What's good about winter? Traditions of the Russian people. Winter calendar holidays and rituals in Russian tr What are the winter holidays

Without holidays, life is boring and monotonous. Holidays are created so that we can feel the fullness of life, have fun and escape from routine worries. Winter would be especially dreary without holidays - because of the frost and darkness in the evenings, you can’t clear up much, and the TV is already disgusted! Therefore, in winter there are so many fun holidays: New Year and Christmas and the Epiphany of the Lord.

New Year's permutations or when does the New Year come?

The most beloved and long-awaited winter holiday for everyone has been and will be the New Year. Children are impatiently counting down the days until New Year's Eve in the hope of receiving gifts, and adults are in a hurry to get rid of the burden of problems accumulated over the past year. Celebrating the onset of the New Year on the night of December 31, many of us do not even think that this wonderful holiday was postponed several times. But in pagan times, the onset of the New Year was symbolically associated with the vernal equinox and they saw off the old year on March 22. Since 998, the year began on March 1, and this was due to the introduction of a new chronology (in connection with the Baptism of Rus') and the adoption of the Julian calendar. Over time, the New Year began to be celebrated on September 1. The idea was that by September the crop was harvested, which means that we can sum up the results of the past year. In 1699, Peter I approved a new date - January 1, and founded the tradition of waiting for the arrival of the New Year noisily and cheerfully.

Traditions of a festive feast for the New Year

To celebrate the New Year, it is customary to invite close friends and beloved relatives to visit. Traditional New Year's festivities continue until the morning. On New Year's Eve, gifts are placed under the Christmas tree for everyone, without exception - both children and adults.

A mandatory attribute of the New Year celebration is a decorated Christmas tree. The forest guest is decorated not only with glass balls and garlands, but also with various “sweets” wrapped in foil - tangerines, sweets, apples, nuts. Spruce branches or wreaths are hung on the doors. Create a festive atmosphere and lit candles everywhere.

Mandatory guests of the New Year's Eve should be Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. By the way, it is desirable to put symbolic images of these fairy-tale characters under the Christmas tree.

According to tradition, 12 different dishes should be presented on the table in the New Year. However, the Soviet period of history made its own adjustments and now it is impossible to imagine the New Year's table without Olivier salad, Soviet Champagne and tangerine.

On New Year's Eve, it is customary to arrange with dressing up or putting on masquerade masks. In order not to be bored, you can come up with funny contests and games at the New Year's table.

The New Year enters into legal rights at midnight on December 31 under the deafening chimes. In the last moments of the outgoing year, it is customary to accept congratulations from the incumbent president. And to the sound of glasses of champagne, you need to try to make a wish - if you have time, then it will definitely come true.

It is impossible to miss the onset of the New Year - fireworks illuminating everything around and exploding firecrackers will notify everyone about the accomplished event.

A little about Christmas

While the New Year is a lush and noisy holiday, with absolutely no restrictions on food or games, it is a quiet and modest holiday. On Christmas Eve, i.e. On January 6, fasting ends, and the meal begins no earlier than the rising of the first star. For a meal on the Holy evening, you need to prepare 12 dishes, always lean, and, of course, kutya. Kutya was always cooked from wheat, rice, barley or peas and seasoned with sweet uzvar with honey, dried fruits, poppy seeds, etc.

But on Christmas (January 7) they were already preparing a festive dinner and the whole family sat down at the table. According to tradition, a bunch of hay is symbolically placed on the table as a reminder that Jesus was born in a cattle shed. Meat and fish dishes are already being prepared for the meal, but kutya should become the central dish of the evening. Traditionally, the celebration begins with kutya, because according to popular belief, one who ate at least one spoonful of kutya on Christmas will be healthy and successful in the coming year.

It is very difficult for modern people to observe the age-old traditions of organizing that other holiday. Constant employment, stress and haste do not allow you to allocate enough time to prepare the necessary 12 dishes or the same kutya. However, the holidays are just created in order to stop your run for a minute, give your loved ones your love and feel involved in the traditions of your people.

Celebrate the Baptism of the Lord

The Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the night of January 18-19. Due to the fact that church baptism was a very important and significant event for true Christians, the baptism of the Savior Jesus Christ in the Jordan River acquired a special scale. Therefore, Baptism is the main church holiday, on which all Christians try to repent of the sins committed during the year.

Purification of the soul occurs through swimming in the winter hole. First, a service dedicated to the Baptism of Christ is performed in the church, and then all the priests and people who come to the church make a procession to a nearby reservoir. A polynya is cut through and the priest blesses the water according to all church canons. After consecration, the water becomes healing and three times dipping in ice water helps to cleanse the soul and heal from ailments. Holy water is recommended to be collected and sprinkled on the house, given as a medicine to sick people or used as a remedy for various love spells, the evil eye, etc.

On Epiphany Christmas Eve, it is customary to cook lean porridge and vegetables for dinner. The evening on the eve of Epiphany has long been famous for festivities, fortune-telling and other sacraments. For example, on Epiphany it was customary to choose a bride, baptize children and marry.

Epiphany ends the cycle of winter holidays, and winter begins to gradually give up its positions. Despite the fact that Epiphany frosts are the strongest, the people knew that winter was raging in the end.

Christmas

Winter is not always happy with snowy weather now, but with the approach of New Year's celebrations, the mood still rises in anticipation of carnivals, a noisy feast, fireworks and gifts. At the end of the year, the calendar makes us happy with a whole series of interesting holidays that take several weeks. If we add to them the Catholic Christmas with the Chinese New Year, and our people love to have fun on any suitable occasion, then you can have fun in clubs and fun feasts until spring. But here we list the traditional Russian winter holidays that have become folk for the Eastern Slavs. Knowing history will help you better prepare for the upcoming fun and will give you the opportunity to show off your erudition in the company if disputes on this fascinating topic accidentally come up.

Winter holiday traditions

Many kings and emperors, trying to look like reformers, began to reshape the calendars, forbid the old celebrations and introduce their own in their place. Sometimes such undertakings were forgotten after the death of dictators, but in other cases, interesting ideas took root, especially when they fell on fertile ground. The Slavs have always been famous for their ability to walk with all their heart, so the new desire of Tsar Peter was not particularly opposed, and from 1699 the tradition of decorating green Christmas trees on New Year's Eve gradually became nationwide. European innovations on the date of the event very successfully coincided with the Great winter Christmas time ( January 7 - January 19). The new main winter holiday of the country was in many ways reminiscent of Christmas games, when people dressed up as devils, animals and other creatures, collected treats from local residents, and walked through the streets with songs and carols.

For Christians, in the first place among the New Year's winter holidays, of course, is Christmas. They begin to meet him back in ( 6th January), when you should commemorate the deceased at the Lenten table in the circle of the closest people. Jan. 7 it was already allowed to hold colorful processions with a star in carnival costumes. Thus, the old rites successfully merged with Christian traditions, and the people had the opportunity to noisily spend the winter holidays, following the customs of their ancestors, without violating the new laws.

(13th of January) is a consequence of the Leninist reforms, when the Bolsheviks rigidly transferred the country from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, moving all winter holidays by as much as 13 days. Naturally, the people adopted such innovations in a peculiar way, starting to celebrate them, both in the old and in the newly introduced style. In the Christian calendar, the Old New Year falls on the commemoration of St. Melania and Vasil, which has always been reflected in folk rituals. For example, in Ukrainian villages, a guy was dressed up as Melanka, and a beautiful girl was dressed up as Vasil, and they, in the company of dressed-up gypsies, a goat, a bear, a grandfather, a woman and other characters, went around the whole village with special song songs.

Epiphany Christmas Eve ( January 18) marked the preparation for a big holiday - the Great Blessing of Water. It was necessary to fast, eat vegetable pancakes, porridge, kutya, honey pancakes. On the Epiphany of the Lord Baptism ( January 19) people flocked to the reservoirs, where services were held near the cruciform polynya (Jordan). By the way, bathing in it, even in the cold, was considered a good thing for health, because at the same time, the body is completely cleansed of sins.

We think that our short review can be completed here, although after Epiphany there are many more interesting dates. You can describe for a long time what winter holidays are, mentioning, for example, the cheerful Tatyana's day ( The 25th of January) or Valentine's Day ( The 14th of February), but the format of the article simply does not fit such a large material. We wish you a joyful New Year celebrations in the new and old style!

Introduction

One of the twelve church holidays, the first of those that fall on the cold season, is the Entry into the Temple of the Virgin, celebrated on December 4th. But that's how it was officially called. The people in the name of the holiday retained only the first word - "introduction", and even rethought it. All folk proverbs and signs connect the Introduction not with the Mother of God, but with the beginning of the Russian winter. It was believed that it was on this day that she comes into her own: "The Introduction has come - the winter has brought", "If the snow falls before the Introduction, it will melt anyway, and if after the Introduction, winter will fall!" By the way, according to the weather on this day, the weather was predicted for all other winter holidays.

On Introduction to antiquity, a toboggan run was tried. If it was not established, it was believed that there was no winter yet: what kind of winter would come through the frozen black mud? The right to "renew" the winter road on a sled was granted, according to custom, to the newlyweds. Their departure for a walk was arranged solemnly: the sleigh was selected painted, light, multi-colored carpets and decorated with paper flowers. Horses must be well groomed. The young husband, girded with a bright sash, famously ruled, shouting for a view of the already briskly fleeing blacks or browns. And the young wife sat silently in the sleigh, with dignity demonstrating her beauty and beautiful outfits to the oncoming ones ... This rite was called - "to show the young."

In Moscow, a sledge fair was traditionally held on the Introduction. On this day, many sledges filled the Lubyanka for many decades. Sledges were for every taste: light "singles" and more solid "pairs" and "triples". Sledges are everyday and festive, often decorated with very intricate carvings and paintings. Such sledges were made by Galician masters.

However, it was important not only to make the sled, but also skillfully, dashingly sell it. Experienced barkers found an approach to each buyer, did not skimp on the praise of their product, shouted out advertising "paradise" verses, improvising on the go:

And here are the sled scooters,
decorated, rich,
decorated, gilded,
trimmed with morocco!

Or another, in modern terms, "slogan":

It's gone, gone, move, ford,
In shorts, in races, in pursuit, in pursuit!
And who managed - the first grade faked!

Goods were sold "with a bang": it was difficult to drive through winter Moscow 100-150 years ago on wheels. And on the sled - just right. Only the snow creaks under the skids!

Catherine's festivities

On December 7, on the day of St. Catherine, or, as she was called in Rus', Katerina the sleigh, they organized sleigh races. The whole village gathered on some hillock, and the young guys and men tried to "outcome" each other on a snow-covered road, winding around the surrounding fields. The audience cheered furiously, often moving from verbal arguments in defense of their pet to fisticuffs. And the girls evaluated possible suitors at these races: their prowess, skill, strength, and prosperity - the "right" man has a good horse!

Buy, tyatenko, skate,
golden legs,
I will ride the girls
On the big track!

Evening "under Catherine" was considered the best for divination and divination. The girls put a piece of bread under the pillow before going to bed and asked: what will be the betrothed? If the bread is stale by morning, the husband will get it with a tough and tough character, if it crumbles, life in marriage generally promises to be unsuccessful ... Having gathered together, the girls often sang:

Darling wooed, rode,
Broke three sleds
Married all the rich
And I did not pass!

Or here's another ditty:

Will it come true
This year?
The golden crown will be put on
On my head?

New Year and Christmas tree

New Year in Russia (and in general in Europe), as you guys already know, was not always celebrated on the night of January 1st. Once upon a time, the countdown of the new year began on March 1. The memory of this time is preserved in the names of some months. September, for example, in Latin means "seventh", October - "eighth", November - "ninth", and December (remember?) - "tenth" ... And what place do they occupy in the line of months today?

With the adoption of Christianity, the Julian calendar came to Rus'. The church began to keep the chronology "from the creation of the world" (5508 BC) and moved the beginning of the new year to September 1. There was a fair amount of confusion, and in 1342 Metropolitan Theognosy simply canceled the March New Year. And after another two and a half centuries, the great reformer Emperor Peter I, who cared about everything, ordered to meet the new, 1700 year from the Nativity of Christ on January 1. The will of the emperor is the law, and therefore - even with a creak and grumbling! - Russia switched to a new calendar for itself, began to celebrate the New Year four months later than the usual date.

All the same Peter I ordered to decorate the houses and streets of cities with spruce and pine garlands for the New Year, to launch rockets and fireworks, to have fun "until you drop." (True, in the old days in Moscow, spruce branches tied over the door of a house meant that it was a tavern!) But the New Year tree, which all boys and girls love today (and adults too!), appeared in Russia much later.

At the end of the first quarter of the 19th century, along with other customs of the Germans who moved to Russia, the custom of decorating a Christmas tree brought from the forest came to us. The first Christmas trees in Russia, already decorated with toys and sweets, were sold in ... pastry shops! But then everything gradually fell into place: Christmas tree bazaars were noisy in Moscow, where everyone could choose a green tree both to taste and to afford it.

Russian Christmas trees for the public, in all likelihood, a Moscow invention. In 1851, in the Great Hall of the Noble Assembly (now the Column Hall of the House of Unions), at a children's holiday organized in favor of women's private schools, the first common Christmas tree in Russia was decorated. After the Bolsheviks came to power in the mid-1920s, the Christmas tree (like the holidays themselves - Christmas and New Year) was declared a "bourgeois relic". Only in 1935 did the authorities return the old custom to the people. Since then, in addition to home holidays, they arrange, for example, in the Kremlin, the House of Unions, "the main Christmas trees" - with performances, songs and dances. Christmas trees for them were always chosen the tallest and most slender. But in recent years, when society has thought about preserving Nature, children are increasingly leading New Year's round dances around an artificial tree ...

And what does the New Year smell like? "Christmas tree!" - remembering his childhood, everyone will say. A green tree, brought in from the frost and thawed, gradually fills the house with a coniferous aroma, conquers every corner of it. But the smell of the New Year, guys, is not only the freshness of the winter forest, the fragrance of resinous needles. It is mixed with a slight smell of dust from toys that have lain for a year in a closet or a dark pantry - paper hares and crackers, boxes with golden balls and silver cones. The bitter smell of tangerines, candy aroma, stuffy smell of candle wax are added to the spicy smell of resin...

Many songs have been composed about the New Year, but for a hundred years now the most famous among them has been the simple song "A Christmas Tree Was Born in the Forest." The history of this song is very interesting. Once upon a time there lived in Moscow a young schoolteacher Raisa Kudasheva (1878-1964), who wrote poetry. “I didn’t want to be famous, but I couldn’t help but write,” Raisa Adamovna later recalled. And in 1903, she brought the poem "Herringbone" to the editorial office of the magazine "Baby". The editor-in-chief liked the poem so much that he immediately ordered to replace some story in the already finished Christmas issue with these verses:

The Forest Raised a Christmas Tree,
She grew up in the forest
Slim in winter and summer
Green was.
The blizzard sang a song to her:
"Sleep, Christmas tree, bye-bye!"
Frost covered with snow:
"Look, do not freeze! .."

However, is it worth repeating familiar words to everyone? After all, each of us knows them from early childhood! But what happened to the poem then, more than a hundred years ago? And this is what happened: the agronomist L.K. saw these lines in the journal. Beckman, who composed music in his spare time. He sat down at the piano - and the song turned out! Since the amateur composer did not know musical notation, his wife, Professor of the Moscow Conservatory, Elena Alexandrovna Bekman-Shcherbina, recorded the melody. Neither the writer nor his wife knew anything about the author of the words. Didn't know that her poems became a song, and Raisa Kudasheva. Only many, many years later, she accidentally heard on the train how a little girl sang "Yolochka". Here is such a story!

Vasiliev evening

This day, when the name day is celebrated by Vasily and Vasilisa, today falls on the eve of the Old New Year, that is, on January 13th. In former times, it was also called "rich evening" or Avsen (Ovsen, Usen) and celebrated by singing carols. The mummers with games and songs went from house to house with a bag, where they put the treats they asked for from the owners:

We sow, we sow, we sow
Congratulations on the day of Christ,
With cattle, with a belly,
With little kids - little kids!
How many branches are on a bush,
How many kids you would have!
Merry Christmas,
Owner with hostess!

If you look into the ancient, pre-Christian Russian history, then among the many gods of that time you can find Avsen (in those centuries he had a different name, and Avsen was borrowed from the Germans: translated from German it is "sowing"), the patron saint of the first shoots. Why does the spring deity celebrate his day in the dead of winter? Recall that once in Rus', the new year began on March 1. So then Avsen was on the calendar to the point! And after Peter I ordered to celebrate the New Year on January 1, Avsen found another day for himself - he became a winter holiday, but he retained some spring habits. Even in the last century, mummers threw several grains of bread on the floor during carols in Vasiliev evening in every house. These old women always raised the grains and stored them until the spring sowing. So, maybe the very name of the holiday - Avsen (Avsen) - is the expectation of spring?

Christmas

The feast of the Nativity of Christ is one of the most important holidays of the Christian calendar. For those of you guys who want to know its history and rituals, the best thing to do is to consult the "Bible". Several editions of the Children's Bible have been published in recent decades. And there is also a great book by Selma Lagerlöf (the writer you know from the tale of the boy Niels traveling with wild geese), called "Legends of Christ." Read them. Christmas in Russia is celebrated after the New Year - on January 7th. And in the rest of the Christian world - December 25th. The fact is that in Russia the New Year is celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar generally accepted today, and the church holiday of Christmas is celebrated according to the Julian calendar, which was used by our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers until 1918. The Julian calendar "lags behind" its younger counterpart: the difference between them in the 20th and 21st centuries is exactly 13 days.

In Rus', Christmas is still slightly inferior in solemnity to Easter, but in the West, Christmas is the main holiday of the year. In Russia, as in the rest of the world, Christmas tree lights are lit on this day, and children and adults give gifts to each other. After all, the more gifts and good wishes, the better!

Baptism

Remember, V.A. Zhukovsky: "Once on the Epiphany evening, the girls were guessing ..." How did the girls guess, and why did they do it on the "Epiphany evening"? Well, you all know about fortune-telling: many people still believe that stars, reflections in mirrors, twigs and nuts thrown at random, melted wax, various signs help to know the future. The holy week before the feast of Epiphany, which falls today on January 19, has always been considered the best time for fortune-telling! Both science and the church consider divination to be superstition. But among the people the ancient customs hold fast! Many folk signs are associated with Epiphany, according to which they determined what the year would be like: “On Epiphany, snow flakes - for the harvest”, “If dogs bark a lot at Epiphany, there will be a lot of beast and game”, “If the night is starry on Epiphany, wait for the harvest of red berries".

The very same feast of the Baptism of the Lord, or Theophany, is a Christian, church. The main event of Baptism is the blessing of water. On the night before Epiphany, a hole is made in one of the reservoirs at a designated place - Jordan. The priest plunges the cross into it - sanctifies it, after which they bathe in the Jordan, take water from it. This custom has long existed in Moscow. In the old days, the Jordan was usually made in the ice of the Moscow River. Nowadays, the river practically does not freeze, and therefore in recent years, when this ancient custom has been revived, many Muscovites come to Jordan, carved into the ice of one of the lakes of Serebryany Bor. Blessing of water also takes place in every Orthodox church, but the cross is lowered into a vessel filled with water.

On January 19, Epiphany frosts were traditionally expected in Russia. They were the second in January after Christmas frosts. It was believed that before the end of the month we would have another drop in temperature - Afanasiev frosts (January 31). "Athanasius the clematis has come - take care of your cheeks and nose!" - said the people. But the industrial twentieth century mixed up all the pages of the national calendar: due to climate change, winters became warmer, slushier. And the frosts predicted by folk signs do not come every year ...

Candlemas

The church holiday of the Presentation of the Lord is celebrated on February 15, on the fortieth day after Christmas. On this day, according to the narration of the Evangelist Luke, the Mother of God with the Christ Child in her arms came to the Temple in Jerusalem...

In Rus', Christian beliefs are usually closely intertwined with folk, dating back to the times of paganism. "Winter and summer meet at the Presentation Day," people used to say. On this day, it was believed, Winter and Summer are arguing, fighting: who goes forward, and who goes back ... Candlemas frosts are associated with Candlemas. But there are also Sretensky thaws - it doesn’t happen year after year! "What is the weather on the Meeting, such will be the spring", "If snow sweeps across the road, then it will be late spring, and if it does not sweep, it will be early." So, guys, note: will folk signs coincide with real life this year or not?

Maslenitsa

This holiday is considered the most cheerful holiday in Rus'. It is even called the "riotous Maslenitsa", then the "wide Maslenitsa". They even came up with a saying about Maslenitsa: "Not life, but Maslenitsa."

Shrovetide, or Cheese Week (as it is called in church calendars), mixed everything in its customs: ancient Roman masquerades (saturnalia - in honor of the god Saturn), when men dressed up in women's clothes, and women in men's clothes, dressed up as monsters and animals, putting on twisted animal skins...

One of the foreigners, describing the Russian Maslenitsa about three hundred years ago, explains its name in this way: “Maslenitsa is so named because Russians are allowed to eat cow butter during this week, because during fasting they use hemp instead of cow butter for food ... At that time when everyone, with heartfelt repentance, should have prepared to contemplate the sufferings of Christ, these erring people betray their souls to the devil... Gluttony, drunkenness, debauchery and murder continue day and night (the author probably meant fistfights)... All the time they bake pies, kalachi and the like; they invite guests to their place and get drunk on honey, wine and vodka to the point of insensibility ... "

Frightened by the breadth of Russian nature, the foreign writer did not remember other ancient customs and pastimes on Maslenitsa: skiing downhill on a sleigh, sleigh and just on birch bark, "runners" on skis and skates (more precisely, it was like modern skates) ...

The main thing in the Russian Maslenitsa, of course, is pancakes. They bake all week. The first pancake was once placed on the dormer window, remembering the souls of the parents. Pancakes, according to scientists, are more ancient than bread: even the biblical king David distributed "mlyny skuvratnye" ("pancakes from a frying pan") on the occasion of the holiday. The pancake is a pagan symbol of the sun, which is why it is round. Pancakes in Russia are loved and eaten in abundance (especially on Maslenitsa): with caviar, and with red fish, and with honey, and with sour cream, and with jam ... Didn't we forget anything with you? In a word, pancakes are very tasty!

In Moscow, in the old days, sleigh rides on Maslenitsa were very popular. They usually start at 12 noon on Monday. Muscovites loved to ride on a sledge on the ice of the Moskva River and the Neglinnaya River, which at that time flowed through the very center of the city, near the walls of the Kremlin (the Alexander Garden is now located at this place). But the most crowded rides took place on the Thursday of Cheese Week. On Red Square and the banks of the Moskva River and the Neglinka, huge snow and ice slides were arranged. There is a legend that one such snow hill for several years in a row in the 18th century was built with his own money for Muscovites by the famous robber and, at the same time, the detective Vanka Kain. Like it or not, it is not known for certain, but the high slope of the Moskva River near the Kremlin was popularly called Kainova Gora for many years ...

The most famous masquerade procession in Moscow was the Solemn Masquerade on the occasion of the Treaty of Nystadt, concluded in 1721 by Emperor Peter I. It was an unprecedented spectacle for Moscow at that time. It took place on the fourth day of Maslenitsa and started from the village of Vsesvyatsky (now there is the Sokol metro station). The procession was attended by many sea vessels (moving by land) and about a hundred sledges. At the signal of the rocket, the carnival "train" moved to the Triumphal Gate. On one of the ships, which was carrying 16 horses, Peter himself was seated in the uniform of a naval captain with generals and naval officers ... Having passed the Triumphal Gate, the procession headed for the Kremlin, but reached it only in the evening. The holiday lasted four days and ended with cannon fire and fireworks.

After Maslenitsa, Great Lent begins, which lasts 40 days, until Easter itself.

AND WHAT INSTEAD OF THE CHRISTMAS?

There are countries where Christmas trees do not grow. How do children celebrate the New Year there? What trees decorate? It is customary for the Chinese to have a small tangerine tree in the house - the Tree of Light, and cut daffodils on the table. In Nicaragua, on New Year's Eve, rooms are decorated with branches of a coffee tree with red fruits. And in Australia, where the New Year falls at the very height of summer, a metrosideros tree is set up for children, strewn with scarlet flowers at this time. Every Vietnamese will definitely give a friend a sprig of a blossoming peach tree on New Year's Eve, and a Japanese will attach a sprig of pine at the entrance to the dwelling.

HOW DO YOU CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR?

You know how the New Year is celebrated in Russia. And in other countries? In Germany, in the last minutes of the old year, people of all ages jump on chairs, sofas, tables, and with the last strike of the clock, together, with joyful cries, "jump" into the coming year. In Hungary, on New Year's Eve, it is customary to blow and whistle: the sounds of pipes and whistles, according to existing belief, drive away evil spirits, and the year will do without the intervention of evil spirits. In Brazil, the arrival of the New Year is celebrated with cannon shots. Spaniards and Cubans on New Year's Eve eat a grape with every stroke of the clock. With the last stroke of the clock, the Panamanians begin to shout, beat the drums, press the car horns ...

Christmas holidays:

Christmas time is two weeks of winter holidays between Christmas and Epiphany, from December 25/January 7 to January 6/19 of the following year. Christmas time is originally a pagan holiday. After all, before the adoption of Christianity in Rus', Christmas time was a celebration in honor of the supreme god of the sky, Belbog. It was also called Svyatovit, hence the name "Christmas Day". Christmas time in ancient times was not a fun entertainment, as it is now. Christmas rituals at that time were not only divination about the future, but also spells for the whole year. Our ancestors believed in the magical power of rituals and believed that the harvest, success in hunting, the well-being of the next year, and hence the life of people, depended on the correctness of their implementation.

With the adoption of Christianity, Christmas time did not disappear, but "adapted" to the church calendar. They took their place between the holidays of Christmas and Epiphany, but the pagan nature was preserved in various rituals, divination, signs.

“Once upon a time, Kolyada was perceived not as a mummer. Kolyada was a deity, and one of the most influential. They called the carol, called. New Year's Eve was dedicated to Kolyada, games were organized in her honor. It is believed that Kolyada was recognized by the Slavs as the deity of fun, which is why they called him, called him on New Year's festivities Strizhev A. Folk calendar - M .: Nauka, 1993 - p. 75".

The celebration of Kolyada with its fun and optimism expressed the faith of ancient Russian pagans in the inevitability of the victory of good principles over the forces of evil. To help Kolyada ward off evil spirits, those who celebrated his day burned bonfires. They sang and danced around them. After the adoption of Christianity, the optimism and life-affirming celebrations of Kolyada received a new content in the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, and ritual pagan customs turned into a fun game at Christmas time. These days, just as in ancient times, bonfires were lit, boys and girls, and sometimes young married men and married women, performed as carolers. To do this, they gathered in a small group and went around the peasant houses. This group was led by a mekhonosha with a large bag.

The carolers went around the houses of the peasants, calling themselves "difficult guests", bringing the owner of the house the joyful news that Jesus Christ was born. They urged the owner to meet them with dignity and allow them to call Kolyada under the window, i.e. sing special benevolent songs called carols.

After performing the songs, they asked the hosts for a reward. In rare cases, when the owners refused to listen to carolers, they reproached them for being greedy. In general, the arrival of carolers was taken very seriously, they gladly accepted all the greatness and wishes, tried to give them as generously as possible.

"Difficult guests" put gifts in a bag and went to the next house. In large villages and villages, 5-10 groups of carolers came to each house. Caroling was known throughout Russia, but was distinguished by local originality. So, in the central zone of European Russia, as well as in the Volga region, caroling songs were addressed to all family members and were accompanied by exclamations of “autumn, tausen, autumn” or “Kolyada”, which gave the name to the rite itself - “clicking ovsen”, “clicking Kolyada”.

In different parts of Russia caroling took place in different ways. So. For example, in the northern provinces of European Russia, caroling has taken on a slightly different form. Here, carol songs were aimed at glorifying each family member who lived in the house. The carolers began with songs under the window, and the rite itself ended already in the hut with a traditional request for alms.

As a result, the rite of caroling consisted of a kind of exchange of gifts, gift for gift. The carolers "gave" prosperity to the peasant house for the whole year, and the owners gave away goats, as well as pies, cheesecakes, beer, and money. It is worth saying that in many areas of Russia, bread products were considered the main gift. On the eve of Christmas, roes were baked especially for distribution to carolers. Carol songs have always been varied. And this diversity depended on in which region, in which district caroling took place.

The rite of caroling is considered an ancient rite, which was known not only to Russians, but also to other Slavic peoples. For the ancient Slavs, the arrival of carolers was perceived as a return from another world of dead ancestors to the homes of their descendants. Therefore, giving gifts to them served as a kind of sacrifice in the hope of help and protection in the coming year.

b) Praise our kings. Although in Russia there was no Western holiday of the Journey of the Three Tsars, but since the time of Alexei Mikhailovich, it was introduced for sovereigns to go to Christmas time to glorify even their subjects. The glorification began at noon on the holiday in the following way Russian folk holidays. M., 1837, p. 56 .. The procession is preceded by two officials with drums in their hands and beat them with sticks wrapped in cloth. They are followed by the tsar with all the clergy and a crowd of princes and boyars. They ride on a sleigh and visit the noblest court nobles.

Upon entering the house, they sing to someone: “We praise God to you” and congratulate them on the New Year. Then the owner brings the king a gift of money and treats him with his retinue. After the treat, they go to another nobleman. Those who shied away from glorification were punished with a whip and batogs. Under Empress Elizaveta Petrovna in Rus', on the Nativity of Christ, court choristers were given a dacha (salary) under the name of the glorified.

c) new year. In ancient times, the New Year was most often associated with spring - the beginning of the revival of nature. In Rus', since the introduction of Christianity, the New Year was celebrated on March 1. In 1343, the Moscow Cathedral decided to count the New Year, according to the Greek church reckoning, from September 1, but the custom of celebrating the New Year in the spring turned out to be so tenacious that the reckoning from March continued for about 150 years, and only in 1492 at the Moscow Cathedral it was finally decided to count year from September 1st. This decision of the cathedral was approved by the Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilyevich, and everyone had to comply with it. Celebrating the New Year in September continued for more than two hundred years, the last time - in 1698.

The very next year, Peter I, returning from his first trip to Europe, began to break old customs. It began with the categorical prohibition of the king even at home to celebrate September 1 in a festive way. Night watchmen with large sticks in their hands, seeing the light between the slots of the shutters, strictly ordered "put out the lights." And only on December 15, a drumbeat was heard in Moscow - a sign that an important tsarist decree would now be announced.

And indeed, on a high platform on Red Square, the clerk loudly read the decree “On the celebration of the New Year”, that the “great sovereign” ordered “from now on to count the summer in orders and write in all affairs and fortresses” not in the old way from September 1 , and from January 1.

The change in the chronology was called “a good and useful deed”, and further it was reported that “as a sign of a good undertaking and a new centennial century” should be celebrated in Moscow on January 1, 1700 as follows: rank in front of the gate to make some decoration from trees and branches of pine, spruce, juniper, repair shooting from small cannons and guns, launch rockets, as many as you can and light fires. And for poor people, everyone should at least put a tree or a branch on the gate or over their temple. At the end of the decree it was said: “And so that the next January will ripen by the 1st of the year 1700. And to stand for that decoration of January on the 7th of the same year. Yes, on the 1st day of January, as a sign of fun, congratulate each other on the new year and the centenary, and do this when fiery fun begins on Big Red Square and there will be shooting.

Strict supervision was established over the execution of this decree. Peter I himself began the holiday on Red Square by launching the first rocket. The next day, the king received New Year's greetings and arranged a magnificent feast in the palace. It is curious that the decree did not provide for presenting gifts on New Year's Day, although this tradition, of course, had deep roots.

Baptism:

Baptism is a great Christian holiday, in memory of the day when Jesus Christ, by a voice from heaven (Theophany), was declared the Savior, the messiah and was baptized in the waters of the Jordan from John the Baptist. The Feast of the Epiphany ends the Christmas holidays. The holiday began on the evening of January 18, when all Orthodox celebrated Epiphany Eve.

Epiphany Christmas Eve is a strict fast, preparation before a big Orthodox holiday, which is called the Epiphany of the Lord. On the day of the Epiphany, water blessing is performed. It is believed that consecrated water does not deteriorate all year, has healing and miraculous properties.

Our pagan ancestors idolized the elements. And if at Christmas they worshiped the all-destroying fire, then Baptism was dedicated to water - the eternal nurse and benefactor. The veneration of water was combined with the memory of the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Palestinian Jordan River. The feast of the Baptism of the Lord is called a water cross, a water cross. Despite the severe frosts that were at that time, brave people swam in the hole to wash away their sins.

The people still have the belief that on the night of the Epiphany, before the morning dawn, the sky opens and requires a special rise in prayerful mood. To expel corruption, the evil eye and all sorts of other demonic presences during the hours of Epiphany Christmas Eve, it was customary to put crosses with chalk on the doors and windows of houses and outbuildings.

On Epiphany Christmas Eve, the girls baked pies and went out with them on a frosty night to call their betrothed.

Maslenitsa:

The Russian people celebrated Shrovetide even when there was no Christianity in Rus'. The holiday marked the farewell to winter and the meeting of spring and was associated with the name of the god of fertility and cattle breeding Veles. After the baptism of Rus', Maslenitsa began to be celebrated seven weeks before Easter, followed by Great Lent. Yes, and during the Maslenitsa itself, which lasts seven days, meat is not eaten. They eat it for the last time on the last Sunday - Meat Sunday - before the national holiday. And since Maslenitsa crowns spring, the warmth of the sun, but they could not do without pancakes, which the ancients considered a symbol of the sun - they are just as round, yellow and always hot.

It was necessary to screw up pancakes at least 10 pieces, or rather, from one and a half to two elbows - it was in this equivalent that pancakes were measured in the old days. After the pancakes, the fun began: skiing from the mountains, fist fights, songs and dances. Not to ride downhills, not to swing on a swing, not to laugh at jesters in those days meant living in trouble.

As you know, Maslenitsa lasts seven days. Each day of this week has its own name and meaning.

Monday - Meeting. Slides, swings, booths for buffoons were arranged, tables with dishes were set up. Moreover, on the first day only children rode from the mountains. In the morning, the children made a doll out of straw and dressed her up. On the same day, the children went from house to house with songs, thereby asking the residents for a hotel.

Tuesday - Games. The second day was spent entertaining young couples who sealed their relationship with the bonds of black a week or two ago. Now the time to ride from the mountains has come for the newlyweds. Those couples whose whole village was walking at the wedding were simply obliged to slide down the mountain. Skiing from the mountains served as a kind of omen. The further you slide, the more flax you will grow. For the unmarried, their own fate was prepared: young people looked out for brides for themselves, and girls looked at their betrothed. It was not without guesswork. For example, the girl had to take one of the first pancakes, go outside and treat the first guy she met to them and ask him his name in order to find out the name of her betrothed.

Wednesday - Gourmets. On this day, mothers-in-law invited their sons-in-law to pancakes. Hence the expression "to the mother-in-law for pancakes." Young people dressed as for a wedding. On Wednesday, unmarried guys and unwitting girls rode with goroku, moreover, all the villages had jokes on the lips of guys who this year did not have time to get a wife.

Thursday - Walk around. On Thursday, a lot of people gathered, fisticuffs were organized, the capture of snowy towns was carried out. People dressed up in costumes. And, finally, the effigy of Maslenitsa was raised up the mountain.

Friday - Mother-in-law evening. In the evening, the son-in-law was supposed to invite the mother-in-law to him. The mother-in-law, in response, sent him everything from which and on what pancakes are baked. And the son-in-law had to bake pancakes for her.

Saturday - Zolovkin gatherings or Seeing off. On the sixth day, the daughter-in-law invited her relatives to her place. On the same day, a dressed-up straw effigy of Maslenitsa was carried to the end of the village and there, on a large fire, it was burned. They sang and danced around the fire.

Sunday - Forgiveness Sunday. Everyone was preparing for Great Lent, so they sought to be cleansed of sins and asked each other for forgiveness and heard in response: “God will forgive, and I forgive.” People went to cemeteries, left pancakes on the graves. It was believed that the very first pancake at Maslenitsa was "for the repose of parental souls."

In this last winter holiday, ending the winter, we see a mixture of pagan and Christian elements, the customs of the old with the new. So, for example, the personification of Maslenitsa in the form of a peasant, a straw effigy or a wooden idol, buffoon games, burning effigies, throwing them into the water belong to pagan rites. Meanwhile, farewell to people on the eve of Great Lent, going to say goodbye to the cemetery with the dead belongs to the new rites of a peace-loving Christian. However, the burning of effigies and throwing them into the water is also attributed to the beginning of Christianity, as a remembrance of the eternal triumph of Christianity over paganism.