By the way, for residents of Russian cities New Year is the main holiday of winter and is celebrated on January 1. However, there are exceptions among urban residents who do not celebrate the New Year. The real holiday for the believer is the Nativity of Christ. And before him is a strict Christmas fast, which lasts 40 days. It begins on November 28 and ends only on January 6, in the evening, when the first star rises. There are even villages, settlements where all residents do not celebrate the New Year or celebrate it on January 13 (January 1 in the Julian style), after fasting and Christmas.
And now back to the history of the New Year celebration in Russia
Celebrating the New Year in Russia has the same difficult fate as its history itself. First of all, all changes in the celebration of the new year were associated with the most important historical events that affected the entire state and each person individually. Undoubtedly, the folk tradition, even after the officially introduced changes in the calendar, preserved ancient customs for a long time.
CELEBRATION OF NEW YEAR IN LANGUAGE RUSSIA
How the New Year was celebrated in pagan ancient Rus is one of the unresolved and controversial issues in historical science. No affirmative answer was found from what time the countdown of the year began.
The beginning of the celebration of the new year should be sought in ancient times. So among the ancient peoples, the new year usually coincided with the beginning of the rebirth of nature and was mainly timed to coincide with the month of March.
Promotional video:
For a long time there was a passage in Russia, i.e. the first three months, and the month of passage began in March. In honor of him, they celebrated avsen, oat or tus, which later passed to the new year. The very same summer in antiquity consisted of the present three spring and three summer months - the last six months concluded winter time. The transition from autumn to winter faded like the transition from summer to autumn. Presumably, originally in Russia, the New Year was celebrated on the vernal equinox on March 22. Shrovetide and New Year were celebrated on the same day. Winter has been driven away - it means that the new year has come.
CELEBRATION OF THE NEW YEAR AFTER THE BAPTISM OF RUSSIA
Together with Christianity in Russia (988 - the Baptism of Russia), a new chronology appeared - from the creation of the world, and a new European calendar - Julian, with the fixed name of the months. March 1st was considered the beginning of the new year.
According to one version, at the end of the 15th century, and according to another, in 1348, the Orthodox Church moved the beginning of the year to September 1, which corresponded to the definitions of the Nicene Council. The transfer must be related to the growing importance of the Christian Church in the state life of ancient Russia. The strengthening of Orthodoxy in medieval Russia, the establishment of Christianity as a religious ideology, naturally, calls for the use of “holy scripture” as a source of reform introduced into the existing calendar. The reform of the calendar system was carried out in Russia without taking into account the working life of the people, without establishing a connection with agricultural work. The September New Year was established by the Church following the word of the Holy Scriptures; having established and substantiated it with a biblical legend,The Russian Orthodox Church has preserved this New Year's date right up to the present day as a church parallel to the civil new year. In the Old Testament Church, the month of September was celebrated annually, to commemorate the rest from all everyday worries.
Thus, the New Year began to be conducted from September 1. This day became the feast of Simeon the first pillar, celebrated even now by our church and known among the common people under the name of Semyon the pilot, because this day ended summer and began a new year. He was with us a solemn day of celebration, and the subject of an analysis of urgent conditions, the collection of dues, taxes and personal courts.
INNOVATIONS OF PETER I IN CELEBRATION OF THE NEW YEAR
In 1699, Peter I issued a decree, according to which January 1 was considered the beginning of the year. This was done following the example of all Christian peoples who lived not according to the Julian, but according to the Gregorian calendar. Peter I could not completely transfer Russia to the new Gregorian calendar, since the church lived according to the Julian one. However, the tsar in Russia changed the chronology. If earlier the years were counted from the creation of the world, now the chronology went from the Nativity of Christ. In a personal decree, he announced: "Now from the birth of Christ comes the year one thousand six hundred and ninety-nine, and from next January, from the 1st, a new 1700 year will come and a new century will come." It should be noted that the new chronology existed for a long time along with the old one - in the decree of 1699 it was allowed to write two dates in documents - from the Creation of the world and from the Nativity of Christ.
The implementation of this reform of the Great Tsar, which was so important, began with the fact that it was forbidden to celebrate in any way on September 1, and on December 15, 1699, drumming announced something important to the people, who flooded into Red area. There was a high platform, on which the tsar's clerk loudly read the decree that Peter Vasilyevich commands "from the beginning of the summer to count in orders and in all affairs and fortresses to write from January 1 from the birth of Christ."
The tsar unswervingly made sure that the New Year's holiday was no worse and no poorer in our country than in other European countries.
In the Petrovsky decree it was written: "… Along large and passable streets, noble people and near houses of deliberate spiritual and worldly rank in front of the gates to make some decorations from trees and branches of pine and juniper … put on … ". The decree was not specifically about the tree, but about trees in general. At first, they were decorated with nuts, sweets, fruits and even vegetables, and they began to decorate the Christmas tree much later, from the middle of the last century.
The first day of New Year 1700 began with a parade on Red Square in Moscow. And in the evening the sky was lit up with bright lights of festive fireworks. It was from January 1, 1700 that the folk New Year's fun and fun received their recognition, and the New Year celebration began to be of a secular (not church) character. As a sign of the national holiday, they fired from cannons, and in the evening, in the dark sky, multi-colored fireworks, unprecedented before, flashed. People were having fun, singing, dancing, congratulating each other and giving New Year's gifts.
NEW YEAR UNDER SOVIET POWER. CHANGE OF CALENDAR
After the October Revolution of 1917, the government of the country raised the issue of reforming the calendar, since most European countries had long switched to the Gregorian calendar, adopted by Pope Gregory XIII back in 1582, and Russia still lived according to the Julian.
On January 24, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted the "Decree on the Introduction of the Western European Calendar in the Russian Republic." Signed by V. I. Lenin published the document the next day and entered into force on February 1, 1918. It, in particular, said: "… The first day after January 31 of this year should be considered not February 1, but February 14, the second day - 15 -m, etc. " Thus, Russian Christmas has shifted from December 25 to January 7, and the New Year holiday has also shifted.
Contradictions immediately arose with the Orthodox holidays, because, having changed the dates of the civil ones, the government did not touch the church holidays, and the Christians continued to live according to the Julian calendar. Now Christmas was celebrated not before, but after the New Year. But this did not bother the new government at all. On the contrary, it was beneficial to destroy the foundations of Christian culture. The new government introduced its own, new, socialist holidays.
In 1929, Christmas was canceled. With it, the tree, which was called the "priest's" custom, was also canceled. New Year has been canceled. However, at the end of 1935, an article by Pavel Petrovich Postyshev appeared in the newspaper Pravda "Let's organize a good Christmas tree for the children for the new year!" The society, which has not yet forgotten the beautiful and bright holiday, reacted quickly enough - Christmas trees and Christmas tree decorations appeared on sale. Pioneers and Komsomol members took it upon themselves to organize and conduct New Years in schools, orphanages and clubs. On December 31, 1935, the tree again entered the homes of our compatriots and became a holiday of “joyful and happy childhood in our country” - a wonderful New Year holiday that continues to delight us today.
In 1949, January 1 became a non-working day.
OLD NEW YEAR
I would like to return once again to changing calendars and explain the phenomenon of the Old New Year in our country.
The very name of this holiday indicates its connection with the old style of the calendar, according to which Russia lived until 1918, and switched to a new style by decree of V. I. Lenin. The so-called Old Style is a calendar introduced by the Roman emperor Julius Caesar (Julian calendar). The new style is a reform of the Julian calendar initiated by Pope Gregory XIII (Gregorian, or new style). From the point of view of astronomy, the Julian calendar was inaccurate and made a mistake that accumulated over the years, which resulted in serious deviations of the calendar from the true motion of the Sun. Therefore, the Gregorian reform was necessary to some extent.
The difference between the old and the new style in the XX century was already plus 13 days! Accordingly, the day that was January 1 according to the old style became January 14 in the new calendar. And the modern night from 13 to 14 January in pre-revolutionary times was New Year's Eve. Thus, by celebrating the Old New Year, we are, as it were, partaking in history and paying tribute to the times.
NEW YEAR IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Surprisingly, the Orthodox Church lives according to the Julian calendar.
In 1923, on the initiative of the Patriarch of Constantinople, a conference of the Orthodox Churches was held, at which a decision was made to correct the Julian calendar. The Russian Orthodox Church, due to historical circumstances, was unable to take part in it.
Upon learning of the meeting in Constantinople, Patriarch Tikhon nevertheless issued a decree on the transition to the "New Julian" calendar. But this caused protests and discord among the church people. Therefore, the decision was canceled in less than a month.
The Russian Orthodox Church declares that the question of changing the calendar style to the Gregorian is not currently in front of it. “The overwhelming majority of believers are committed to preserving the existing calendar. The Julian calendar is dear to our church people and is one of the cultural features of our life,”said Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, secretary for inter-Orthodox relations of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The Orthodox New Year is celebrated on September 14 according to today's calendar or September 1 according to the Julian calendar. In honor of the Orthodox New Year, prayers for the New Year are served in churches.