Christmas is one of the most important festivals in Russia. It boasts the world’s second-highest Christmas festival attendance (over 80% or 115 million people). The 7th of January is a federal holiday in Russia to commemorate Christmas. Long-standing Christmas rituals in Russia include caroling, fortune-telling, and observing a Nativity Fast for forty days leading up to Christmas Eve, all of which have their origins in the pagan culture that existed before Christianity in Russia. Russian people adorn their houses with angels, stars, and nativity scenes. Roast pig and goose, pirog (baked dough), pelmeni (meat dumplings), and sochivo (grain dish) are served during Russian Christmas celebrations. Advent, which begins on November 28 and lasts for 40 days, is also observed by the Russian Orthodox Church. Christmas was reinstated as a holiday in the 1990s with the fall of the Soviet Union, despite being prohibited as a religious festival in 1929 and Christmas trees being forbidden until 1935. Nowadays, Christmas is widely celebrated in the country.
Why Russians Celebrate Christmas on January 7th
Russians commemorate their Christmas on January 7th, which they call Rozhdestvo Khristovo. This date is unusual because the Russian Orthodox Church utilizes the old ‘Julian’ calendar for religious festival days. The modern Gregorian calendar is 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar; thus, Russian Christmas falls on January 7th instead of December 25th. This is the case with many Orthodox countries; see 48 Countries That Celebrate Christmas. While the younger Russians save their energy and enthusiasm for the New Year celebrations, more traditional families still put more emphasis on January 7th Christmas customs.
Russian Christmas Celebrations
Nativity Fast
November 28-January 6
On November 28, 40 days before Christmas Eve (January 6), the Nativity Fast in Russia starts. No animal items, including meat, dairy, or egg products, are permitted during the Nativity Fast. The final five days of the fast grow harsher, with no fish permitted, even on weekends. Christian tradition holds that Jesus prepared for his mission by fasting for 40 days in the desert.
Christmas Eve
January 6
Christmas Eve (Paramony) is the traditional commencement date for celebrations in Russia. It is known as “sochelnik” and involves a ritual meal called “sochivo” or kutia. A 12-course lunch is served in honor of the 12 disciples. Traditionally, this meal is not consumed until the first star appears, honoring the Bethlehem Star.
As the first star lights up the sky, people exchange wafers while offering good wishes. Some people may refrain from consuming meat or fish and other Russians wait until the Vesperal Divine Liturgy is over before starting to eat.
On the night of January 6, a revived tradition called “Koliada” (or Koliadka) involves people singing, wearing disguises and masks, and going from home to home for treats to celebrate the birth of Christ. Everything that is sung about is expected to come true.
Christmas Day
January 7
On Christmas Day, Russian individuals participate in activities such as having a family supper, attending a Christmas liturgy, visiting relatives and friends, and giving and receiving gifts. Roast pig and goose, Pirog, and Pelmeni (meat dumplings) are common main courses on this day, while fruit pies are a Christmas dessert. So, it’s a pretty usual Christmas day for you.
Svyatki
January 7–January 19
Svyatki begins on January 7 and lasts until January 19. It’s a pagan ritual honoring the start of a new solar year on December 21. It is a 12-day celebration that begins on the Winter Solstice, much like the pre-Christian Koliada festival. The term “holy” (svyatoy) is where the name “svyatki” originates from.
Svyatki is a lively aspect of Russian Christmas festivities, and it involves a practice known as fortune-telling. It is popular among rural adolescent girls. During this period, girls engage in sorcery to discover details about their future, such as marriage prospects, using methods like wax, apples, cards, and mirrors. Additionally, young Russians partake in playful mischief, donning scary masks and costumes and seeking treats in the village, while work, especially for the youth, is prohibited.
The time of Svyatki also involves professional actors in wolf masks performing for children’s entertainment. This tradition is also evident in club parties, sauna gatherings, and mid-January fireworks. Before the introduction of Christianity in ancient Russia, Svyatki was a celebration of Svetovit (one of the names of the sky deity Belobog), and fortune-telling was the central ritual of it.
The Church doesn’t like this rooted festival and it tried to erase it in the past. Since the fall of the USSR, attempts to resurrect Svyatki have come off as just ornamental or self-aware.
Ded Moroz and His Snegurochka
Both Ded Moroz and his granddaughter Snegurochka are prominent in Russian holiday celebrations. Like Santa Claus, the tradition of Ded Moroz (Father Frost) has its origins in Slavic folklore. Ancient Slavic people believed in a wise magician named Ded Moroz who could freeze whole armies with the snap of his icy fingers. Ded Moroz started to change his methods in the late 19th century, and he eventually became an accepted part of the Christmas traditions by delivering gifts.
As his reputation increased, Russians began depicting him less as a scraggly old wise man and more as a dapper nobleman with a royal blue fur coat embroidered with silver and a pair of sharp boots. Ded Moroz’s granddaughter and companion is Snegurochka, or the Snow Maiden. She represents the Christmas season in Russia and is often included in holiday décor. Because both Ded Moroz and Snegurochka are patriotic Russian figures (though their origins may lie in Ayaz Ata, the original Santa Claus).
Children gather around the Christmas tree (fir tree) on New Year’s Eve, clasp hands, and sing songs to welcome Ded Moroz and Snegurochka. Ded Moroz appears with a huge magical staff. He is a popular part of Russian Christmas celebrations, despite being condemned as a demon by the Russian church.
Popularity of Christmas Tree in Russia
In the 18th century, Peter I, who was impressed by Christmas festivities he saw in the West, initiated the practice of adorning Christmas trees and other evergreen branches with New Year’s symbols in Russia. Nicholas I and his German-born wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, popularized the practice of adorning Christmas trees in Russia in the early 19th century.
The royal family put up a tree in their own quarters to celebrate Christmas, and on Christmas Day 1828, the Empress hosted a celebration for children in a huge dining room with numerous tables, all of which had Christmas trees adorned with candles, candies, gilded apples, and gingerbread.
The practice of decorating Christmas trees in Russia was first connected with the New Year, so as not to provoke disturbance in the Orthodox Church. Following the formal approval of Christmas in 1991, Russian Christmas trees once again started to be decorated with Christian motifs.
These days, Christmas trees are a common fixture in the country, only to be taken down at the end of January, following the celebration of Christ’s Baptism. The Russian Christmas tree is adorned with candles, chocolates, gilded apples, gingerbread, and toys, and it serves as the major holiday present for children.
The Russian New Year is More Popular Than Christmas
In Russia, New Year’s celebrations draw larger crowds than Christmas does. Because the celebration of New Year’s Eve is the most significant event in Russia, it is celebrated across the nation. Those who value spending New Year’s Eve with their loved ones like to do it at home with a special New Year’s dinner. On the other hand, Christmas in Russia is more subdued and intimate.
It is far more low-spirited than other winter celebrations in the nation. Many secular Russians celebrate Christmas with their families, but the New Year’s celebration has a higher place in their hearts. Consequently, the Russian New Year celebration is more well-attended, with various parties and mini-festivals. For nearly seven decades following the 1917 Revolution, the Soviet Union was a staunch atheist nation that banned Christian holidays.
Do Any Russians Celebrate Christmas on December 25th?
According to the Julian calendar, which is used by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the date of Christmas is January 7. Some 150,000 Catholics in Russia (0.1% of the population) are free to observe the holiday on December 25. Although the Soviet government initially supported Christmas on December 25th, the anti-religious policies of the Soviet Union meant that Christmas was not celebrated in Russia for much of the 20th century. Though Christmas festivities have picked up in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, they still pale in comparison to the country’s massive New Year’s celebrations.
Russian Christmas Foods and Drinks
“I’m glad that you asked it” would be the answer a Russian would give you when you inquired about their rich Christmas foods and beverages.
- Olivier Salad: It is a thick mayonnaise-dressed salad with boiled potatoes, carrots, eggs, ham or bologna, pickles, peas, and apples. It’s heavy and creamy.
- Buzhenina: Traditional Russian Christmas fare is buzhenina, a roast of pork rubbed with spices and stuffed with herbs and garlic.
- Pryanik: Tea cookies or honey bread, Russian Pryaniki are crumbly biscuits with a buttery taste and a tinge of spice.
- Deviled Eggs: Eggs that have been hard boiled and then had their shells removed are known as deviled eggs, and they are filled with a combination of mayonnaise, mustard, and spices.
- Pirozhki: Small stuffed buns called pirozhki may be packed with everything from meat to potatoes to cabbage to cheese.
- Dressed Herring: It fools the eye into thinking it’s a cake, but upon closer inspection reveals itself to be a layered salad.
- Russian Pelmeni: Miniature, spherical dumplings stuffed with ground pork.
- Pickled Foods: Gherkins, pickled mushrooms, pickled apples, and sour-crout are few of the pickled delicacies found on the Russian Christmas tables.
- Sbiten: An east Slavic hot beverage drank at Christmas. All you need to make sbiten’ is honey, water, spices, and jam.
Christmas Carols and Music
The Russian holiday season isn’t complete without listening to some traditional Russian Christmas music. An integral part of the celebrations are the traditional Russian Christmas songs, some of which date back centuries such as “How Glorious Is Our Lord in Zion.”
Traditional Christmas songs are often performed a cappella to highlight the unified sound of the choir. Modern Russian Christmas songs are just as popular as the classics when the holiday season rolls around. Beyond vocal performances, instrumental works such as Alfred Reed’s “Russian Christmas Music” round out the musical landscape.
Traditional Christmas Decorations
In Russia, Christmas wouldn’t be complete without the elaborate displays of Russian Christmas décor.
- Christmas Tree: Russians put up Christmas trees in their houses for decoration, but they normally take them down by the end of January, following the feast day of the Baptism of Christ.
- Pine Leaves: Pine leaves are a common decoration on Russian front entrances and inside Russian homes.
- Table Decorations: Christmas dinners in Russia are traditionally set with white tablecloths to represent the linen in which Jesus was wrapped when he was born. His birth is commemorated by placing hay on or around the dinner table.
- Ded Moroz and Snegurochka: Russian children traditionally get presents on Christmas Eve from Ded Moroz (Father Frost) and Snegurochka (Snow Maiden), so they are a common figurine in seasonal decorations.
- Matryoshka Dolls: The Russian nesting dolls known as matryoshkas are a popular part of the holiday decorations.
- Other Ornaments: The depictions of Ded Moroz, Snegurochka, and Matryoshka dolls are made of glass, papier mache, or cardboard in red, green, and gold.
History of Christmas in Russia
In the late 10th century, after Prince Vladimir’s baptism, Christmas on the 25th of December became an official holiday in Rus’. It was common practice to conclude contracts and budgets for the year between Christmas and Maslenitsa (February–March). The Polish Vertep puppet theater made its way into Russia somewhere between the late 17th and early 18th centuries. On Christmas, episodes of the birth of Jesus Christ were recreated with puppets in a unique Vertep box, simulating the event in a cave where he was concealed from King Herod. Other stories began to surface much later. Until the October Revolution in 1917, this custom remained in place.
A decked Christmas tree was a common sight in urban and rural areas alike by the end of the 19th century. Ded Moroz, the Russian version of Santa Claus (and possibly Ayaz Ata), began delivering presents in the early 20th century. The atheistic government banned all religious celebrations, including Christmas, in the 1920s. However, before 1929, Russian yearly calendars identified various religious festivals, including Christmas, as holidays or days off, signifying non-working days, in different years. Since the nation switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1918, Christmas was marked on January 7 and 8 in calendars from 1919 to 1923, then on December 25 and 26 from 1924 to 1929.
Banning of Christmas
In Soviet Russia, Christmas has been outlawed since 1929. Even the Christmas tree was outlawed since it was considered a “popish” tradition. On September 24, 1929, the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR issued a decree titled “On Working Hours and Rest Time in Enterprises and Institutions Transitioning to Continuous Production Week” that stated, “On the day of the new year and the days of all religious holidays (formerly special days of rest), work is carried out on common grounds.“
As a result of a governmental shift in 1935, the secular celebration of New Year’s Day on January 1 now included elements of the Christmas holiday. Since then, the “Christmas tree” has always been mistaken for a “New Year’s” tree in contemporary Russia. Ded Moroz’s visits and presents eventually became associated with the New Year rather than Christmas. Russian fairytale figure Snegurochka had her first non-Christmas appearance as Ded Moroz’s granddaughter and companion at the Moscow House of Unions New Year’s assembly in 1937. According to the Orthodox calendar, Christmas Day was observed on January 7.
After the Collapse of the Soviet Union
In 1991, states once again began observing Christmas as a legal holiday. The RSFSR’s Supreme Soviet declared December 25, 1990, an official holiday in observance of the Orthodox Christmas holiday. The day stopped being a regular workday on January 7, 1991. This decree was disregarded, however, and RSFSR state institutions operated on this day in various republics, including the Tatar ASSR. Christmas is now included in the “New Year holidays,” which run from the first of the year (or the evening before) all the way through Babinden (the Day of the Baba/Midwife, January 8).
