In most Eastern countries Christmas is widely celebrated and is one of the main holidays of the year. However, if you ask Russians, they will say that the main holiday here is New Year. Even the Christmas tree in Russia is in fact “New Year tree”/Новогодняя ёлка. Why is so? Don’t Russians celebrate Christmas at all? Let’s find out in today’s article.
Q: Do Russians celebrate Christmas?
A: Russians do celebrate Christmas but in Russia, this holiday is considered as a religious one, not public as in Eastern countries. So it is celebrated only by the orthodox. Many people go to the night service to their local church or cathedral.
Q: When do Russians celebrate Christmas?
A: Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7th. It is connected with the fact that Orthodox Church still uses the old Gregorian calendar, while Catholic Church uses the new Jullian one. So, generally, there is no reason to congratulate your Russian friends on Christmas in December, unless you know they are Catholic.
Q: Why do Russians celebrate New Year that widely?
A: Before the USSR Russians used to celebrate Christmas widely. But due to the Soviet politics that was anti-religious, Christian holidays were almost forbidden. So people started to celebrate New Year instead, which is a public holiday. As you can notice, New Year in Russia is actually a mixture of New Year and Christmas traditions.
Q: How do Russians usually celebrate New Year?
A: New Year in Russia is a holiday that often unites families and many people celebrate it at home with family and close friends. Russians tend to cook a lot for New Year dinner and you can find some typical dishes almost in every house: оливье, селёдка под шубой, холодец (olivier salad, herring under a fur coat salad, jellied meat). The dinner normally starts really late, around 22.00 or 23.00, and may last for a good part of the night. At midnight people usually drink Champaign and make wishes for the upcoming year.
Q: Do people celebrate on the street or in restaurants?
A: Sure! While many people celebrate New Year at home, some prefer to celebrate it in a restaurant or even on the street. There are options for everyone. For example, you can celebrate New Year in Moscow on an ice rink in Gorkiy Park.
Q: Do Russian have long public New Year holidays?
A: Yes! There are long public holidays that last from December 31st to approximately January 9th. Of course, many companies keep working even during these holidays but the banks and government entities don’t work. Many Russians use these holidays to travel, visit interesting places in their cities and spend time with their family and friends.
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