Russians and New Year Celebrations

S nastupaushim!

If you previously didn't know much about Russian Christmas festivities, I am here to clear up misconceptions and confusions (you may not have even had before reading the title of this post! Aha) on the topic of how Russians celebrate the festive season.

The answer is they celebrate a little differently than most.

Your typical pre-recorded Russian New Year's concert with all the famous faces from the 80s still making appearances and lip-syncing their most iconic tracks. The context is everything.

If you need some cultural Russian context, New Years celebrations are the same as aussie Christmas celebrations but turned up to 11. Think: Ded Moroz (Santa Claus' other alias), elki (Christmas trees) and lots of shampanskoe i vodki (champagne and vodka). FYI everyone drinks champagne on New Years - its the drink of the hour to welcome the new year.

Russian Christmas is actually on the 7th of January and is observed much more like a religious rather than celebratory 'let's get happy and drunk' party. However, Russians also have a 'staryi novyi god' which is 'old new year' on the 14th of January, and that's when you farewell the old year, compared to welcoming it on the 31st of December.

This is why the fairy lights and decorations are up around the cities until mid-Jan (which personally I love, instead of taking the decorations down on the 26 of December, right after you celebrate -_-)

In every city, there is a street rave on New Year's Eve. There are two types of people out on the streets: the tourists and the prieghie (the ones from out of town). The locals avoid going outside and stay away because they KNOW. They know that it's gonna be a mess of drunk and disorderly people outside.

Finally, the most iconic duo at New Years in Russia is snow and champagne. And of course, olivye on the table, S Leghkim Parom (the most famous rom-com in Russia) playing on the tv in the background, and sitting around with family and friends, chatting and laughing with a champagne flute in hand, remembering the best moments of the year, all the while, waiting for the clock to strike twelve.

S novym godom!