Outside the window it is blowing and blowing, the frost is crackling, and from the outskirts of the village the cheerful songs of generous people are already heard. Very soon the Old New Year will come - another favorite winter holiday. It mixed history and folk traditions, cheerful songs and generous treats, amazing ancient customs and modern habits.
Few people uninitiated into the mystery of the Old New Year understand the meaning of this holiday. And its name causes confusion among foreigners.
But it turns out that the Old New Year, which we usually celebrate from January 13 to 14 in Russia, is not the only option for an unusual New Year’s celebration. Let's try to figure out why the Old New Year is celebrated on January 14, and what other dates exist for celebrating the New Year according to the old calendar.
New Year in old times
The New Year was not celebrated as such in old Rus'. People celebrated not the calendar transition to a new number of days in the year, but the arrival of a new time, the rebirth of nature.
Therefore, the celebration always took place at the beginning of spring, when they said goodbye to the old year and welcomed the new year. People said goodbye to winter and welcomed the Sun and spring. This holiday was more like a modern Maslenitsa.
Typically, the celebration among pagan tribes took place on March 22 - the Day of the Vernal Equinox.
Therefore, according to old customs, the New Year always fell at the end of March.
When people began to think about time, about the creation of the world, scientists were certain that our world began counting down from March 1, 5508 BC. e.
It was from this date that the calendar began. A calendar appeared according to which the year began on March 1, when the Old New Year was celebrated.
During the Constantinople era, the date of the creation of the world was recalculated when the New Year appeared in the old Byzantine style. Its celebration, like the beginning of the year, was postponed to September 1.
There will be more changes in the history of the Old New Year.
But at that time, the start date of the year was just a new number in the calendar, which never became a holiday.
From Peter's New Year to the birth of the Old New Year: what date was celebrated
The answer to when the Old New Year is celebrated will still have to be sought in historical events.
The holiday first appeared in Russia after the decree of Peter I, according to which the year 1700 was to be celebrated on January 1. In this way, the ruler tried to eliminate confusion in dates. From that time on, the date of celebration of the old New Year became the night from December 31 to January 1.
But the entire Russian state lived according to the old or Julian calendar.
It turns out that for more than 2 centuries, the old New Year fell on the 14th according to the new style.
The situation changed with the arrival of the Bolsheviks. Not only the system in the country has changed, but also the calendar.
The Gregorian calendar was introduced, according to which all of Europe lived at that time. The New Year was automatically moved to January 1 according to the new style.
But people were so accustomed to a series of winter holidays that for a long time they did not want to give up celebrating the usual old New Year, when it is celebrated 7 days after Christmas.
Thus, in fact, a New calendar holiday was born, corresponding to the new style, and the old New Year, which is celebrated according to the old canons, was preserved.
The attitude of contemporaries towards the Old New Year, the date of celebration
Many people associate the date of the celebration of the Old New Year, from what date it is celebrated, with the preservation of the old church calendar, corresponding to the Julian style. Indeed, many church holidays are celebrated according to the old calendar - the Christian Orthodox Church did not switch to new styles.
But as such, the New Year holiday is not on the church calendar either on January 1 or on the 14th. And on January 14, they celebrate not the Old New Year, but the Circumcision of the Lord, as well as the day of St. Basil the Great.
And on January 13, the Old New Year is absent from the church calendar. On this day it is customary to celebrate the day of St. Melania the Roman.
The New Year in the church is still celebrated on September 1, in honor of which a large service is held. On the occasion of the Civil New Year, on January 1, only a prayer service is held in the church.
Therefore, it is wrong to associate the celebration of the Old New Year with the church calendar features.
Rather, this holiday has been preserved as a folk tradition. Moreover, it is on January 13 that the Generous Evening falls, and on January 14, St. Basil, the patron saint of pig farmers, is celebrated.
These days fall on the Christmas holidays, filled with many interesting rituals, signs, and fortune telling. Definitely, these days the traditions of many holidays are mixed together.
But no one wants to give up another beloved holiday - the Old New Year.
Amazing fact. Since the chronology system is still not ideal, and the difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars changes annually, the gap between them on March 1, 2100 will increase by exactly one day.
Therefore, the Old New Year holiday in 2101 will be celebrated from January 14 to 15, if this folk tradition continues by this time.
Considering that scientists call the modern civil chronology, corresponding to the Gregorian calendar, inaccurate, perhaps the calendar will be changed.
And it is not known how in 100-200 years the New Year will be celebrated, and on what date the Old New Year will be celebrated.
The Old New Year is a holiday that is incomprehensible to foreigners. And not every modern Russian is able to explain how this celebration actually differs from the traditional one, celebrated on the first day of January. Despite the fact that the difference between the holidays is only in the discrepancy in dates, we continue to celebrate the Old New Year, which gives many pleasant emotions. Now it is perceived as a continuation of the usual, when everyone can afford to continue celebrating their favorite holiday on the night of January 14th.
history of the holiday
Previously, the New Year in Rus' was celebrated on March 22, which had a direct connection with agriculture. When Christianity was adopted, the Byzantine calendar began to gradually replace the old one, and the holiday moved to the first day of September. Peter I decided to eliminate the confusion by moving the celebration to January 1 according to the old style. In this form it existed until the Bolsheviks came to power, who decided to change the chronology system. In 1918, the Soviet government decided to switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. The Old Style New Year moved to January 14, which led to the emergence of a new holiday.
One of the reasons why the celebration was not quickly forgotten is due to the stubbornness of the Russian Orthodox Church, which continues to celebrate all such events according to the Julian calendar. However, this insistence is in fact not very justified precisely because even clergy should keep up with the times.
Now the clergy say that they do not intend to change their traditions, and calendar differences should not be given much importance. They refer to statements by astronomers who claim that the current calendar is also not ideal, and people will repeatedly make changes to the chronology system.
There are many beautiful winter holidays in our country. We celebrate New Year twice. We fill the glasses with champagne again on the night of January 14, sit down at the festive table and take our time to clean up.
Historical phenomenon
New Year in Russia is one of the most interesting holidays from a historical point of view. Until the 15th century (1495), the new year began in March and was associated with the awakening of the earth from hibernation. In 1495, everything changed: the date of the new year moved to September 1.
Later, Peter the Great, who decided to keep up with Europe, ordered to celebrate the New Year on January 1. In December 1699 he issued an Edict requiring the meeting of 1700 to take place on 1 January rather than in September. The text of the Decree contained strict instructions: to decorate houses with spruce, juniper or pine branches, to fire rifles and muskets into the air at midnight, to light bonfires in the streets throughout the holiday week and to arrange fireworks on Red Square.
Alexei Tolstoy in the historical novel " Peter I"described the state of the common people and boyars, whose usual way of life was collapsing. It seemed to many that the trumpet of the Last Judgment would soon sound. Gradually everyone got used to the decorated fir trees and the hectic holiday, which began to be celebrated annually on January 1 according to the Julian calendar, i.e. according to the "old style". This calendar was introduced by the Emperor of Ancient Rome, Julius Caesar, using the solar year as a basis, rather than the astronomical one. In Russia Julian calendar came from Byzantium.
This was the case until the October Revolution of 1917. Most other countries have long lived according to Gregorian calendar . It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII on October 4, 1582 (XVI century) so that there were no discrepancies with astronomical data. The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars today is thirteen days.
In 1918, the Bolshevik government decided to switch to a single calendar throughout the world. V.I. Lenin issued a corresponding Decree on the transition to the Gregorian calendar. This eliminated confusion and difficulties in international relations: diplomacy, mail, train schedules, etc. The Russian Orthodox Church preserved the traditional calendar and continued to live according to the old calendar. She dated the holidays according to the old style, emphasizing her uniqueness.
Today, in some reference publications, the dates of birth and death of people, various events of pre-revolutionary Russia are given according to two calendars, i.e. according to the new and old style. This happened with the New Year, which begins on January 1 (14). On the Old New Year, Orthodox people do not have to deny themselves food and fun. According to the Julian calendar, it occurs after (January 7), i.e. after graduation from strict. According to the Gregorian calendar, Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.
Local Orthodox churches in some foreign countries (Jerusalem, Russian, Serbian, Georgian) also use the Julian calendar in our time. Some monasteries and parishes live according to the Julian calendar in those countries where the Gregorian calendar is adopted for church services (for example, Mount Athos in Greece). In addition, the Julian calendar is adopted in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and in the Russian Greek Catholic Church.
Vasiliev evening
On the night of January 13-14 it is celebrated Vasiliev evening , and January 14 - Vasiliev's day (Kolyada). You can read about this fun holiday, generous with food and drink, in the article.
Everyone likes the holiday: girls tell fortunes about their betrothed, and gardeners shake apple trees in their orchards for a good harvest.
This year we will again congratulate our family and friends not only on the New Year, but also on the Old New Year! Wish them happiness, love, health and joy! Giving gifts, sitting at the festive table late in the evening and raising a glass of champagne at midnight. It’s so good that there is a reason for this!
P.S.
With each century, the Gregorian and Julian calendars diverge more and more in time. The difference is accumulating, and by 2100 it will be not 13, but a full 14 days.
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On the night of January 13-14, many of us will again fill our glasses with champagne and make a toast that seems a little strange: “.” How and why do we continue to do this and what is interesting about this holiday?
history of the holiday
This is not someone’s whim or invention at all - but exactly the same New Year, only according to a different calendar. The Julian calendar was in use in the Roman Empire in the first century BC - it reached Rus' only in the 15th century and was good for everyone, even taking into account the extra days that rolled in every 128 years: they didn’t really bother anyone and formally didn’t make any difference.
Another calendar, the Gregorian, took this difference into account; by the 20th century it was already 14 days - and the whole country was transferred to a new temporary framework by the revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in 1918, so this year the holiday celebrates its centenary.
Vasiliev's Day, or Generous Evening
Before the conventional clock hands were moved to this day, January 14, another holiday was always celebrated - Vasiliev's Day, or Generous Evening. It was customary to show generosity and treat guests to especially rich food. According to tradition, it was a ceremonial porridge - kutia, but it was seasoned not with vegetable oil, as on Christmas, when fasting was still ongoing, but with meat, lard, or generously sprinkled with sugar and fruit.
Pork was generally considered a particularly significant dish on Generous Evening - a saint named Vasily especially favored swineherds, so he had to be better appeased so that the cattle would not get sick throughout the year and would regularly bear offspring. It was believed that luck would be extremely favorable to business in general, not only in pig farming, if the table was set with pomp.
Signs of the Old New Year
It was customary to dress solemnly and elegantly in new and beautiful clothes - luck, as you know, is a capricious lady - it also meets you by your clothes. How you celebrate the New Year is how you spend it, this fully applied to the celebration of the Old New Year.
It was considered a good sign to see a young man from a strong and friendly large family on the doorstep immediately after midnight - this meant that he would bring prosperity and wealth to the home. For this reason, they tried not to let women leave the house on Vasily’s Day, but the young men happily walked among the guests, singing cheerful songs of congratulations and, of course, not refusing a plentiful and satisfying treat.
Prohibitions of the Old New Year
A company of only women on this day was considered unlucky - therefore, if the gender balance in the family was upset, some of the girls simply went to visit to practice witchcraft and fortune-telling, there are also many interesting details there. Or special “custom guests” were invited especially for the celebration - men who spent two to three hours with the owners, wishing the house prosperity and benefits.
It was forbidden to clean or take anything out of the house on this day - it was believed that you could inadvertently sweep away the good luck that had just settled in the room.
Borrowing and lending was also considered completely inappropriate; financial issues were tried to be resolved either before the holiday itself, or else not to mention money for another day or two.
It was highly discouraged to place dishes made from aquatic animals or fish or birds on the festive table - so that luck could not float away or fly away. Animals that walk sideways or backwards - obviously, we are talking about crayfish and crabs - were also considered undesirable, so that past problems and difficulties would not come back.
When making a toast, in no case should one utter the particle “not” - so that the same luck would not leave the hospitable home, but would remain longer. Perhaps, even if such beliefs can cause an involuntary smile, it’s worth taking these ancient methods into service - thinking before making a toast is not harmful to anyone, but who will sort out this luck? Maybe it will work?
Where else is it customary to celebrate the Old New Year?
For some reason, it is generally accepted that this date is exclusively for “strange Russians who have little reason to have fun,” but this is not at all the case, the Old New Year is usually celebrated in many countries, and these are not only the countries of the former Union, which would be understandable .
In Serbia, for example, thousands and thousands of people on this day perform rituals very similar to ours, after visiting church - the Serbian Orthodox Church, like the Russian, continues to live according to the Julian calendar, and in Macedonia they take tables out into the street and celebrate with the whole world.
Montenegrins call this day “Prava Nova Godina”, which translates as “Proper New Year”, and on this day they prepare vasilitsa - incredibly tasty round pies made from corn dough with kajmak - this is cream curdled into soft, tart cheese. In Macedonia they celebrate almost identically.
In Morocco, Japan and some German-speaking cantons of Switzerland, this day is also considered a holiday - although this cannot be strictly called a celebration of the Old New Year, but the fact remains that people also sit at a rich table. The Swiss celebrate the day of St. Sylvester, who, according to legend, saved the world from a terrible monster back in the 4th century, the Japanese have a spring festival called “risshun,” and the Moroccans, like some Muslims, rejoice at the coming of the new year according to their own Berber calendar.
In Greece, it's St. Basil's Day - children leave their shoes by fireplaces or hearths for gifts and often find them filled with sweets or toys.
Fortune telling for the Old New Year
It is believed that the results of fortune telling on this day will be especially accurate, since the day is permeated with special energies of holiday and miracle. It was often customary to make dumplings into which certain small symbolic objects were placed, and the same could be done with a pie.
A button - for a new thing, a coin - for a gift or a win, a fruit seed - for a rich harvest, a key - for a new home or move, a ring - for a quick marriage, pink or blue small buttons - for the birth of a daughter or son. Actually, as you can see, they tried to reduce all the signs to the positive - and no one is stopping us from carrying out this sweet ceremony, which promises everyone something pleasant and bright in the new year.
On this day, the girls planted bulbs in an open saucer, marking them - whose arrows shoot faster, she will be the happiest. The sprouted onions were then taken home and stored until the onset of real spring - it was believed that any disease would go away if you just chew a little juicy greenery. Well, against the backdrop of the traditional pre-spring vitamin deficiency, it’s a pretty healthy custom.
Putting rolled up pieces of paper with men's names under your pillow is also a very common way to find out the name of your betrothed in the morning immediately after waking up.
The Old New Year is a special holiday. A funny, slightly absurd and slightly contradictory name betrays its frivolous, humorous attitude. But whether it’s a joke or seriously, many people celebrate this celebration.
history of the holiday
The Old New Year is not celebrated everywhere. The name is not even translated into some languages. This oddity arose due to a change in chronology.
One calendar gave way to another, and two New Years were formed. We celebrate one, the official one, every year, from December 31 to January 1. And the other one, the former one, remained as our inheritance.
When is the Old New Year celebrated?
It is customary to say goodbye to the outgoing year once again and invite you to the coming one in the same way, on the night, but from January 13 to 14. Many traditions, signs and customs are associated with this night.
For example, if you whisper your wish on a Christmas tree ball at midnight and then hang it highest on the tree, your wish will come true. Just don’t touch the New Year’s star, because the symbol of Bethlehem has its own special, sacred meaning.
It is believed that on New Year's Eve the beginning of the year can be rewritten. If January has barely begun, and you already feel like something has gone wrong, take a piece of paper and a pen and carefully write down on the evening of January 13 everything that you would like to change. And you will see how your affairs will improve soon.
Spend this day with those for whom you may not have had enough time and energy on January 1st. Invite your friends or visit your family, make wishes that you didn’t have time to make. In a word, do everything that you definitely feel you should do. Having rehearsed New Year's Eve from December to January, consolidate the effect, celebrate the New Year again, according to the old calendar.
New Year, even when it is old, is still a time of magic and miracles. Therefore, do not stop believing in the best, recharge yourself with the positive energy of the holiday, and be sure to set the table at home with fruit, because the Fire Monkey, Mistress of the Year, is already coming into force. And, of course, press buttons and
12.01.2016 00:30
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