How the Russians celebrate New Year
Russians really love New Year.
New Year is as important to them as Christmas is to the British, or Thanksgiving is to the Americans. Its the most popular public holiday in Russia by far. After New Year all offices, many shops and all schools close for around two weeks to give people a chance to celebrate and spend time with their family.
Most Russians don’t celebrate English Christmas at all on 25th December, except for the few who have lived abroad or have western husbands or family, or the Anglophile Russians who try to pretend they are really English and give themselves funny English names.
Christmas in Russia
I spent a whole winter in Russia a few years ago, and these are my thoughts on celebrating the holidays there. I remember waking up from a drunken slumber, realising it was Christmas Day and that I was far from home and family, alone in a dingy small one bedroom flat. I looked out of my balcony window onto the snow covered wonderland below, to see people going to school and work, just like a normal day. Nobody was celebrating. It felt strange.
I had some of my closest Russian friends visit me for Christmas dinner, we drank Baltika beer and ate pasta and sausages. I secretly longed for a roast Turkey dinner but was glad to experience Christmas in a different culture and country.
After generous amounts of Russian beer and a few vodka toasts to English Christmas I stopped caring anymore.
Preparations for New Year
Russians take great care in preparing for New Year. They usually buy a tree (Yolka), prepare lots of food and even more drink and organise parties and celebrations with family and friends. Most people prefer to stay with their family but younger people might celebrate with their friends and attend a disco, club or cafe.
Most city squares will turn into carnivals of ice sculptures, fairground rides, market stalls and sleigh rides with Dyed Maroz (Russian father christmas) packed with hordes of drunken but mostly harmless Russians celebrating until they drop.
The ice sculptures are truly amazing. Having lived all of my life in England, where even in winter temperatures rarely drop much below freezing, it is astounding to see snow on the ground for months, experience -40c temperatures and see palaces and statues carved from blocks of solid ice. Another hilarious novelty on the city square is a massive curved bowl created from slippery ice, inside which children scramble about and try in vain to excape from.
This year I will be celebrating the holidays in England, but I will raise a glass of vodka and drink to my many Russian friends, always in my thoughts and never forgotten.
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