Focus on Christmas and new year celebrations in Russia...
Nina Silaeva lives in Moscow,
Lynna Konnych in a less well known town, Курск (Koursk).
Approximatively 400 000 people live in Koursk, 500 km away from Moscow, close to Ukraine.
A few pictures of Koursk :
ici
The official website of the town :
ici
How russians celebrate Christmas and the new year ?
The orthodox celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December of course but... just like the Gregorian calender,
that is to say on the 7th of January as per the Julian Calender. So, logically, the new year would be on the 14th of January when they celebrate
"Staryi novyi god" ("Old new year") !
Russian actually celebrate "Staryi novyi god" but also the 1st of January and sometimes the 25th of December, which allow some to double the
number of celebrations !
Famillies get together more often for the new year eve (The 31st of December) than for Orthodox Christmas (The 7th of January),
and this is Ded Moroz (father frost) and Snegourochtka (Little snow), his little daughter made of ice,
who bring gifts; Sometimes it is babouchka, the gand-mother, who did not follow the Magi in Bethleem, who gives the gifts to Russian children.
The evening of the 6th of January (before Orthodox Christmas), after the mass and the fast period started the 28th of November, familly eat
traditionnal meals like for instance pâtés or goose cooked with apples...
A few words in Russian to finish :
C Pождеством Xристовом ! (s'rojdestvom krystovom) (Merry Christmas!)
С Новым Годом (s'novim godom) (Happy new year!)
You can also discover christmas traditions in Japan here ...
Karine Caire
Art et Artisanat du Monde
