New Year: the history of the holiday. When to celebrate New Year? Who created the New Year on January 1st

Mikhailov Andrey 12/23/2014 at 18:30

On December 20, 1699, Russian Tsar Peter I signed a decree on Russia’s transition to a new calendar and the postponement of the beginning of the year celebrations from September 1 to January 1. Since then, we have been celebrating the main holiday of the year on this day. In general, the history of the New Year in Rus' is quite interesting. IN different times In addition to the above dates, we celebrated it on March 1, March 22, and September 14.

But first, let's return to the young Russian Tsar. By his decree, Peter ordered on January 1, 1700 to decorate houses with pine, spruce and juniper branches according to the samples exhibited in Gostiny Dvor, as a sign of fun, be sure to congratulate each other on the New Year and, naturally, on the new century.

As historical chronicles say, fireworks, cannon and rifle salutes were set off on Red Square, and Muscovites were ordered to fire muskets and launch rockets near their houses. In short, the order was to have fun with all the might of the Russian soul, albeit in a European manner! The boyars and service people were ordered to dress in foreign costumes - Hungarian caftans. And the women also had to be dressed in foreign dress.

In Peter’s decree it was written: “...On large and well-traveled streets, noble people and at houses of deliberate spiritual and secular rank in front of the gates should make some decorations from trees and branches of pine and juniper... and for poor people, each at least a tree or branch for the gate or over their temple put..." In fact, the decree was not talking specifically about the Christmas tree, but about trees in general. At first they were decorated with nuts, sweets, fruits and even various vegetables, and they began to decorate a specific beautiful Christmas tree much later, from the middle of the last century.

On January 6, the mighty festivities ended with a religious procession to the Jordan. Contrary to the ancient custom, the tsar did not follow the clergy in rich vestments, but stood on the banks of the Moscow River in uniform, surrounded by the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments, dressed in green caftans and camisoles with gold buttons and braid.

In general, the celebration of the New Year in Rus' has the same complex fate as its history itself. Old folk tradition even after the officially introduced changes in the calendar, it retained ancient customs for a long time. Here's what he told Pravda.Ru about New Year's story Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Nikolai Kaprizov:

“In Rus', in the old, still pagan times, there was a long period of passing, that is, the first three months, and from March the summer month began. In honor of it, they celebrated Ausen, Ovsen or Tusen, which later moved on to the new year. Summer itself in ancient times consisted in the current three spring and three summer months - the last six months included winter time. The transition from autumn to winter was shaded like the transition from summer to autumn. Presumably, initially in Rus'. New Year celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox, that is, March 22. Maslenitsa and New Year were celebrated on the same day. Winter has been driven away, which means a new year has arrived.

Well, along with Christianity, that is, after the Baptism of Rus' in Rus' (988), naturally, a new chronology appeared - from the Creation of the world. A new European calendar, the Julian, also appeared, with a fixed name for the months. March 1 began to be considered the beginning of the new year. According to one version, at the end of the 15th century, and according to another in 1348, the Orthodox Church moved the beginning of the year to September 1, which corresponded to the definitions of the Council of Nicaea.

In general, the reform of the calendar system was carried out in Rus' without taking into account the working life of the people, without establishing any special connection with agricultural work. The September New Year was approved by the church, following the word of the Holy Scriptures. In the Old Testament church, the month of September was celebrated annually, as if to commemorate peace from all worldly worries.

Thus, the New Year began to be celebrated on the first of September. This day became the feast of Simeon, the first pillar, which is still celebrated by our church. This holiday was known among the common people under the name Seeds of the Summer Conductor, because on this day summer ended and the new year began. It was both a solemn day of celebration and the subject of analysis of urgent conditions, collection of quitrents, taxes and personal courts.

Well, in 1699, Peter I issued a decree according to which January 1 was considered the beginning of the year. This was done following the example of all Christian peoples who lived not according to the Julian, but according to the Gregorian calendar. Peter I, in general, could not immediately transfer Rus' to the new Gregorian calendar, despite all his determination - after all, the church lived according to the Julian calendar.

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

Tradition connects the emergence of the custom of putting up a fir tree in homes on the feast of the Nativity of Christ with the name of the Apostle of Germany, St. Boniface (+ June 5, 754). Preaching among the pagans and telling them about the Nativity of Christ, he cut down an oak tree dedicated to the thunder god Thor to show the pagans how powerless their gods were. The oak, falling, knocked down several trees, except spruce. Bonifatius called the spruce the tree of the Christ Child. Apparently, at first the fir tree was placed on the feast of the Nativity of Christ without decorations. She herself, slender, beautiful, exuding a thick, pleasant smell, was the decoration of the house. The custom of decorating a spruce appeared after the Reformation in Protestant countries.

In Russia, the establishment of a Christmas tree apparently dates back to the reign of Peter I. The Orthodox Church celebrated the beginning of the New Year on September 1st in memory of the victory won by Constantine the Great over Maxentius in 312. In 1342, under Metropolitan Theognostus, it was decided to begin both the church and civil years from September 1st, which was confirmed at the council of 1505 d. The celebration of the new civil and church years were closely intertwined.

The year 1700 was celebrated twice in Russia. First September 1st. And on December 20, 1699, Peter I adopted a decree “on the celebration of the New Year.” He ordered the start of the year to be moved from September 1 to January 1, 1700. At the same time, Peter I ordered that on this day houses be decorated with “pine, spruce and juniper branches, according to the samples exhibited in Gostiny Dvor; As a sign of fun, be sure to congratulate each other on the New Year.” Fire parties were held on Red Square.

The custom introduced by Peter I took root with difficulty. Even at the beginning of the 19th century, Christmas trees were placed only in the houses of St. Petersburg Germans. The Christmas tree became a ubiquitous decoration in Russia only at the end of the 19th century. However, in the 40s of the same century, it began to enter the everyday life of Russian society. This can be judged from F. M. Dostoevsky’s story The Christmas Tree and the Wedding, published in the September issue of Otechestvennye Zapiski for 1848: “The other day I saw a wedding... but no! I’d rather tell you about the Christmas tree. The wedding is good; I liked her very much, but the other incident was better. I don’t know how, looking at this wedding, I remembered this tree. This is how it happened. Exactly five years ago, on New Year’s Eve, I was invited to a children’s ball.”

Setting up and decorating a Christmas tree for Christmas was a favorite activity not only for children, but also for adults. In the story by A.P. Chekhov. Boys (1887) Katya, Sonya and Masha with their father preparing decorations for the Christmas tree: “After tea, everyone went to the nursery. The father and girls sat down at the table and began work, which was interrupted by the arrival of the boys. They made flowers and fringe for the Christmas tree from multi-colored paper. It was exciting and noisy work. The girls greeted each newly made flower with cries of delight, even cries of horror, as if this flower was falling from the sky; Dad admired it too.” The Christmas tree was placed not only at home, but also in the city squares: “Before Christmas, three days before, in markets, squares, there was a forest of Christmas trees. And what Christmas trees! There is as much of this goodness in Russia as you want. Not like here - stamens. At our Christmas tree... as soon as it warms up and straightens its paws, there is a thicket. There used to be a forest on Theater Square. They are standing in the snow. And the snow will fall - I’ve lost my way! Men, in sheepskin coats, like in the forest. People walk and choose. Dogs in Christmas trees are like wolves, really. The fires are burning, warm up. Smoke in pillars” (I. Shmelev. Summer of the Lord).

O.E. Mandelstam’s first poetry collection, Stone (1913), captured his adolescent experiences:

They burn with gold leaf
There are Christmas trees in the forests;
Toy wolves in the bushes
They look with scary eyes.
Oh, my prophetic sadness,
Oh my quiet freedom
And the lifeless sky
Always laughing crystal!

With the beginning of the persecution of Orthodoxy, the Christmas tree also fell out of favor. It has become dangerous to place it in the house. But on December 28, 1935, an article appeared in the Pravda newspaper: “Let's organize a good Christmas tree for the children for the New Year!” Its author was the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks P. P. Postyshev. From January 1933, he was the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine with the task of “unconditionally fulfilling the grain procurement plan.” Postyshev together with V.M. Molotov was the organizer of the famine that claimed 3.5 - 4 million people in Ukraine (including hundreds of thousands of children). Two years later, he takes special care to ensure that the children have a fun New Year: “In pre-revolutionary times, the bourgeoisie and bourgeois officials always arranged a Christmas tree for their children for the New Year. The children of the workers looked through the window with envy at the Christmas tree sparkling with multi-colored lights and the children of the rich having fun around it. Why do our schools, orphanages, nurseries, children's clubs, palaces of pioneers deprive the working children of the Soviet country of this wonderful pleasure? Some, no less than “left”, benders glorified this children's entertainment, as a bourgeois undertaking. This wrongful condemnation of the Christmas tree, which is a wonderful activity for children, must come to an end. Komsomol members and pioneer workers should organize collective Christmas trees for children on New Year's Eve. In schools, orphanages, in pioneer palaces, in children's clubs, in children's cinemas and theaters - there should be a children's Christmas tree everywhere. There should not be a single collective farm where the board, together with Komsomol members, would not arrange a Christmas tree for their children on the eve of the New Year. City councils, chairmen of district executive committees, village councils, and public education authorities must help organize a Soviet Christmas tree for the children of our great socialist homeland. Our children will only be grateful for the organization of a children's New Year tree. I am sure that Komsomol members will take the most active part in this matter and eradicate the ridiculous opinion that a children’s Christmas tree is a bourgeois prejudice. So, let's organize a fun New Year's Eve for the children, have a good Soviet Christmas tree in all cities and collective farms! This was the period of the “godless five-year plan” (1932 – 1937). They actively created rituals for new holidays in order to completely cancel Orthodox holidays. At the top of the tree, instead of the Star of Bethlehem, a five-pointed star appeared.

Decades have passed. Millions of children again saw the guiding star of Bethlehem above the decorated Christmas tree. And under it is the Infant God, Who was born so that the spiritual night would end for us.

He slept, all shining, in an oak manger,
Like a ray of moonlight in the hollow of a hollow.
They replaced his sheepskin coat
Donkey lips and ox nostrils.
We stood in the shadows, as if in the darkness of a stable,
They whispered, barely finding words.
Suddenly someone in the dark, a little to the left
He pushed the sorcerer away from the manger with his hand,
And he looked back: from the threshold to the Virgin,
The Christmas star looked on like a guest.

(Boris Pasternak. 1947)

Since 1700, Tsar Peter issued a decree to celebrate the New Year not from the day of the creation of the world, but from the Nativity of the God-Man, referring to the European peoples. It was forbidden to celebrate September 1, and on December 15, 1699, drumming announced to the people on Red Square (from the lips of the Tsar’s clerk) that “as a sign of a good beginning and the beginning of a new century, after thanksgiving to God and prayer singing in the church, large roadways were ordered streets, and for noble people to make some decorations in front of the gates from trees and branches of pine, spruce and juniper. And for the poor people (i.e., the poor), at least put a tree or a branch over the gate. And so that it arrives by the 1st of 1700 of this year; and that decoration should remain on Invar (i.e. January) until the 7th of the same year. On the first day, as a sign of fun, congratulate each other on the New Year, and do this when the fiery fun begins on Red Square and there is shooting.”

The decree recommended that “if possible, everyone in their yards should fire three times from small cannons or small rifles and fire several rockets. From January 1st to January 7th, at night, light fires from wood, or from brushwood, or from straw.”

Tsar Peter I was the first to launch a rocket. Writhing in the air like a fiery snake, it announced the coming of the New Year to the people, and after that, celebrations began throughout Belokamennaya.

As a sign of the national holiday, cannons were fired, and in the evening, multi-colored fireworks, never seen before, flashed in the dark sky. The illumination was blazing. People had fun, sang, danced, congratulated each other and gave new Year gifts. Peter I steadily ensured that this holiday was no worse or poorer in our country than in other European countries.

He was a decisive man and in one fell swoop he resolved all the calendar inconveniences.

By the beginning of the reign of Peter the Great in Russia the year was 7207 (from the creation of the world), and in Europe 1699 (from the Nativity of Christ). Russia was beginning to establish connections with Europe, and such a time difference was very difficult. But that was over. It was from January 1, 1700 that folk New Year's fun and merriment gained recognition, and the celebration of the New Year began to have a secular (non-church) character.

From now on and forever, this holiday was enshrined in the Russian calendar. This is how the New Year came to us, with Christmas tree decorations, fires, fires (which Peter ordered to be arranged at night from January 1 to January 7 by lighting tar barrels), creaking snow in the cold, winter children's fun, sleds, skis, skates, snowmen, Santa Claus, gifts...

I must say that they are new new year customs took root among the Slavs quite quickly, because earlier at that time there was another holiday - Christmastide. And many old rituals: funny carnivals, mummers' tricks, sleigh rides, midnight fortune telling and round dances around the Christmas tree - fit well into the ritual of celebrating the New Year.

And although it was frosty at that time, people were not afraid of the cold. As you know, they burned bonfires in the streets, performed dances around them, calling on the sun (which they had deified from time immemorial) to warm the earth, bound by snow and frost.

Mikhailov Andrey 12/23/2014 at 18:30

On December 20, 1699, Russian Tsar Peter I signed a decree on Russia’s transition to a new calendar and the postponement of the beginning of the year celebrations from September 1 to January 1. Since then, we have been celebrating the main holiday of the year on this day. In general, the history of the New Year in Rus' is quite interesting. At different times, in addition to the above dates, we celebrated it on March 1, March 22, and September 14.

In general, the celebration of the New Year in Rus' has the same complex fate as its history itself. The old folk tradition, even after the officially introduced changes in the calendar, preserved ancient customs for a long time. Here's what Pravda.Ru told about the New Year's story Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Nikolai Kaprizov:

“In Rus', in the old, still pagan times, there was a long period of passing, that is, the first three months, and from March the summer month began. In honor of it, they celebrated Ausen, Ovsen or Tusen, which later moved on to the new year. Summer itself in ancient times consisted in the current three spring and three summer months - the last six months consisted of winter time. The transition from autumn to winter was shaded like the transition from summer to autumn. Presumably, the New Year was originally celebrated in Rus' on the day of the spring equinox, that is, March 22. The New Year was celebrated on one day. Winter was driven away, which means a new year has come.

New Year is a famous, bright and perhaps the most anticipated holiday, which marks the beginning of a new year and, despite the winter weather, brings a lot of joy and warmth. In many countries, the New Year comes on January 1st. However, people did not always celebrate the beginning of the year on the first day of the second month of winter. The oldest celebrations on the occasion of the New Year have been held since 2000 BC. e. in Mesopotamia and coincided with the spring equinox. Ancient peoples also used other dates for the New Year holiday. In ancient Greece, the beginning of the year was celebrated with winter solstice, in Egypt the New Year was celebrated on the autumn equinox.

Why then is January 1st universal? New Year's holiday, which is celebrated in different parts of the world? Obviously, to find out this, you should look into the history of the holiday.

Early Roman calendar

Ancient Roman god began Janus

The ancient Romans originally used moon calendar, where there were ten months and the year began on March 1. In the 7th century BC e. The Roman emperor Numa Pompilius transformed the calendar, as a result of which 2 new months were added to the year - January and February. January was named after the Roman god of beginnings and doors, Janus, who was depicted with two faces, facing west and east, looking into the past and future. The name "Janus" comes from the Latin word janua, which means "door, entrance."