree is usually taken down at the end of January after the feast day of the Baptism of Christ.
"C novom godom!" (snow-vum gode-um)- meaning "with the New Year" - is a common New Years Eve - Christmas holiday greeting.
Irina Renner
631.661.5100
Related Links
Visit Netter Real Estate Today
All the Listings, All the Time at Netter Real Estate
Licensed Sales Associate and Assistant to Jim Netter
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
