Thread: Christmas in Russia

Originally Posted by Hanna

Sorry, I meant to ask about 25 December, of course!
But the discussion about boxing day that resulted from my mistake was interesting. I would never have guessed that Boxing Day is not a holiday in the USA!


Nice to hear that both Christmases are acknowledged in Belarus!

Personally I don't like the harmonization of holidays and traditions across the world.
For example "Halloween" is celebrated a bit in the UK, despite it being an American holiday through and through, and a totally ungodly one at that. Even in Sweden, some Halloween costumes were on sale.
In many parts of Asia they celebrate Christmas despite the fact that very few people are Christian and they have very little idea about what Christmas represent. But that does not stop them from playing non-stop Christmas music in the shops, decorating the entire town with Christmas light shows and giving people Christmas gifts.
I like the old holidays that we celebrate in Scandinavia, Like Midsummer, Walpurgis and St Lucia. I really hope that they won't disappear in favour of something commercialized.

It's much more interesting when each country sticks to it's own traditions which mean something to people there.

Hanna, you know I respect the heck out of you.

That said, Halloween is a Gaelic harvest festival (viz Wiki). It has its roots in Gaelic countries... not America. Back when this day was considered serious (instead of the tongue-in-cheek thing it is now), there had only been a handful of Gaelic-blooded people to have ever been to America! We picked it up against the grain as it was not wholeheartedly supported by any major religion. Yet it survived in our culture, strangely enough..

Is it so strange that England, attached to a Gaelic country on one end, and just over the water from another, should celebrate this Gaelic holiday?

Holidays that are native to America would have to come from the First Nations peoples, and for the most part, no one's ever heard of them beyond the tribes: Powamu, Midwinter Ceremony, Green Corn Dance,etc...

We like Halloween here, but only as a novelty, and like most everything else here's it's imported. =)

For example "Halloween" is celebrated a bit in the UK, despite it being an American holiday

It's a British holiday. Originally Irish.

Originally Posted by Marcus

[Halloween is] a British holiday. Originally Irish.

Not only Irish, but more specifically Irish Catholics -- it's the day before "All Saint's Day", a Catholic religious festival on 1 Nov.

I've heard some Russians object to Хэловин (or however you want to spell it) not so much because it is connected with пиндосы ("f*cking Yanks"), but because it is linked to the church calendar of римский католицизм, and so it's considered improper for "Eastern Orthodox" Christians.

One thing I just learned from Wikipedia -- Eastern Orthodox Christianity has its own "All Saint's Day," but theirs is connected with Pentecost (Пятидесятница), and therefore it's a spring festival rather than an autumn one.

P.S. I'm sure most Russians who study English already know this, but the etymology of "Halloween" means накануне Святых, or in full, накануне Дня свех святых. "Hallow" = "hallowed" = "holy" = святой; and "e'en" = "evening" = канун (or вечер).