Christmas stories illustrated in rare publications from the Presidential Library's collections

"My soul never feels such strong impressions of childhood, and my imagination never takes me away to the flourishing time of my youth so clearly, as in the Christmas days... <...> Happy a child who is listening to simple stories about the Savior's Christmas from a pious mother! <…> Good Lord! I feel this anticipation of my childhood even now... How quiet am I, how solemn! <...> This feeling is the most precious gift of heaven in the vanities of the world...", wrote Konstantin Pobedonostsev, the Ober-Procurator of the Most Holy Synod, in the publication The Lord's Feasts.

The materials of the electronic collection New Year’s Day and Christmas in Russia, which is available on the Presidential Library's portal, spotlight the holiday's history. It includes such rare books as On the Holidays of the Orthodox Church, Saint's Days and Other Holidays in Irkutsk Churches, Nativity of Christ, Nativity of Christ: Service for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ according to the Flesh, the Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ and other publications.

For example, Ivan Bozheryanov's book The Way the Russian People Feasted and Celebrate Christmas, New Year, Epiphany and Shrovetide gives the detailed description of this day's customs.

The Artworks section of the collection also illustrates the theme of Christmas. It features a little-known prose poem Christmas Eve by Anatoly Koni, the famous lawyer and writer, and other rarities.

Thus, the story Christmas Dream (1899) by priest Ioann Galabutsky, published in Poltava, describes the main Christian event in a language accessible to children.

The story happened on Christmas Eve, in the house of the peasant Fyodor Svechka. The hero of the story is a twelve-year-old boy Petya. He is worried about tomorrow's Christmas celebration. He and his father should read the Six Psalms of Orthros: "It seems that Petya would give everything to avoid failing or stumble''. The boy fell asleep thinking about it. In the dream, Petya sees "...a star in the sky, sparkling with some wonderful, extraordinary light... The star enchanted, invited... it was impossible to take eyes off this wonderful, majestic star ... Suddenly all the bells rang around, and the star of the Christ Child stood still... and ... Petya found himself in a cave. Oh, joy! - The Holy Family appeared before him. Baby Jesus was lying in the manger and His face shone with an extraordinary light. There were also Mother of God and St. Joseph, surrounded by the same heavenly shine. <…> Some indescribable, pleasant and quiet feeling captured Petya. He longed to live and love, love everyone without distinction... <...> The next day, at home, when the preacher, Grigory Ivanovich, and his father sang a song of praise for the holiday, Petya's eyes were filled with uninvited tears that sparkled like pure diamonds of the soul. "Why do you cry, Petya? You have read the Six Psalms so wonderfully today, said the preacher, - Follow us and sing". And Petya joyfully went to "glorify Christ''.

A hero of Nikolai Ivanov's story Lonely Life from the collection From Christmas to Easter is Anton Petrovich, an ordinary purser. On the eve of Christmas, he helps an official in a difficult situation and... a miracle happens to him: "When Anton Petrovich went out into the street, it seemed to him that that the town acquired especially cheerful and festive appearance as if it had been renovated, cleaned, painted - and the snow seemed whiter, and the houses were newer, and the air was more transparent. But the town was the same as always, and nothing changed in it: there were changes only in the mood of Anton Petrovich...". The inspired purser wanted to arrange a real holiday for a poor family. "…A tree appeared, filling the room with a pleasant pine odour. Anton Petrovich immediately began to decorate it with apples, gilded and silver nuts, sweets, gingerbread, and candles. <…> Everything was fine: the nuts glittered, the apples turned red, the sweets and gingerbread shone by different colours among the dark green".

The author of the story writes that the person who realized the essence of the Christmas holiday "became the other man: he looked kinder ... he was more friendly to others. Although he was still exacting and strict, he spoke to his employees more often and even joked".

The Presidential Library's portal provides a Christmas card from the First World War: in the foreground of a postcard is a pair of soldiers with rifles in a trench covered with snow. Next to them, there are white transparent angels with a small Christmas tree in their hands... It is just one of the plots from the set of Pre-revolutionary "Merry Christmas" postcards available on the Presidential Library's portal in the Illustrations section of the New Year’s Day and Christmas in Russia collection.