What date is the Old New Year celebrated: the history of the holiday. Why do we celebrate not only the New Year, but also the Old New Year? Why is there an old new year

Many of us, residents of Russia and countries in the post-Soviet space, dream of extending the charm of a winter weekend as long as possible. Therefore, in the vast majority of families, the Christmas tree is not removed until January 14, and on the eve of this date they set the table and arrange a celebration for themselves - quieter, calmer and very family-friendly. It has a strange name, and foreigners are ready to rack their brains trying to understand what kind of holiday the Old New Year is.

This day is not a public holiday, few people give gifts, the Christmas trees for children have already died down, but still among Russians and representatives of other nations of the former Soviet Union there is a belief that the real New Year begins on January 14th. Where did this holiday come from, what is it and why does it have such a strange name - we tried to collect answers to all these questions in this article.

History of the New Year holiday

The change of years has always been celebrated solemnly among all peoples. She was taken very seriously. The New Year was associated with mysterious natural forces, with successive cycles, with the normal and consistent functioning of people's lives. In the old days, every significant action had a sacred meaning: they got married, built a house, sowed and harvested grain at a certain time. Therefore, the New Year was tied to a certain period of existence.

During the times of paganism (polytheism) in Rus', the new year began with the spring solstice - March 22. This date has always been associated with the beginning of field work - plowing, after which grain was sown. Farmers considered it their duty to turn to the gods with a request for a harvest, a successful start to the season, and good weather.
With the advent of Christianity in Rus', the countdown of time gradually moved, according to the Byzantine calendar, to autumn. The celebration of the Indict - the so-called first day of the New Year - fell on September 14th. To this day, in Orthodox churches on this date, chants are sung glorifying the New Year. Here, on the contrary, fertility, the collection of gifts from the earth, and gratitude to God for them had an important symbolic meaning.
The first Russian Emperor Peter Alekseevich changed the entire way of life of the Russian people. He did not bypass the New Year celebration either. The sovereign moved the date to January 1st. Of course, at first such an innovation seemed wild to Russian people, but the command to have fun, congratulate each other, dance, decorate the tree and light the lights, and most importantly, not work and relax, gradually persuaded people to enjoy the holiday with pleasure. By the way, the tradition of decorating Christmas tree branches, adopted in Europe, was originally pagan. It has the same nature as dressing in carnival costumes - appeasing evil spirits or an attempt to deceive them and hide.

However, it must be said that the country, which until 1917 was almost completely Orthodox, could not celebrate the New Year during the Advent Fast. Amusement and entertainment on days of abstinence were not allowed, theaters practically did not work, there were no balls and parties, or public festivities. How were these facts related to each other?

The Old New Year itself and the history of this holiday are a unique phenomenon. This simply never happened in the world before and after the establishment of the celebration. And this event is connected with the opinion of the Russian Orthodox Church and the drastic restructuring of the country’s life along Soviet lines during the revolutionary years.

All disagreements in dates and calculation of days of the year are rooted in history and are caused by the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

Julian calendar

Named in honor of Emperor Julius Caesar, who decided to count days and years not according to the lunar calendar, which gave an error, but according to the solar one. According to him, it turned out that a year lasts 365 days.

This establishment of the Roman emperor was of great importance for the Christian Church. At the Ecumenical Councils - congresses of priests and bishops who adopted rules for believers, they talked about the importance of simultaneous chronology and strict adherence to the calendar in the celebration of church celebrations. Thus, at the First Ecumenical Council, the celebration of Easter was regulated, which falls on different days every year, is carefully calculated and depends on the spring lunar cycle.

Gregorian calendar

In the 16th century, Pope Gregory XIII ordered the calendar to be changed so that the spring equinox would be moved to March 21. Since the celebration of the Holy Resurrection of Christ is attached to it, sometimes the celebration was held before the Jewish Passover. For orthodox Eastern Christians, such freedom was a gross violation of the rules of the Ecumenical Councils. Therefore, half of the Christian world did not accept the Gregorian calendar and still does not accept it. But the entire Western world lives by it, celebrating, for example, Christmas not on January 7, like the Russian Orthodox Church, but on December 25, before the New Year.

The main difference between calendars is how they calculate leap years. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the Julian and Gregorian calendars differ by 13 days, but in less than a hundred years another day will be added. This is due to the fact that the Earth completes its annual revolution around the Sun in an imprecise number of days.

According to the Julian calendar, the calendar year goes ahead of the astronomical year. This leads to a gradual shift in important dates: for example, in more than a hundred years, Christmas will come on January 8.

Today, most experts note the accuracy of the Gregorian calendar. It doesn't need drastic edits or even changes. There are projects that require slight adjustments, but the principle of chronology itself has been decided to remain unchanged.

The essence of the Old New Year holiday

During the revolutionary times, the authorities ordered a transition from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar so that the dates coincided with those accepted throughout the world. However, the Church categorically disagreed with this, since its priority is the orders of the Holy Fathers. Thus, it turned out that the secular holiday of New Year moved to a position before Christmas. If the Russian Orthodox world had agreed with the authorities, the New Year would have been celebrated a week after the end of Lent on December 24.

What is Old New Year? This is the New Year according to the Julian calendar, which follows the Nativity of Christ. Almost all over the world, the Julian calendar has already been forgotten, but in our country an unofficial celebration is considered the day on which the new year began before the 1917 revolution.

Holiday charm

Russians love the Old New Year, although many find it difficult to explain how it differs from the usual one. However, the tradition of celebration in itself is good, and there are reasons for this:

People tired of New Year's fun, however, feel a pity to close the series of these lovely days with a Christmas tree, treats and gifts. I would like to do this somehow solemnly and, at the same time, in a family way. Therefore, many people gather with friends or family, at home or in some institution, and celebrate the beginning of the New Year according to the old style.
Any tradition is good, it unites the family and unites the nation. The Old New Year came to us from the distant pre-revolutionary years, and it’s great to remember it, if you want to, of course.
January 14th is traditionally still Christmastide - the cheerful days after Christmas. They are conducive to fun, fun, festivities and feasts.
On the Old New Year, you can do what you couldn’t do on the night of the New Year - be alone with your loved one, try to cook something original, go dancing or take a walk in the fresh air. Such small joys always unite people and give them a feeling of happiness and fulfillment in life.

There are many beautiful winter holidays in our country. We celebrate New Year twice. We fill the glasses with champagne again on the night of January 14, sit down at the festive table and take our time to clean up.

Historical phenomenon

New Year in Russia is one of the most interesting holidays from a historical point of view. Until the 15th century (1495), the new year began in March and was associated with the awakening of the earth from hibernation. In 1495, everything changed: the date of the new year moved to September 1.

Later, Peter the Great, who decided to keep up with Europe, ordered to celebrate the New Year on January 1. In December 1699 he issued an Edict requiring the meeting of 1700 to take place on 1 January rather than in September. The text of the Decree contained strict instructions: to decorate houses with spruce, juniper or pine branches, to fire rifles and muskets into the air at midnight, to light bonfires in the streets throughout the holiday week and to arrange fireworks on Red Square.

Alexei Tolstoy in the historical novel " Peter I"described the state of the common people and boyars, whose usual way of life was collapsing. It seemed to many that the trumpet of the Last Judgment would soon sound. Gradually everyone got used to the decorated fir trees and the hectic holiday, which began to be celebrated annually on January 1 according to the Julian calendar, i.e. according to the "old style". This calendar was introduced by the Emperor of Ancient Rome, Julius Caesar, using the solar year as a basis, rather than the astronomical one. In Russia Julian calendar came from Byzantium.

This was the case until the October Revolution of 1917. Most other countries have long lived according to Gregorian calendar . It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII on October 4, 1582 (XVI century) so that there were no discrepancies with astronomical data. The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars today is thirteen days.

In 1918, the Bolshevik government decided to switch to a single calendar throughout the world. V.I. Lenin issued a corresponding Decree on the transition to the Gregorian calendar. This eliminated confusion and difficulties in international relations: diplomacy, mail, train schedules, etc. The Russian Orthodox Church preserved the traditional calendar and continued to live according to the old calendar. She dated the holidays according to the old style, emphasizing her uniqueness.

Today, in some reference publications, the dates of birth and death of people, various events of pre-revolutionary Russia are given according to two calendars, i.e. according to the new and old style. This happened with the New Year, which begins on January 1 (14). On the Old New Year, Orthodox people do not have to deny themselves food and fun. According to the Julian calendar, it occurs after (January 7), i.e. after graduation from strict. According to the Gregorian calendar, Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.

Local Orthodox churches in some foreign countries (Jerusalem, Russian, Serbian, Georgian) also use the Julian calendar in our time. Some monasteries and parishes live according to the Julian calendar in those countries where the Gregorian calendar is adopted for church services (for example, Mount Athos in Greece). In addition, the Julian calendar is adopted in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and in the Russian Greek Catholic Church.

Vasiliev evening

On the night of January 13-14 it is celebrated Vasiliev evening , and January 14 - Vasiliev's day (Kolyada). You can read about this fun holiday, generous with food and drink, in the article.

Everyone likes the holiday: girls tell fortunes about their betrothed, and gardeners shake apple trees in their orchards for a good harvest.

This year we will again congratulate our family and friends not only on the New Year, but also on the Old New Year! Wish them happiness, love, health and joy! Giving gifts, sitting at the festive table late in the evening and raising a glass of champagne at midnight. It’s so good that there is a reason for this!

P.S.

With each century, the Gregorian and Julian calendars diverge more and more in time. The difference is accumulating, and by 2100 it will be not 13, but a full 14 days.

(function(w, d, n, s, t) ( w[n] = w[n] || ; w[n].push(function() ( Ya.Context.AdvManager.render(( blockId: "R-A -143469-1", renderTo: "yandex_rtb_R-A-143469-1", async: true )); )); t = d.getElementsByTagName("script"); s = d.createElement("script"); s .type = "text/javascript"; s.src = "//an.yandex.ru/system/context.js"; s.async = true; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); ))(this , this.document, "yandexContextAsyncCallbacks");

- an unofficial but beloved holiday among the people, which got its name due to the transition to the so-called “new style”.

The tradition of celebrating the Old New Year is associated with the divergence of two calendars: the Julian - the "old style" calendar and the Gregorian - the "new style" calendar. This discrepancy in the XX-XXI centuries is 13 days, so the New Year according to the old style is celebrated on the night of January 13-14.

Most countries in Western Europe switched to the Gregorian calendar in the 16th-18th centuries.

In Russia, a new calendar was adopted in 1918. By the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of January 24, 1918, “in order to establish in Russia the same calculation of time with almost all cultural peoples,” it was established that the first day after January 31 was February 14.

When switching to a new chronology, the start date of the New Year changed. January 1 according to the new style falls on December 19 according to the Julian calendar, and January 14 according to the new style falls on January 1 according to the Julian calendar.

Outside the window it is blowing and blowing, the frost is crackling, and from the outskirts of the village the cheerful songs of generous people are already heard. Very soon the Old New Year will come - another favorite winter holiday. It mixed history and folk traditions, cheerful songs and generous treats, amazing ancient customs and modern habits.

Few people uninitiated into the mystery of the Old New Year understand the meaning of this holiday. And its name causes confusion among foreigners.

But it turns out that the Old New Year, which we usually celebrate from January 13 to 14 in Russia, is not the only option for an unusual New Year’s celebration. Let's try to figure out why the Old New Year is celebrated on January 14, and what other dates exist for celebrating the New Year according to the old calendar.

New Year in old times

The New Year was not celebrated as such in old Rus'. People celebrated not the calendar transition to a new number of days in the year, but the arrival of a new time, the rebirth of nature.

Therefore, the celebration always took place at the beginning of spring, when they said goodbye to the old year and welcomed the new year. People said goodbye to winter and welcomed the Sun and spring. This holiday was more like a modern Maslenitsa.

Typically, the celebration among pagan tribes took place on March 22 - the Day of the Vernal Equinox.

Therefore, according to old customs, the New Year always fell at the end of March.

When people began to think about time, about the creation of the world, scientists were certain that our world began counting down from March 1, 5508 BC. e.

It was from this date that the calendar began. A calendar appeared according to which the year began on March 1, when the Old New Year was celebrated.

During the Constantinople era, the date of the creation of the world was recalculated when the New Year appeared in the old Byzantine style. Its celebration, like the beginning of the year, was postponed to September 1.

There will be more changes in the history of the Old New Year.

But at that time, the start date of the year was just a new number in the calendar, which never became a holiday.

From Peter's New Year to the birth of the Old New Year: what date was celebrated

The answer to when the Old New Year is celebrated will still have to be sought in historical events.

The holiday first appeared in Russia after the decree of Peter I, according to which the year 1700 was to be celebrated on January 1. In this way, the ruler tried to eliminate confusion in dates. From that time on, the date of celebration of the old New Year became the night from December 31 to January 1.

But the entire Russian state lived according to the old or Julian calendar.

It turns out that for more than 2 centuries, the old New Year fell on the 14th according to the new style.

The situation changed with the arrival of the Bolsheviks. Not only the system in the country has changed, but also the calendar.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced, according to which all of Europe lived at that time. The New Year was automatically moved to January 1 according to the new style.

But people were so accustomed to a series of winter holidays that for a long time they did not want to give up celebrating the usual old New Year, when it is celebrated 7 days after Christmas.

Thus, in fact, a New calendar holiday was born, corresponding to the new style, and the old New Year, which is celebrated according to the old canons, was preserved.

The attitude of contemporaries towards the Old New Year, the date of celebration

Many people associate the date of the celebration of the Old New Year, from what date it is celebrated, with the preservation of the old church calendar, corresponding to the Julian style. Indeed, many church holidays are celebrated according to the old calendar - the Christian Orthodox Church did not switch to new styles.

But as such, the New Year holiday is not on the church calendar either on January 1 or on the 14th. And on January 14, they celebrate not the Old New Year, but the Circumcision of the Lord, as well as the day of St. Basil the Great.

And on January 13, the Old New Year is absent from the church calendar. On this day it is customary to celebrate the day of St. Melania the Roman.

The New Year in the church is still celebrated on September 1, in honor of which a large service is held. On the occasion of the Civil New Year, on January 1, only a prayer service is held in the church.

Therefore, it is wrong to associate the celebration of the Old New Year with the church calendar features.

Rather, this holiday has been preserved as a folk tradition. Moreover, it is on January 13 that the Generous Evening falls, and on January 14, St. Basil, the patron saint of pig farmers, is celebrated.

These days fall on the Christmas holidays, filled with many interesting rituals, signs, and fortune telling. Definitely, these days the traditions of many holidays are mixed together.

But no one wants to give up another beloved holiday - the Old New Year.

Amazing fact. Since the chronology system is still not ideal, and the difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars changes annually, the gap between them on March 1, 2100 will increase by exactly one day.

Therefore, the Old New Year holiday in 2101 will be celebrated from January 14 to 15, if this folk tradition continues by this time.

Considering that scientists call the modern civil chronology, corresponding to the Gregorian calendar, inaccurate, perhaps the calendar will be changed.

And it is not known how in 100-200 years the New Year will be celebrated, and on what date the Old New Year will be celebrated.

In Romania, the Old New Year is celebrated more often in a narrow circle of family, less often with friends. Old New Year is also celebrated in northeastern Switzerland in some German-speaking cantons. Residents of the canton of Appenzell in the 16th century did not accept the reform of Pope Gregory XIII and still celebrate the holiday on the night of January 13-14. On January 13, they celebrate the old day of St. Sylvester, who, according to legend, captured a terrible monster in 314. It was believed that in the year 1000 a monster would break free and destroy the world, but this did not happen. Since then, on New Year's Day, Swiss residents dress up in masquerade costumes, put fancy structures on their heads that resemble dolls' houses or botanical gardens, and call themselves Sylvester Claus.

In addition, Old Style New Year is celebrated in the small Welsh community in Wales in the west of Great Britain. On January 13th they celebrate "Hen Galan".

In the United Kingdom, the Gregorian calendar has been in use since 1752, but there is a small community of Welsh farmers centered on a village called the Vale of Guane.

The reason why the Guane Valley and its surrounding farms fell behind the times is now unknown. Some say that it was the will of a local feudal lord who was opposed to the Catholic Church. Others believe that it was the will of the entire community, which decided to defend its traditional way of life.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources