Russian New Year's and Christmas Traditions | Easy Russian Podcast 3

Is this a real Christmas tree? When we watched The President's Message every year, but not because we love it, because then you definitely won't miss the fight of the currants. I have something to say about it. Well, what? That's it, go, I can do it. Hello everyone. This is Marina. This is our special guest, Yolka. And this is Nikita. And this is a new issue of the Easy Russian podcast from Easy Languages. Yes, this is the third issue. And since it's the end of December now, we decided to talk about the holidays. Yes, and the most important point, which is especially felt here in Riga, is that most Europeans celebrate Christmas first of all from December 24 to December 25, if I'm not mistaken. While for us, traditionally, the main winter holiday is New Year, that is, December 31, the night from December 31 to December 1. Christmas too, but Orthodox Christmas is celebrated in January. I'm ready to complain here, because there is no Orthodox and Catholic Christmas. Christmas is the same. There are two different calendars, Julian and Gregorian. It's just because of the difference in these calendars, actually, the Orthodox Church and Orthodox people celebrate Christmas on January 7. That's it, I'm done complaining. Listen, maybe then you can tell a little about the history of the holiday itself, about the New Year? To the secular understanding of the New Year holidays we were led by Peter I, a great innovator and versatile person, to put it mildly. It was he who, by his decree, ordered all people to hang some decorations from the branches of trees on this day, it means to have fun. As far as I understand, the tradition did not come to life at first, and slowly returned to fashion already closer to the 18th century, when, or rather to the 19th century, already returned closer to the 19th century, when it became such an entertainment for, in general, the elite. That's how Christmas slowly moved away from, as a holiday, I mean, from the religious component more to the secular one. There was a curious period, if I'm not mistaken, from 1929 to 1935, when the celebration of Christmas was forbidden, as part of the struggle against the bourgeois religious currents. I went on a special excursion from the memorial to such a little creepy Christmas tree places, as they called it. The memorial, a small digression, the memorial is a Russian human rights organization, which is now banned in Russia, recognized as a foreign agent and closed, but which previously was quite successful, helped political prisoners, and preserved the memory of political repressions. And, in general, historical memory, in the broad sense of the word, too. Yes, of course. On this excursion, it was also told that in this period, from 1929 to 1935, even on purpose, people were walking and looking through the windows, God forbid, they would see not just a Christmas tree, but some kind of unsanctioned candle or a light. For this, you could get a real punishment. But soon it became clear that in the atmosphere of the infinite overcoming of the harsh reality, no one can exist, even the atheistic Soviet people. And the holiday was decided to return. But still, it was necessary to separate it from religion. Therefore, this is the New Year, no Christmas, no religious miracles. This is the beginning of a new life, so to speak, such an aspiration for the future. Therefore, you can celebrate the New Year to a Soviet person, spend a five-year holiday, especially luxurious. By the way, about the division of religiosity and secularism, there is St. Nicholas, and there is Santa Claus. With a snowflake. With a snowflake, which is actually the same. Therefore, when Russian people often say Santa Claus, which, in theory, in the tradition of the Russian New Year brings gifts under the Christmas tree and fulfills the wishes of people who write him letters, it is not always clear what these people are talking about. Although, in fact, Santa Claus and St. Nicholas are essentially the same. Santa Claus from Santa Claus visually seems to be different from Santa Claus in a red-and-white outfit, and Santa Claus seems to be in a blue-and-white outfit. This is probably the only thing you can rely on. But deer have both. I'm not sure, by the way. Well, maybe. I don't remember either. Well, okay. We don't know anything about Soviet and Russian traditions. Well, maybe we don't know about the Soviet ones, but we know about the Russian ones, of course, because they were all in our family one way or another. Speaking of Santa Claus... Speaking of him, I remembered that... I didn't just remember, I called my mother this morning specifically to remember some forgotten traditions and how we celebrated the New Year. Because until, I don't know, 16 years old or something like that we celebrated the New Year with our family, all together. A big family, 10-15 people for sure. Two families, mine and my mother's sister's family, my aunt's family. We gathered at my grandmother's house and cooked either a big Napoleon or a big chocolate cake. We cooked a lot of salads. My grandmother loved to cook and did it a lot. Now, unfortunately, she does it a little less. And we come much less often. And we don't celebrate the New Year together. But when it all happened, it was such a big holiday, a really important milestone. And I remember that my younger brother and my older cousins, my brother and my sister, wrote a letter to Santa Claus every year hoping that he would fulfill our wishes. But I don't remember, to be honest, what I wrote in it. But the main thing is that I believed in Santa Claus for a very long time. And thanks to my parents for keeping this faith for a long time. I remember that everyone was cooking salads in their usual home clothes, decorating the tree. Moreover, we cut down the tree in the forest, which is not very legal, and brought it home. And it was always a huge tree, almost to the ceiling, decorated with toys. And it was a tradition to hang toys on the tree that belonged to grandmothers, or even great-grandmothers, great-grandfathers, to somehow, I don't know, keep the spirit of this holiday for centuries. With special caution, the main thing is to hang it in the most visible place. I cut down a lot of such toys, but for some reason they never ended. Although every year there were more and more shrapnel in the box, and fewer and fewer balls, snowballs, Santa Claus, and so on. Well, every year, at some point, when the salads are all ready, the chocolate cake is baked and stands on the table. And everyone, in principle, stays an hour before midnight. The children were not closed, but closed the door, driven to one room, and the parents pretended that nothing was going on behind it. We thought that there was a gift laying under the Christmas tree. It remains a little before midnight, and then Santa Claus comes, to whom we tell poems, sing songs, hand out letters, and he pulls out gifts from the bag. And then he leaves. And then, accordingly, he returns to our table. But at midnight, no matter what happened, there was still a bag under the Christmas tree, and all four of us climbed in there, disassembled the gifts, took them for ourselves, they were all signed, gave them to all adults, and it was always very, very joyful and cool. Another tradition of this feast was to make a wish, of course. I love this thing. I love all kinds of cookies with predictions. I love to blow my eyelashes from my right cheek and make a wish and hope that it will come true. I'm not superstitious, but a little bit. They start ringing the bells at midnight after the President's message. And you have about a minute to write your wish on a piece of paper, light it with a lighter, throw it into a glass of champagne and drink it. And then it is believed that your wish will come true. I did it a lot. At first it was not champagne, but juice. Then I could drink champagne. Then you can't again. Then I can't again, because it's an adult life. But the problem is that I didn't remember any of my wishes, and I still can't say if any of them came true, because I just don't remember them. Did you have anything like that? No, this tradition with wishes has completely passed us by. By the way, you were talking about chocolate. Yes, my mother told me that at first it was not a piece of paper in champagne, but you throw a piece of chocolate into a drink, and if this tile floats up, then the wish will come true. And if not, then it won't come true. But I don't remember it. By the way, I also like to make wishes. I don't like constructions in which they can't come true. I wanted to make a thesis. First, about New Year's dishes. Oh, of course. I think it's very important to name the titans, the atlantes on which the Russian New Year's table stands, the Olivier salad. In different sources, I saw that people are competing for the second place among salads with herring under a fur coat and a mimosa salad. And what about crab? Crab, of course, too. Oh, my God, I can't make this chart. But it must be there, too. Next, what do we have? Filled fish. And jellyfish, of course. Well, at least jellyfish. Filled fish, apparently, has become more popular after the famous quote from the film Irony of Fate. Which, by the way, is played every year in Russia before the presidential election. Do you remember this caviar on white bread with butter? It's a must. There should always be red caviar on the New Year's table. Even if you don't have money for it during the year, you always find it and put it on the table. This is the most important thing. First of all, I will add about these sandwiches. They were made in advance and put on the table in advance as a kind of ritual call for well-being. It's clear that this is not even a taunting like, look, the guests are so rich that I have a red screen. This is the need of such a desire in the form of the richest table that you can collect. You declare your desire for the universe that next year I want to have a lot of delicious and varied food. But these sandwiches were put on the table in advance. They are still red and bright, so when you start eating them, they dry up. It's terrible. I remember this caviar crust. You can't eat it before the time until everything is put on the table. And it also sticks to the teeth. I remember this feeling too. You can't do anything for 15-20-30 minutes. But you know what? I will definitely go to some Russian store and put these sandwiches on the table this year. I'm not sure that you need to go to a Russian store. For a second I thought that in a Latvian store there is a lot of caviar. Actually, it is in any supermarket. What a luxury! Well, yes. But then I mentioned this story about the importance of trying to get all the best not only on the table, but also from the clothes and even from yourself. This is one of the main superstitions or a New Year's sign for Russians. You will spend the New Year the way you will meet it. That's why you need to dress up in the most beautiful bright clothes. You must be in a good mood. Although not everyone should be in a good mood. You need to pay off all the debts before the New Year. And this is a famous line from the song Before the New Year before midnight before the New Year you need to pay off all the debts to enter the New Year with a pure heart and conscience. You will spend the New Year the way you will meet it. The best clothes, the best mood, the best table. Whatever it costs. So, some children could even get a slap on their faces because they were sitting with unhappy faces. Fortunately, it didn't happen in my family. I saw it in the guests. You can't be sad in the New Year. And, by the way, it is not advisable to sleep exactly because not to be boring and apathetic next year. If you hang out until the morning, you will be full of energy all year. I wanted to ask, Nikita, have you ever had a real coincidence that you spent the New Year the way you met it? I guess you can say so because I and now we will return to your story every New Year I meet my parents with my family. Although my dad died last year and so I had my first New Year holidays without him. But still I was with my mom, sister and other relatives. And it turns out that this tradition still worked. At least, it was reproduced. As I met the New Year with my relatives, so I met it. This will probably be the first New Year that I will meet not with my relatives. But in the outgoing year a lot went wrong. It is not surprising that the New Year traditions cracked and could not stand. For me it was always a family holiday. Sometimes I could meet New Year with my parents, sit with them for two hours, and then go further, for example, visit my friends or go somewhere for a walk. But for me it was the most important New Year's Eve, a cup of tea, chimes, champagne, olivier, all this with a family. The family helped in every way. It was very important for me to keep the feeling of a holiday. I will tell you what was important for me in the New Year holidays in my childhood. Because most often we visited some of our parents' friends who had especially large apartments. And there were such. Because they gathered parties for 30-40-50 people. It was always very high-profile parties. It was scientists, biologists, doctors, journalists, writers, poets, artists. Such a bohemian. Yes, bohemian. Well, bohemian in Soviet language, of course. Yes, bohemian in Soviet language. That is, what is called poor but clean, but very sincerely fun. These were amazing conversations of these elders, in which, probably, half of the words were incomprehensible, of course. But still, as a child, you learn how people just talk, how they intonate, how they look at each other, how they don't interrupt each other with a warm, enveloping intonation. I don't know, I absorbed a lot there. Not to mention that I tried chewing gum there for the first time and saw a VHS tape recorder at one of such New Year's parties. What did you see? A VHS tape recorder. I'm just clarifying, but if it's not a coincidence, then who knows what's going on under the tape recorder now. You clarified correctly, because I didn't understand right away. Yes, it was a world of wonders. And, of course, for me it was very important to feel that I was small. It seems to me that New Year's holidays are still such a legal period of time and a method to allow yourself to be a child a little bit. At this particular moment, to turn off all worries, all worries, all adult life, and to feel like a child. I understand you very much in this. In fact, I have long wanted to celebrate the New Year with my family, because it so happened that since I was 18, or 19, I celebrated New Year's either abroad or in another city and tried not to stay in Moscow. But now I listened to you and remembered how, in fact, I also miss this feeling of childhood. And, yes, it's a pity that this year this will not happen either, but I will celebrate New Year for the first time in some company of friends. How was it before? How was it? From 18 to... At this moment we will not specify. 26. And how was it? Well, every year Ilya and I went somewhere or tried to do it. Several times we celebrated in St. Petersburg with friends. Basically, we celebrated it together, just in different countries. I remember that probably the two most memorable New Year's were in Bangkok, just because the contrast is funny. But it was just very cool and interesting in Bangkok. We went to bars there and everyone was so happy when it was exactly 12. And the second time was funny. It was, in my opinion, two years ago or so. We celebrated New Year with friends in Antalya, climbing into an empty pool. There was COVID, lockdown, it was impossible to go to the beach as we wanted, because there were police officers who did not let people cross the street to the beach. There was nothing, it was empty, dark, and we decided to buy champagne. And there was an empty pool, we turned on techno and made a rave for 6 people in an empty pool. It was fun. What a beauty! Well, I probably remember only from an amazing story as friends of my girlfriend. Because, as always, I celebrated New Year with my parents. It was a party of actors, theatrical and cinema actors, young actors, who gathered in the country house to celebrate the New Year. And my girlfriend was late for this party. They were going with her friend in a car. Somewhere something got stuck there, in general, they did not calculate. And at 12 o'clock at night she stepped on the road. They got out of the car, opened a bottle of champagne. My girlfriend, who was not driving, swallowed the champagne. My friend did not swallow, they stood, breathed and drove on. Probably another hour or two we got to this country house where there was a party. So these wonderful friends, this acting party, was very touching. They, according to the verbatim method, remembered everything exactly what was happening, including the President's address on TV. They took out a cardboard box, cut out a hole, painted the TV. And they literally started to play as actors themselves 5 minutes before the New Year, when the guys came in. That is, they rewound time. They were like, hurry up to the table, the President will start soon. They are actors, they have a good memory. Everything, including who said what, who stumbled, who sneezed, they reproduced it all. It was terribly funny, because it is felt. A strange viscosity of unnatural behavior is felt when a scene of such scale is played out. Nevertheless, they reproduced it all from start to finish, and so the guys were able to meet the New Year, drink and clap their hands. How did you celebrate Christmas? We had a traditional holiday when we went to our grandmother, to our father's mother. She also loved to collect huge companies. Oh, I can even boast, although I'm not sure that today it will look like boasting, but nevertheless, once on such a Christmas I sat on the knees of Sergey Mikhalkov. Oh, it's more like not boasting. Well, whatever happened, happened. I even have a book of Uncle Styopa signed. I had no idea who it was. Don't shout, please, take me off my knees. No, I had to live with these memories later. But in the same evening, I saw for the first time a siphon. I remember what it is. It's a device that gasses water. Did you look at me like you don't know what a siphon is? Yes, yes, it's in such a strange woven thing, there are small water bottles, and from there it gasses water. Oh, what a miracle! I still don't know how it works. Well, we won't talk about it now, because I probably won't be able to explain it either, although I remember where to stick and what to press. In general, January 7th is a holiday when we went to my grandmother. There were also huge parties, more about our family than about colleagues or friends from the general cultural field. There were relatives with their large families, with children, and I just remembered one such evening when I was a teenager, in general, already so erratic and unpredictable. I was always late. I have to say that I still do it, but the scale has decreased. And this was a period when I was infinitely late everywhere. And I remember that I go in, the front door is open, the front door is closed, and now, probably, when guests are waiting, they don't even close the door, I quietly sneak in, I see this huge table, some guests who sit face to face see me, but my grandmother stands with her back up, raises some kind of toast, and my cousin Ira sees that I came in, and she says, well, do you still think that Nikita will never get there? And my grandmother says so bitterly, yes, he will not get there, he is so unnecessary, yes, I do not expect anything from him at all. I see that Ira, and the others who see me, already have faces crawling, because she just wanted to joke, that my grandmother will say, well, probably, he will not get there, and I will say, yeah, here I am. But my grandmother charged for 5 minutes. What a story, what a nonsense it was, it was very funny and sad at the same time. Didn't you leave? No, of course not, she didn't call me a nonsense, I said it for the red word, I said, I'm sorry, grandmother. Of course, she talked about her pain and her sadness, my grandmother, psychotherapeutically, was impeccable, she did not characterize me, she talked about her feelings through me-messages, but it was still very sad. We all need to learn from your grandmother. Yes, but it was absolutely wonderful, you still break out of the cold, like in Oblomov, into this warm company, yes, this smell of salads and Christmas trees is worth it, because, of course, even as a child, no one removed the Christmas tree, it, so to speak, in a sense, duplicated the New Year's holiday, except that my grandmother went to church, for example, and called everyone who wanted to join her, so I also went several times, but in general, of course, Christmas, oh my God, it's still the old New Year, how many holidays, in general, Christmas repeated the tradition of the New Year's holiday, but it was like a double holiday, just for example, to visit with those who could not visit the first holiday. Well, yes, by the way, we also divided it like that, and you know, at Christmas I had gadaniya and kalyatki, I also loved it very much, my grandmother, this is my grandmother, of course, cooked kutyu, this is such a rice porridge with nuts, with raisins, sweet, just like that, and we were all going to eat it, and then we went to relatives and read them all sorts of poems, for which they had to give us money or candy or something like that, mostly money, it was a very pleasant part of the holiday. Yes, very convenient, about like Halloween, only in money instead of candy. Let's go to celebrate this year, I think. I think we need to go celebrate, Nikita. It's like Halloween, but you don't scare anyone here, you make them happy. Something like that, kalyatki are such simple four-leaf clover, it's about like in Catholicism, you can say, there are, what are these songs called? Christmas songs. Christmas songs, and in the Orthodox tradition of celebrating Christmas there is the same, but it's a little closer to paganism, and there it's called kalyatki. In a sense, they are similar. My mom told me today that she made predictions for the next year, made them out of clay or cut toys out of cardboard, glued predictions to them on the other side for the next year, hung it all on a Christmas tree, and people came up, picked them up, and watched what would happen. But the coolest thing I remember is when she laid out these predictions with goldfish, like cardboard or something in the shape of goldfish, and under them there are predictions and a clip is attached to them. A person comes up, she gives him a fishing rod, and he must hook his fish and thus find out what awaits him next year. I think it's very nice. Yes, it's very cool. I wanted to explain this story that has already been mentioned, the faithful sitting in front of the TV at 12 o'clock and watching the President's address. Yes, it's always a mandatory part. A mandatory part, despite the fact that the attitude to this can be completely different. Don't think that all Russians are glued to the TV and watch the President's address in full delight, reverence and reverence. You can sit and watch what this terrible man will say. You can look at him with great skepticism and condemnation, but people will still watch. This is an important tradition. By the way, I just read a little bit of the story and remembered that once there were two New Year's addresses when Yeltsin said the phrase which, as we know, he did not say, but it is customary to quote it. I'm tired, I'm leaving. It was at noon, and at midnight Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, In 1999, if I'm not mistaken, it was already 23 years since he took office. Who knew that it would be so? And also, in 1991, instead of the President, the President of Russia congratulated the stand-up comedian of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Zadornov. I don't remember his name. I think it was Mikhail. A very popular stand-up comedian of the Soviet Union, Zadornov congratulated the President. Nikita, what do you think? The war has been going on for almost a year. Is it ethical to celebrate something? Of course, I think it is ethical. First of all, we can address the Ukrainians, who are, obviously, the main victims of everything that is happening. And despite all the shelling, the terrible energy crisis, they still light the Christmas tree as best they can, the main Christmas tree in Kiev. And people will definitely light these trees for Christmas and for the New Year. It also brings us back to the Soviet history. You see, even the repressive machine of the Soviet Union could not forbid people to celebrate. It just tried to trick people, to change the concept a little bit. But the Christmas tree and the celebration had to be brought back anyway. I think it's the same story. We know that very often, despite the wars, when people die, all kinds of horrors happen, but the birth rate rises. People die, but there are more people Because all that can be responsible for death and horror is life, that is, joy and love. — I was probably asking about something else, about you and me. About how much we... Well, not that we have the right, but how normal it is. — It's strange, to deny yourself joy, but the main thing is that a lot of people who support this war will celebrate. A lot of people will celebrate and a lot of people who don't support this war will also celebrate. — Including, I hope, you and me. Because it's a story about something else. It's a story about the triumph of life and joy. I think that if you deny yourself joy during the holiday, then you will have no strength to do something good and good later. — Well, yes, of course. — I suggest we finish our episode here. — I had so many stories. Okay, I'll make a second version. — A separate one. So, dear listeners and viewers, despite all these very scary and difficult events, let's try to rejoice. And I sincerely wish you a merry Christmas, which will pass by this time, at least one of the calendars of a happy New Year and another merry Christmas, which will be on January 7th. Let's try to answer the darkness with love and light. — And I wish you to be kinder to each other, more attentive to yourself, and, by the way, just step aside from yourself until next year. And let yourself live as you want. — God, it's a perfect wish. — I know you have nothing to wish for the New Year. — Thank you. I'll chew it with a glass of champagne. — I'll probably do the same, by the way. And, of course, don't forget about your traditions, and don't forget to write and tell us about them. We read your feedback, and we are very pleased that you write to us, and it's very important. Because of this, we want to record the podcast even more every time, because we know that you listen to it, and it's useful for you. — Visit our podcast website easyrussian.fm and leave us your amazing stories there. — Well, see you in the New Year! — See you! — Bye-bye!