The official Christmas and New Year holidays in Russia last from December 31st to January 10th. In Russian Happy/Merry Christmas is s rah-zh-dee-st-VOHM (C рождеством!) or s-schah-st-lee-vah-vah rah-zh dee-st-vah (Счастливого рождества Some people fast (dont eat anything) on Christmas Eve, until the first star has appeared in the sky. People then eat sochivo or kutia a porridge made from wheat or rice served with honey, poppy seeds, fruit (especially berries and dried fruit like raisins), chopped walnuts or sometimes even fruit jellies! Kutia is sometimes eaten from one common bowl, this symbolizes unity. In the past, some families like to throw a spoonful of sochivo up on the ceiling. If it stuck to the ceiling, some people thought it meant they would have good luck and would have a good harvest! The Russian word for Christmas Eve sochelnik, comes from the word sochivo. Some Orthodox Christian Russian also dont eat any meat or fish during the Christmas Eve meal/feast. Other popular Christmas Eve foods include beetroot soup (borsch) or vegan potluck (solyanka) served with individual vegetable pies (often made with cabbage, potato, or mushroom); salads often made from vegetables like gherkins, mushrooms or tomatoes, and also potato or other root vegetable salads. Sauerkraut is main dish in the Christmas Eve meal. It can be served with cranberries, cumin, shredded carrot and onion rings. It might be followed by more pies or porridge dishes such as buckwheat with fried onions and fried mushrooms. Dessert is often things like fruit pies, gingerbread and honeybread cookies and fresh and dried fruit and more nuts. Vzvar (meaning boil-up) is often the end of the meal. Its a sweet drink made from dried fruit and honey boiled in water. Vzvar is traditionally at the birth of a child, so at Christmas it symbolizes the birth of the baby Jesus. Following the meal, prayers might be said and people then go to the midnight Church services. They often dont wash the dishes until they get home from Church - sometimes not until 4.00am or 5.00am! The New Year celebrations are still very important to Russians (sometimes more than Christmas). This is when - when Father Frost (known in Russian as Ded Moroz or Дед Мороз) brings presents to children. He is always accompanied by his Grandaughter (Snegurochka). On New Years eve children hold hands, make a circle around the Christmas tree and call for Snegurochka or Ded Moroz. When they appear the star and other lights on the Christmas tree light up! Ded Moroz carries a big magic staff. The traditional greeting for Happy New Year is S Novym Godom.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 16:38:28 +0000
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