New Year
The First Holiday celebrated in Russia is New Year. There is hardly any other holiday that is anticipated this much every year. Children dream about New Year gifts, and adults about their dreams coming true and everybody wishes happiness to each other in the new year. In schools people have different performances and in offices there are lots of New Year parties. However this holiday is very family-like that's why many people choose to celebrate it at home or with their friends. They decorate a New Year tree and set up the holiday table.
The first New Year in Russia which was celebrated on the night of 31st of December was in 1700 in the times of Peter I. Before that Russians celebrated New Year on the 1st of September, and even before that on the 1st of March. Just like in Europe the symbol of this holiday became a New Year tree - a spruce or a pine – decorated with different adornments and garlands. Although in his decree in 1699 Peter I was mentioning a tree in general not a spruce in particular. First these New Year trees were decorated with nuts, candies, fruit and even vegetables, and this didn't change until the middle of 19 century. The first time when a decorated spruce was shining with lights was in 1852 in St. Petersburg inside Yekaterinensky (Moskovsky nowadays) station. In the middle of 19 century there appeared first New Year tree decorations: toys, bands and colorful paper. By the end of the century fashionable theater performances became popular and great balls as well. Then appeared Father Frost (Russian analog of Santa Clause), and after that - his granddaughter Snegurochka. In the first years of Soviet Union the Soviet government didn't approve of this holiday with a New Year tree, thinking it is too bourgeois, although they later accepted this tradition. In the Soviet period they added some dished to the New Year menu: Studen’ (jellied meat), Selyodka Pod Shuboy (salad with herring and beets and cheese), Olivie, and of course the opening of a bottle of Soviet Champagne with the sound of Kremlin clock in the background. There also appeared “Goluboy ogonyok” (New Year TV shows with pop singers), and New Year movies such as the greatest “Ironia Sudby”.
