{"id":7209,"date":"2014-12-10T05:54:19","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T05:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=7209"},"modified":"2018-08-16T13:29:02","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T13:29:02","slug":"christmas-is-not-russias-main-winter-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/christmas-is-not-russias-main-winter-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas is not Russia&#8217;s Main Winter Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since the beginning of December every minute of every hour brings us closer to the crazy, stressful, yet long anticipated, and magical winter holidays. Some of you may think I am being politically correct by not saying \u201cChristmas\u201d and using \u201cwinter holidays\u201d instead. Let me assure you this is not the case. A lot of my warm childhood memories will forever be associated with celebrating New Year, not Christmas, because that is the main winter holiday in Russia. However, Christmas certainly has its place. Just like United States, Russia has certain movies, shows, dishes, and customs that are associated with this time of year.\u00a0If you wonder what winter holiday season is like in that part of the world, read on!<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008000\">\u0414\u0435\u0434 \u041c\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0437 \u0438 \u0421\u043d\u0435\u0433\u0443\u0440\u043e\u0447\u043a\u0430 <\/span><\/strong>(<span lang=\"en-US\">Russian version of Santa Claus who happens to have a granddaughter). He does not come down the chimney for milk and cookies, instead he and his granddaughter prefer to put on a show every now and then :-).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u0414\u0435\u0434 \u043c\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0437 \u0437\u0430\u0436\u0438\u0433\u0430\u0435\u0442 \u041e\u043f\u0430 \u0433\u0430\u043d\u0433\u0430 \u0441\u0442\u0430\u0439\u043b\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z_qNjnqabs8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000\"><strong>\u0401\u043b\u043a\u0430 <\/strong><\/span>&#8211; a decorated\u00a0<span lang=\"en-US\">pine tree<\/span> <span lang=\"en-US\">(real or fake) is usually present at every house; presents are placed under it. It is worth mentioning that Russian people usually put a lot of thought into their presents, however, I tend to think they do not spend nearly as much money on New Year&#8217;s gifts as Americans do on their Christmas gifts (in proportion to their income). Gifts usually include things people need, not necessarily want. However, I do not try to speak for everyone :-).<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000\">\u00ab\u0418\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0438\u044f \u0441\u0443\u0434\u044c\u0431\u044b, \u0438\u043b\u0438 \u0441 \u043b\u0435\u0433\u043a\u0438\u043c \u043f\u0430\u0440\u043e\u043c!\u00bb<\/span><\/strong> &#8211; <span lang=\"en-US\">the most popular New Year&#8217;s movie of all time. The movie, along with all its songs, is still very well known even though it was filmed in 1976. Read more on <a title=\"Russia New Year\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Irony_of_Fate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wikipedia.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u041c\u043d\u0435 \u043d\u0440\u0430\u0432\u0438\u0442\u0441\u044f \u0447\u0442\u043e \u0432\u044b \u0431\u043e\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b \u043d\u0435 \u043c\u043d\u043e\u044e\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yvgCUZOXY-A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000\">\u0421\u0430\u043b\u0430\u0442 \u00ab\u041e\u043b\u0438\u0432\u044c\u0435\u00bb<\/span><\/strong> &#8211; <span lang=\"en-US\">\u201cOlivie\u201d salad, or Russian potato salad is pretty much a staple of any Russian holiday, particularly New Year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fjfee0hy1cY\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fjfee0hy1cY<\/a><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000\">\u0411\u043e\u0439 \u043a\u0443\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0442\u043e\u0432 \u0438 \u043e\u0431\u0440\u0430\u0449\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0437\u0438\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0430<\/span> <\/strong>\u2014 <span lang=\"en-US\">the final strikes of the Kremlin clock and the President&#8217;s speech is something that everyone tunes into right before midnight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0433\u043e\u0434\u043d\u0435\u0435 \u043e\u0431\u0440\u0430\u0449\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438\u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430 \u041f\u0443\u0442\u0438\u043d\u0430 2014\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oBFV3h5GiaI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000\"><span lang=\"en-US\">New Year music shows<\/span><\/span><\/strong><span lang=\"en-US\"> \u2013 every year major Russian TV stations film holiday specials that are typically musical in nature. These shows usually focus on remaking of old Russian songs, sometimes even popular American songs, or consist of songs popular at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=L12YcQjd1fE\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=L12YcQjd1fE<\/a><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><span lang=\"en-US\">New Year is celebrated in Russia 9 times due to 9 different time zones. <\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Russians also have what is called <\/span><a title=\"Old New Year\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Old_New_Year\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span lang=\"en-US\">Old New Year<\/span><\/strong><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\"> \u2013 a holiday celebrated on January 13, in honor of the old tradition when New Year was in fact celebrated on that day (due to a different, Julian, calendar).<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">th<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> and Catholic Christmas is celebrated on December 25<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">th<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> .<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><span lang=\"en-US\">December 25<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">th<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> is not a federal holiday; most people are off work between December 31<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">st<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> and January 8<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">th<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> . <\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><span lang=\"en-US\">There, I feel like I gave you an overview of what it is like to be in Russia in the month of December. <\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Feel free to share your stories and ask questions!<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"ru-RU\"><span style=\"color: #009933\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif\"><b>\u0412\u0441\u0435\u0433\u043e \u0445\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0448\u0435\u0433\u043e! <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the beginning of December every minute of every hour brings us closer to the crazy, stressful, yet long anticipated, and magical winter holidays. Some of you may think I am being politically correct by not saying \u201cChristmas\u201d and using \u201cwinter holidays\u201d instead. Let me assure you this is not the case. A lot of&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/christmas-is-not-russias-main-winter-holiday\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,8,7827],"tags":[13025,1031,1166,117484,1288,349718],"class_list":["post-7209","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","category-language","category-russian-life","tag-celebrating-russian-holidays","tag-christmas-in-russia","tag-new-year","tag-new-year-tree","tag-russian-traditions","tag-winter-holidays-in-russia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11109,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7209\/revisions\/11109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}