History and Culture: Exhibition "Three Centuries of the Russian New Year's Celebrations" presented at the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve in Moscow

The exhibition "Three Centuries of the Russian New Year's Celebrations" will run at the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve (Moscow) until January 31, 2022. The Palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich hosts the exposition that comprises about a thousand exhibits. They tell about ancient traditions and rituals associated with the New Year and Christmas from the early XVIII century to the first quarter of the XXI century.

The celebration of the New Year on January 1 with the usual fir tree, masquerade, fireworks, and a magnificent feast dates back to the reign of Peter I. The exhibition proposes a unique document - an emperor's decree of December 20, 1699, provided by the Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents. This decree declared the calendar reform. Before it, Russian chronology began from the Creation of the world. The first day of the "new year" fell on September 1. It was primarily a church holiday. By the tsar's order, the New Year's celebration was set for January 1. According to Western European traditions, the fest included illumination, "decoration from pine, spruce and juniper trees and branches" and lush festivities.