'Tis the season to get into the Christmas spirit. I'm sure that in America there are Christmas songs playing on all the radio stations, Christmas shows playing on all the TV channels, and Christmas decorations in every corner of every state. Everyone's planning for it, shopping for it, thinking about it. So it might surprise you to know that here in Russia - nobody cares that it's almost Christmas. In fact, they still have a month to go before they even celebrate Christmas!
See, here in Russia (as in most Eastern Orthodox countries, so I've read) they celebrate Christmas on January 7th. In fact, Christmas only recently became a national holiday again in Russia - it was surpressed for a long time by the Soviet Union, because they were an officially atheist state and didn't want to promote such a religious holiday.
Because in Russia they do focus more on the religious aspects of Christmas. They go to church on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas day. (To read more about that,
click here.) Christmas is kind of the conclusion to the holiday fortnight that begins on New Year's Eve.
Because New Year is the big holiday for Russia. It's their biggest holiday, and most of the decorations we see in the store or around town (lights, trees, etc) aren't for Christmas; they're for New Year. (What I've read says that this is because when the Soviet Union cracked down on Christmas, a lot of the traditions from Christmas shifted over to New Year so they could still be practiced. I haven't verified that with any real Russians, but it makes sense from what I've seen.)
Anyway, they do have a lot of Christmas-type stuff around. (A lot of it is just for tourists; St. Petersburg is a big tourist city.) They have trees, Santa Clauses - though it's debatable exactly which incarnation of Santa is being depicted most of the time - lights, ornaments, candies, costumes, and more. My favorite distinctly Russian thing is the Snow Maiden. You'll see her in the pictures.
Enjoy! And play a little Christmas music while you look at the pictures, why don't you?
 |
At the market, where you buy matrushka dolls and the like,
you can get these carvings of what looks like Santa.
Here, though, you'd call him Дед Мороз.
(Grandfather Frost) |
 |
Advertisement for a musuem of chocolate.
A life-size chocolate Santa! (or, Дед Мороз?) |
 |
| Christmas goodies. |
 |
| A tree outside one of the Metro stations. |
 |
| Same tree |
 |
| The grocery store - they love decorating, too. |
 |
| Half of their decorations are dragons, though. For the New Year. |
 |
I love this girl. She's снегрочка ("snegurochka") - the Snow Maiden.
Granddaughter of Дед Мороз, the grandfatherly gift-bringer.
Here, read about her on Wikipedia. |
 |
| Lots more decorations... |
 |
| etc... |
 |
| etc... |
 |
| etc... |
 |
| Grandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden again. |
 |
Popular Russian cartoon characters Masha and Bear,
all decked out in their snowgear. |
 |
Giant Christmas tree in front of the Hermitage - the Winter Palace.
Yes, that's the building where the Tsars would have spent Christmas. |
 |
This is the tree at my host family's apartment.
My host sister Evelen put it together. See her there? |
4 comments:
Love it all. :)
Yay! Thank you SO much! My kids are going to love it!
They are all fun pictures, but the last one is my favorite. She's so cute!
I think we should start including dragons in our Christmas decorations. That would rock!
I loved the brass and purple colored decorations at the end.
You know what I've missed for years from living in Germany? Every Christmas, my dad would take us to the Commissary and buy a package of Lebkuchen to eat on the way home. I miss that Lebkuchen. I've even tried to bribe people in the military to buy it for me from the Commissary, but they don't carry them in the States. :( Maybe I'll try baking some for myself this year. :)
Post a Comment