2024-01-12 20:21:00
Photo: Tat’yana Andreyeva / iStock
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How to celebrate the old New Year and observe all the traditions? What to cook on this day? How did this holiday even come regarding? We tell you together with colleagues from “Around the world», Marie Claire and “City portals».
The emergence of the tradition of celebrating the “second” New Year goes deep into history.
After Rus’ adopted Christianity in 988, its inhabitants began to use the Byzantine chronology – from 5508. The New Year was then celebrated not in January, but on March 1st. This date symbolized the beginning of spring.
In 1492, Tsar Ivan III decided to move the New Year celebration to September 1 in order to synchronize this date with the harvest festival and the deadline for collecting taxes. At the same time, no one canceled the tradition of celebrating the New Year on March 1, so people now have two holidays: the official and the usual.
When Peter I came to power, he changed everything once more and introduced chronology from the Nativity of Christ. As a result, January 1, 7208, according to Byzantine tradition, became January 1, 1700. The New Year was now celebrated on the same day.
The October Revolution of 1917 brought two innovations. The Bolsheviks replaced the Julian calendar with the more accurate Gregorian calendar, according to which almost the whole world was already living by that time. The difference between the “old” and “new” chronology was 13 days. And the New Year was canceled altogether, considering this holiday a bourgeois relic. But people continued to celebrate it, albeit at home. They did this according to the old calendar – on the night of January 14th.
In 1935, the USSR authorities returned the New Year. Of course, it officially began to be celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, on January 1st. However, people still continued to celebrate it on the night of the 14th. The tradition continues to this day, but may change in the future: the difference between the calendars is increasing, and by the beginning of the 22nd century it will be 14, not 13 days.
The Old New Year is intertwined with church Christmas holidays, which in Russia and other Orthodox countries are still celebrated according to the Julian calendar.
January 13 falls on the church’s Vasiliev Evening – a holiday in honor of St. Basil the Great. On this day, it was customary to set a rich table with a variety of dishes: pork – a symbol of enriching the family in the new year, rabbit meat – a symbol of success in business and new beginnings, rooster dishes – a symbol of gaining freedom. The traditional dish for Vasilyev’s evening is “rich kutia”, cooked with cream and butter.
There was another special custom characteristic of the celebration of the old New Year. The eldest woman of the family had to cook ritual porridge, which might be used to predict the fate of the family in the coming year. If the porridge turned out rich and crumbly, it means it must be a good year, and they ate what was prepared. But if there was something wrong with the porridge, and the family, according to the sign, had to prepare for difficult times, the dish was thrown away.
Another important tradition was caroling: people visited each other, sang ritual songs, congratulated and gave treats. Another integral part of folk holidays was fortune-telling, although they were not encouraged by the church. We talked regarding traditions associated with predicting the future here.
This is a fairly simple dish that was very popular in Rus’. Its basis: grain (wheat was most often used, but it can be replaced with rice or barley) with symbolic ingredients. Poppy symbolized prosperity, honey – family joy, raisins – love, dried apricots – beauty, nuts – wisdom. Here is the prescription.
You will need:
- wheat grains (or other cereals) – 1 cup,
- poppy seeds – 1/4 cup,
- raisins – 1/4 cup,
- walnuts – 1/2 cup,
- honey – 2 tablespoons.
Cooking method:
Boil the wheat grits until tender, then steam the poppy seeds in boiling water. After 15–20 minutes, drain the water, crush the poppy seeds in a mortar and pestle and mix it with honey. Also steam the raisins in boiling water for 15–20 minutes, and chop the walnuts. After this, mix all the ingredients.
Bachelorette parties for the old New Year were not held in high esteem, then or now. If you believe in omens, then it is better to invite men to celebrate with you, especially if you are single and are just planning to meet your love.
For convenience, we have collected all the points in one picture. Infographics: Vitaly Kalistrov / City portals
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In order not to scare away your luck, you should not clean up or take out the trash on the day of the holiday. If you say congratulations, it is better to avoid the particle “not” and the number 13: it was believed that such words might bring trouble – we, of course, are not superstitious, but well, you can do without “not”. Also, you should not count small coins – this might mean a lot of tears in the coming year. And it’s better not to lend money: a good deed can turn into debt for you for the next 365 days.
Photo: Tat’yana Andreyeva / iStock
For convenience, we have collected all the points in one picture. Infographics: Vitaly Kalistrov / City portals
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