All about the symbols of the New Year

The New Year can be safely called the main holiday of our country - it is hardly possible to find a person who is completely indifferent to him. At the same time, the notorious New Year's mood can be described with several symbols - it is enough to place references to them everywhere, and the soul will be filled with characteristic warmth and expectation of a miracle.

It is no secret that in most Christian countries of the world the function of the main holiday of the year is performed by Christmas, which is closely adjacent to the New Year in the calendar. But in the Soviet years, the authorities actively fought against religion, therefore they decided to replace one holiday in the mind of a Russian person with another. Judging by the popularity of the New Year today, they succeeded, but a significant part of the New Year's symbols were originally Christmas. However, let's take it in order.

A prime example of a New Year symbol with a Christmas backstory is this is a tree, the main tree of the holiday... Modern scholars have noted that the custom of choosing a holiday tree (not necessarily spruce) for the New Year existed among many peoples even in pre-Christian times. However, the tradition came to Russia from Germany, and this is due precisely to Christianity.

Medieval Germans honored the memory of Adam and Eve on December 24, the day before Christmas. In honor of them, it was customary to play a mystery - a theatrical performance that tells the story of the first people and their expulsion from Paradise. As we remember, the forbidden fruit grew on a tree, but since in winter in Germany there is nothing green but ate, it was she who was put on the stage. They decorated the tree with apples (that very forbidden fruit), as well as waffles and cookies, after having tasted which you symbolically received communion.Over time, fruits and candy have been transformed into toys.

It is believed that this European innovation, like many others, was introduced in Russia by Peter I. During the First World War, putting up a Christmas tree was banned as an "enemy tradition."

The good grandfather is another "invention" of the last century - he was also invented by a regime that needed "its" heroes. Before the revolution, Saint Nicholas successfully coped with the functions of Santa Claus, and it is still customary in some places to put gifts from an old man under a pillow for children on the night of January 13-14 - New Year's in the old style.

The Western "relative" of Santa Claus is considered Santa Claus, but his name is also translated exactly as Saint Nicholas. The saint fell under the renaming, again, because of his belonging to a religion that was not welcomed in the Soviet Union. He became a type Moroz Ivanovich - the very character of the fairy tale who in the winter forest asked the girl if she was warm.

In folk tales, the Snow Maiden - the girl who was made of snow by childless grandfather and grandmother... The baby came to life and became a joy for elderly parents, but in the summer she died in the forest while walking with her friends: according to some versions, she melted, according to others, her friends killed her out of envy. As you can see, there is no connection with the New Year.

At first, Santa Claus allegedly had a grandson - on old postcards you can see a certain boy, whom everyone has forgotten about today. In the 30s of the last century, he was officially replaced by his granddaughter - Snegurochka, who inherited the characteristic blue color of the dress from her predecessor.

And this symbol is by no means Soviet, and indeed not Christian at all. It is customary in the Chinese calendar to tie each year to an animal. There, for several thousand years, it has been believed that an animal that symbolizes the year of birth of a child, as it were, conveys its character traits to him. There are 12 such animals in total, they follow each other in the same sequence, forming 12-year cycles.

At the same time, each animal is separately assigned a color with material, which also supposedly influence fate. On this basis, the Chinese horoscope is built, the potential compatibility of people is calculated, and so on.

The tradition of paying attention to the Chinese calendar came to our country in the late 80s, when both the USSR and China itself became less closed states.

At the time of the birth of the tradition, only nobles could afford to decorate a Christmas tree. A whole tree required a lot of treats, and then there was nowhere to put them much - so the rich distributed all these apples and cookies to their own servants, especially since such a manifestation of mercy is quite in the spirit of Christmas.

Separately, gifts, and also sweet ones, were handed out by the already mentioned Saint Nicholas, but his generosity concerned only children, and then not all, but only obedient ones. In the USSR, there could be no question of creating a positive image for the rich and noblemen, and it was impossible to "advertise" Christian heroes. Having completely abolished the beautiful tradition, the communists risked facing resistance from ordinary people, so they decided to delegate the functions of nobles and saint to the newly invented Santa Claus.

Fireworks were invented by the Chinese long before the beginning of our era. Green bamboo is believed to be the first prototype for fireworks. - it exploded if thrown into a fire. The ancient Chinese assumed that a sharp and loud sound frightens off evil spirits, so they quickly fell in love with such entertainment. Later, they invented gunpowder and began to use it for the same purpose, and the rite itself gradually became characteristic of any big holidays, especially for the New Year, which always involves the need to leave everything bad in the old year.

But the most accessible and beloved pyrotechnics in the Soviet Union by children and adults were sparklers. It is easy to guess from the name that they originate in India, namely, in Bengal. And since the constant attribute of the New Year's celebration was in demand in the USSR, it was massively produced at the enterprises of the country and cost a penny.

The tradition of sculpting little people out of snow actually has nothing special to do with either the New Year or Christmas. It originated in ancient times among various peoples, independently of each other - wherever the climate allowed, they made snowmen in winter, it can be considered a kind of amateur sculpture.

The New Year, which has been celebrated in the middle of winter in our country for more than 300 years, is inevitably associated with cold weather and snow and is associated with a snowman only because it is made of snow and in the absence of cold weather is impossible.

The New Year's table is supposed to be rich and varied, but there is a small list of products that literally must be present on it, regardless of the personal preferences of the hosts and guests. Each of them has their own story of how they became symbols of the holiday, and we will tell these stories too.

• Apples... Today, they are no longer an obligatory attribute of the holiday for everyone, but they have been such for centuries (if we consider New Year and Christmas to be related holidays). We spoke about the reasons for this, considering the history of the approval of the Christmas tree as a Christmas tree - apples symbolized the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve ate, therefore they were used to decorate the scene. After the presentation, they were distributed to the poor.

• Mandarins (oranges). In Soviet times, not to mention earlier, there was a real trouble with overseas goods. One could not even dream of the variety of today's supermarkets - it was almost unrealistic to get fresh fruit in winter, except perhaps for apples and pears. The exception was tangerines - they grew abundantly in the Transcaucasus, on Soviet territory, and ripened just in December.

• "Olivie". The legendary salad was invented by a French chef, after whom it is named. Monsieur, even before the revolution, had his own restaurant in the vastness of our country, and the institution was at one time successful, but then fed up with visitors due to the lack of any novelty. Seeing the decline of the business, the owner showed the world an innovation by simply mixing popular foods for other dishes in one salad, and this went down in history.

• Champagne. You may prefer other alcohol or not drink it at all, but champagne is considered the main New Year's drink.This is a typical festive drink, perhaps according to the same logic that the sound of the bottle being opened resembles a fireworks, and the "geyser" from the neck only warms up emotions. Earlier, the nobles supposedly considered only sparkling wines "noble", worthy of festivities, and not just a drink - the commoners could neither make such a drink themselves, nor buy it. The tradition of clinking glasses probably involves stirring drinks in neighboring glasses - this is a guarantee that those drinking with you are not trying to poison you through alcohol.

One of the symbols of the New Year should be considered the New Year President's address. In other countries, prime ministers, chancellors, and kings may act as such. In some places, the speech is timed not for the New Year, but for Christmas, in dozens of countries around the world it is not at all.

For the first time, the idea of ​​the appeal came to the head of the BBC Director General John Reith, who in 1923 tried to organize a radio broadcast of the King's congratulatory speech. He refused, but agreed only many years later, in 1932. Rudyard Kipling, the author of the famous "The Jungle Book" about Mowgli and his friends, wrote his speech.

For more information on the symbols of the New Year, see the next video.