History of the New Year in Russia

13:53, December 30, 2022

The historian told how the tradition of New Year celebrations developed and changed

It seems that New Year's Eve has always been celebrated in winter and in a big way. However, this was not exactly a tradition. The modern way of celebrating New Year's Eve was formed only half a century ago. Sergey Sokolov, Head of the Department of Russian History at Ural Federal University, discusses this topic.

New Year Not for Everyone

In Slavic culture there were two days of changing one year by another. Since ancient times, the change of the year was associated with the day of the vernal equinox (March 19-21 according to "new style") and the beginning of agricultural works. On these days, rituals were performed, which, according to the beliefs of our ancestors, contributed to a good weather and a rich harvest. For example, it is known that ritual plowing was carried out.

"In general, however, little is known about these rituals. Moreover, it is not clear how the ancient Slavs kept count of the years. The regular calculation of years came to Russia together with the spread of Christianity. After Christianization the rites that symbolized the farewell of winter and the beginning of agricultural season, were partly transferred to the period before the beginning of Lent, before Easter. In fact, the pagan ritual of burning an effigy on Shrovetide before Lent is probably an echo of the rites of the ancient Slavs, including the ritual of burning sheaves of straw," explains Sergey Sokolov.

In connection with the adoption of Christianity in Russia began to spread the year of September (its beginning fell on September 1), which was finally enshrined in 1492. In popular tradition on this day they venerated Saint Semen Letoprovodets, and the day was called the New Year's Eve.

"But the elite and the common people's culture were significantly different from each other. Early September is the time of the harvest. There are no descriptions of people's "New Year" celebrations on the day of commemoration of this saint in the sources", emphasizes Sergey Sokolov.

According to the European Canon

Before Peter the Great the chronology in our country, as well as in Byzantium, was kept "from the Creation" (to our time this tradition is preserved among the Old Believers). Since 1700, after a long trip to Europe Peter introduced a new chronology from the Nativity of Christ (while still sticking to the Julian calendar) and ordered to celebrate the New Year on January 1. In doing so, he wisely referred to the traditions of not only Western European, but also Orthodox nations.

"The first New Year was celebrated in Moscow for an entire week, with fireworks, volleys of cannons and rifles, and the burning of barrels of straw and brushwood. By order of the tsar, Muscovites had to dress in foreign clothes and decorate the gates of houses with pine, fir and juniper branches," says Sergey Sokolov.

Since Peter's innovations did not lead to the transition to the Gregorian calendar (this only happened in 1918, when January 31 was followed immediately by February 14), the celebrations fell on Christmas Lent, which was hardly pleasant for the Orthodox Church.

The order imposed by Peter the Great was adopted by the elite of Moscow, and later by St. Petersburg (which was founded in 1703) and other major cities. Peter's daughter Elizabeth I introduced magnificent, masquerade court balls into the New Year's Eve ceremonial.

However, for a long time the common people habitually gave preference to Christmas. Christmas Eve, the day before Christmas, which, according to the old style, fell on December 24, was synchronized with the popular tradition of celebrating the winter solstice (December 21-22).

"According to beliefs, on this day with the longest night the line between the real and the other world thinned to a limit, the forces of evil became especially powerful and dangerous, manifested themselves most clearly. That is why on Christmas Eve it was customary to fortune-telling, and also to go trick-or-treating. Dressed inside out, intimidating beast-like masks, and imitating demons, carolers would parade through the homes, offering gifts and refreshments. One of them was kutya, a sweet porridge made of whole grains of wheat, barley, or rice with honey and fruit," describes Sergey Sokolov.

Made in USSR

The elitist tradition of celebrating the New Year from December 31 to January 1 spread widely in Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. During this period, the figure of Ded Moroz appears, adopting the features of the Western Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus), whose prototype was Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, who, according to legend, once secretly planted a tight purse on a poor family. People began a tradition of decorating the Christmas tree (the first tree, decorated with a star, candles, toys and sweets, was presented to the public in St. Petersburg in 1852, in the building of the Moscow station), to give Christmas and New Year cards. Since 1898, January 1 has been a day off.

After the revolution of 1917 this culture fell under an official ban, since 1929 January 1 became a normal working day.

In 1936, the USSR already met with the Christmas trees, and in 1937, a Christmas tree decorated the main children's Christmas holiday of the country.

During the same years, Ded Moroz, whose figure did not have much symbolic value at the time, was also rehabilitated. According to Sergey Sokolov, the story of the origin of the main New Year character is still a mystery.

"Perhaps its forerunners were spirits associated with winter and cold, such as Morozko, recorded in the second half of the 19th century by folklorist Aleksandr Afanasiev. But it is difficult to speak about it with certainty because Eastern European pagan mythology remains little-studied: medieval Christian scribes had no interest in "oral folklore," and the first records of it were made only at the end of the 18th century," the historian explains.

As a literary hero, Ded Moroz appears in Vladimir Odoevsky's fairy tale "Moroz Ivanovich" (1841). Yet neither the folkloric Morozko nor the literary Moroz Ivanovich had any direct relationship to the New Year.

Since 1948, January 1 has been a day off. After the resumption of the Christmas celebration in the early 1990s, January 7 became a day off, and since the 2000s, the holidays have been extended for the entire first week of the new year. On the last day of 1962, the premiere of the New Year's Eve Blue Fire was held. And on December 31, 1970, the Soviet ritual of celebrating the New Year was enriched by a television address of the first person of the state, "pioneer" was Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

"Thus, the modern tradition of celebrating the New Year in our country was formed relatively recently - half a century ago," concludes Sergey Sokolov.

The news article was translated by UrFU International Marketing Office
info.international@urfu.ru, +7 (343) 375-45-19