The relativity of Christmas and the importance of New Year - how I ceberated the winter holidays

[strannik01]

When I was young, Christmas was a non-factor to me. In Russia, a lot of what used to be the secular Christmas traditions got moved to New Years Eve back in the 1930s, when citizens of Soviet Union weren't allowed to celebrate the very Christian Christmas, but the more secular New Year was okay. By the time the restrictions started to relax during

Comments

[tilia_tomentosa]

Do you know that we had a Bulgarianized version of Ded Moroz and even his granddaughter during the communist era? Дядо Мраз и Снежанка, in case you are curious.

And then Christmas was restored, and children started receiving presents from Grandpa Christmas (Дядо Коледа). Somebody (a kindergarten teacher?) explained to my sister that Дядо Мраз had retired and Дядо Коледа had taken up his job. I still don't know whether to laugh or cry whenever I think of that.

And ouch, many people are now totally confused about our folk customs and traditions because they have no memory of which of them were originally associated with Christmas and which - with New Year! There is even a confusion about the respective holiday meals.

I think your family is doing that celebration thing right; trying to adhere to a set date only leads to unnecessary stress when you are all so... dynamic. :)

[strannik01]

What you said about Bulgarian Christmas/New Year traditions is pretty interesting. I never would've imagined that Bulgarian Communist government would try to impose Russian traditions on its people. I can see wanting to move away from a Santa Claus figure that had "Christmas" in his name, but to import Russian traditions more or less wholesale...

At least Bulgaria had those traditions for 40 years rather than almost 70. I would figure that this would mean less time for the Russian-style traditions to become part of Bulgarian culture... though, from what you said, I could be wrong.

And finally, my point wasn't that trying to adhere to one set date causes unnecessary stress, but that I'm not particularly attached to that date in particular.

(then again, it's not like we always celebrate Victory Day on May 9. I suppose necessity breeds flexibility)

[tilia_tomentosa]

Bulgaria actually spent 45 years under communist rule, but it seems that Christmas didn't get banned at once; even my mother (born in 1951) remembers how they celebrated people's "name days" on Рождество Христово in her chidlhood. Or maybe it was an under-the-radar or tacitly tolerated thing because I can't remember anybody really objecting to "name days" in my own childhood as long as they were celebrated in a secular way. That was the urban development

[strannik01]

The stuff about the Bulgarian culture and Soviet efforts to influence you is legitimately fascinating. Thank you very much for sharing.

I did understand your point, but I guess I replied from my point of view of wanting holidays as stress-free as possible. :) And to be honest, I just never really got used to Christmas; it still feels somehow "foreign" to me.

Just so long as we're on the same page about what each of us meant :)