Christmas in Russia is celebrated on January 7th, the date that by the Gregorian Calendar would have been December 25th by the old Julian Calendar and is still Christmas Day for the Russian Orthodox Church, as Russia did not adopt the Gregorian Calendar until the early 1900's.
Not in a luxuriant mansion God's Son was born, but in a damp cave, and nobody knew of the great minute of Savior's birth; God's Angel was the first who announced the happy event to shepherds, pastured flocks not far from the place where Jesus Christ was born. The God's Angel said to them, "I announce a great joy, which will be a great joy for all people, right now in the city of Bethlehem our Savior Jesus Christ was born, and here is a sign for you: you will find the swaddled Christ Child in the crib."
The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem and within the well-known cave they found everything the Angel said. They fell on their knees and bowed low before the Lord, then told to Saint Josef and Virgin Maria about the Angel appeared to them and their praise to the Son of God. Josef and God's Mother listened with reverence to each shepherds' word. On their way back the shepherds proclaimed the Savior's birth to everyone.
It is a day of both solemn ritual and joyous celebration. But after the Revolution of 1917, Christmas and many other religious and folk traditions were suppressed. This regime continued till 1992, since then the religious holidays are openly observed, though Russian people never forgot it. Today it once again celebrated in a grand fashion, with the faithful participating in an all-night Mass from 6th to 7th January in incense-filled Cathedrals.
Christmas is one of the most joyous traditions. On Christmas Eve, the Holy Evening, as Russians call it, it is traditional for all family members to gather to honor the coming Christ Child and to share a special meal. Its main features are the same for different areas and families though some aspects may vary. It is connected with the Christmas fast, an Old Russian tradition, whose roots are in the Orthodox faith. The fast lasts until the first star appears on the sky. On Christmas Eve since former times the custom supposed to have a dinner (Russians call it "The Holy Supper"), where the primary dish was kootya, a type of porridge the most often of barley grains (now wheat, rice are also used), with honey, poppy-seeds and uzvar, a type of soup of dried fruit: apples, pears, plums and others. The ingredients are symbolic: grains for hope, honey for happiness, poppy-seeds for peace. Christmas Eve dinner is meatless but festive. A candle was lighted up over kootya, and on star's appearance on the sky a family began their dinner that was finished by the kootya. The master of the house gave the first spoonful of kootya to a frost outside saying, "Frost, Frost! Come in to eat kootya with us and don't freeze our corn in the field." The last spoonful of kootya was thrown upwards and the family marked how many corns would stick to a ceiling: if a lot, there would be a lot of honeybees' swarms and a plentiful honey harvest. Among the other attributes of the festive table are a white table-cloth covering the table that is a symbol of Christ's swaddling clothes, hay brought forth is a reminder of the poverty of the Cave where Jesus was born, a tall white candle placed in the center of the table is a symbol of Christ "the Light of the World", a large round loaf of Lenten bread, "kalatch", placed next to the candle is a symbol of Christ the Bread of Life. Traditionally the Holy Supper consists of 12 different dishes, symbolic of the 12 Apostles. When the Holy Supper is eaten the family goes to Church, coming home between 2 and 3 A.M. Neighbors and relatives visit each other going from house to house, eating, drinking and singing Christmas carols all day long.
In former times on the eve of Christmas men of substance gave alms to beggars and prisoners. On Christmas either ecclesiastic or private persons glorified Christ. In Russia the praising songs were called "kolyadkas". Adults and children singing kolyadkas walked holding a big star with a lighted candle within it and "vertep" - a two-tiered box with candles and different religious scenes. For singing kolyadkas people received money and a lot of eatable things.
The period of time between Christmas and Twelfth Day (the 19th of January) is called Svyatki, Christmas-tide, and Russian people enjoyed themselves as much as possible during Svyatki. The young people disguised themselves so that nobody could recognize them, laughed and had a jolly time. That was time for diverse Christmas-tide fortune-telling; for example, young maidens melted wax and poured it into cold water or snow. They held created wax figure shapes in front of the wall or a sheet of white paper and told fortunes by their shadows. Fortune-telling of all sorts went on till the Twelfth Day.
It was enough to say one word - "Christmas", and people could at once imagine a fir-tree in all its charm. The custom to set a fir-tree on Christmas and Svyatki was widely spread in Russia, the holiday was not real without "the Beauty - Fir-tree". What was a pleasure to look at blushed faces and shining eyes of the children! Unaffected laugh, sincere merriment, dances and songs usually accompanied every Christmas-tree festivities. New toys and ornaments added much joy and rapture for them.
Why a fir-tree was set exactly for Christmas and not for some other holiday, is an obscure question. But it is known that long, very long ago, in pagan times, trees were honored as deities, ancient people made sacrifices to them and hung them with decorations and lights.The custom of decorating Christmas trees was introduced to Russia by Peter the Great, after he visited Europe during 1700's.
The Christmas tree was banned during the Soviet era, but to keep the custom alive, people decorated New Year's trees, instead. Today, as the new tradition got accustomed, and the old one was not forgotten, the fir-tree is decorated on the New Year Eve and stands usually till the Twelfth Day.
Christmas is connected with a concept of new era establishment that has been reckoning as "before and after Christ".
For Russians Christmas is actually the most religious holiday and most spiritual and sacred event.
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