Old New Year
The Old New Year (Russian: Старый Новый год), (Ukrainian: Старий Новий рік) or the Orthodox New Year ([Православна нова година or Pravoslavna nova godina] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is an informal traditional Slavic Orthodox holiday celebrated as the start of the New Year by the Julian calendar. In the 20th and 21st centuries the Old New Year falls on January 13/14.
In Russia
Although Soviet Russia officially adopted the Gregorian calendar back in 1918, the Russian Orthodox Church continued using the Julian calendar. The New Year became the only holiday which is celebrated by both calendars.
As in most countries that use the Gregorian calendar, the New Year's Day in Russia is a public holiday and is celebrated on January 1. On that day, joyous entertainment, fireworks, elaborate and often large meals, and other festivities are common.
The holiday is interesting for combining circular traditions of meeting the New Year with the Christian Orthodox Christmastide customs, such as fortune-telling and kolyadki (carol-singing). Divination is special on the Old New Year’s Eve.
The New Year by the Julian calendar is still informally observed and the tradition of celebrating the coming of the New Year twice is widely enjoyed.
Usually not as festive as the "New New Year", for many this is a nostalgic family holiday ending the New Year holiday cycle.
Other countries
The tradition of the Old New Year has been kept in Ukraine (Malanka), Belarus, and the former Yugoslav Republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia; as the Serbian Orthodox Church and Macedonian Orthodox Church continues to celebrate its feasts and holidays according to the Julian calendar. In the first half of the 20th century, segments of the Scottish Gaelic community still observed the feast[1] and today groups such as Edinburgh's Am Bothan see this as a convenient date for Gaelic events.
In art
The Old New Year tradition has received mention in Russian art. The playwright Mikhail Roshchin in 1973 wrote a comedy drama called The Old New Year which was on stage in the theaters for many years. He also made it a screenplay for the TV-film which was played by famous actors and featured music by Sergey Nikitin with the poetry lyrics by Boris Pasternak. The film was released by Mosfilm studios in 1980.
References
- ^ The Last Pibroch, Jaunty Jock and the Ayrshire Idylls by Neil Munro, stated in the glossary