Winter holiday tradition at its finest is introduced in the new electronic collection of the Presidential Library

Winter holiday season’s tradition goes way back in the past. To read about it in more detail is possible on the Presidential Library website owing to the new electronic collection focused on “New Year’s Day and Christmas Day in Russia,” which is including rare books and illustrations.

Rare editions tell how the New Year and Christmas holidays were celebrated, how the traditions of the holiday were altered through the centuries. Architecturally the collection consists of the following sections: Legislation, Description of holidays and research works, Season's greetings, Letters of congratulations, Holiday awards, Artworks, Calendars, Printed press about the New Year’s and Christmas celebration, Illustrations.

Peter the Great introduced a custom of colorful extravagant celebrations on the first day of January with an essential attribute — a fir-tree into the way of Russian life.

In a corresponding decree, according to Sergey Kniazkov’s book entitled Portrayals of Russian history, Tsar ordered: “As long as in Russia the New Year is counted in different ways, from this day to quit confusing people and count the New Year everywhere from the 1st of January… On the occasion of the New Year’s is recommended to install the decorations made of firs, to amuse children, to sled from the slopes.” It was also requested “to shoot from the small guns and the rifles, to do fireworks as many as possible, and to light up the illuminations…”

The detailed descriptions of the New Year’s celebrations in St. Petersburg are given in the digitized copy of a book by Alexander Kornilov entitled The New Year’s in 1724: “At 6 o’clock in the morning Peter and all Imperial family went in the indoor sledge from the Winter Palace to the St. Petersburg sides in Trinity Cathedral to the holiday divine service. The Emperor that day sang in the choir gallery with the singers and the clergy and read the Apostle himself… The dinner was prepared in the Senate, where the Diplomatic Corps was waiting for the Emperor.”

The theme of the Nativity of Christ is reproduced in the Artworks section of the collection. Released in Poltava short story by the priest I. Galabutsky under a name of Christmas dream (1899), which “College Council of the Holy Synod let into the libraries of parochial schools,” in easy to children way that way explained the main Christian event: “Only now Petya saw in the sky a star, shining some strange, extraordinary light. The star beckoned, the eyes could not be taken away from this wonderful, majestic star, and Petya, barely holding his breath, bravely, boldly and cheerfully followed “the Magi,” as he silently called the pilgrims. <…> Suddenly, there was a ringing “in all the bells,” the star of the infant Christ stopped and… Petya found himself in some cave. Oh, joy! — The Holy Family appeared before him. The infant Jesus was laying in the crib, and his face was shining with such a bright, an unusual light; at once here there were: the Mother of God, Joseph the Betrothed, surrounded by the same unearthly radiance…”

During the reign of Nicholas I, there was a democratization of New Year and other festivities. Alexei Grech wrote about this in his 1851-year’s city guide The entire Petersburg in your pocket: “Balls during the winter are the most brilliant in the Noble Assembly and usually turn into masquerades after midnight, to which all the strata have access. Masked ladies let into the ball room from 11 pm, but they must remain on the choirs until the masquerade begins.”

There is a unique photo album of the eldest daughter of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II Grand Duchess Olga Nikolyaevna in the New Year’s collection of the Presidential Library. It contains about 300 photographs and reflects the tradition of celebrating the New Year and Christmas in the royal family.

Since 1920, in our country, the New Year was not celebrated at all, since the authorities banned considering it a survivor of the bourgeois way of life. However, decorated fir-trees officially appeared on the streets again since the mid-30s, like the New Year’s toys in the stores. In the electronic copy of the volume of collected articles named Yolka (lit. Christmas tree or party) (1937) there are many methodical instructions, how to celebrate, how to make Christmas trees’ decorations and so on. It ends with a directive (from November 15, 1937) of the Deputy People’s Commissar of Education on the New Year’s Yolka parties in children’s institutions: “The New Year’s Yolka parties in the institutions should be given greater attention and organize them broader and more colorful than last year. The Christmas tree should be a holiday of joyful and happy childhood, created in our country by huge concern of the Party, the government and personally Comrade Stalin about the children.”

In addition to rare books, for example, the “encyclopedia” of the winter holidays by Ivan Bozherianov entitled How the Russian people celebrated Christmas, New Year’s, Epiphany and the Pancake Day (1895) from the Presidential Library fund, numbering about 600,000 items, contains a rich illustrative material: the postcards, the pictures, the photographs. There are the images of winter Petersburg, snow-capped Rostral columns, the Bronze Horseman, and the majestic ensemble of the Senate and the Synod behind him. The city of Peter lives and changes, multiplying the traditions laid by its founder.