Thread: Christmas in Russia

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 Doomer

Despite the fact that Canada has it
US has Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) it's similar to Boxing Day but it's not a day off

Actually, "Black Friday" (the day after Thanksgiving, which is always the 4th Thursday in November) is almost universally a school holiday in the US, so far as I know. And although it's not a federal holiday, some state and city governments close for Black Friday. The practical reason for closing is that so many people travel (sometimes long distances) to visit their families on Thanksgiving. So closing on Friday allows people more time to return home, and arguably reduces highway accidents from people driving late at night and half-drunk immediately after Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

Originally Posted by Doomer

BTW does anybody know why Thanksgiving in Canada is not the same day as in US?

Well, Thanksgiving has always symbolically been a "harvest holiday" that marks the ending of autumn and the arrival of winter. Since Canada is north of the US, their harvest comes earlier, so it makes sense that Canada would celebrate Thanksgiving before the US. (In Canada, it's the 2nd Monday in Oct -- thus almost a month-and-a-half earlier than in America.)

According to Wikipedia, US Thanksgiving as an "official holiday" began in 1963, when Lincoln proclaimed a day of thanks to improve the national morale during the Civil War. Originally, Thanksgiving was on 26 November, but later it was tied to the 4th Thursday, and not to a specific date.

On the other hand, Canadian Thanksgiving only began in 1957 -- apparently, Canada thought that US Thanksgiving was generally a good idea in practical terms (it's a quasi-religious holiday that is not linked with a specific faith; it helps the economy a bit by encouraging consumers to spend money on a big dinner and on travel; it provides an excuse for people to visit with the families).

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).

By the way, I generally agree with Hanna's point about the importance of preserving local traditions and resisting a homogeneous global culture that's disproportionately Americanized.

However, one alternative argument for Hanna to think about is that the beloved Christmas tree or ёлочка was a purely localized Bavarian custom until the time of Martin Luther's Reformation. Luther began encouraging German-speaking Protestants outside of the Bavaria region to put up Christmas trees as an alternative to the traditional crèche (aka "Nativity scene"). He considered the Nativity scenes to be "too Roman Catholic", and more generally, a possible temptation to idol-worship because human figurines were used.

But even after Luther, the Christmas tree did not become popular outside of Germany until Queen Victoria began putting up decorated trees in honor of Prince Albert's Bavarian origins. Of course, once the royal court started doing it, Christmas trees almost instantly became fashionable in British high society, both among the aristocracy and among wealthy commoners.

From there, the custom was adopted by royalty and aristocracy in other parts of Europe (including the Romanovs in Russia), and also by "blue-blooded" American millionaires of the Victorian age, who loved to imitate the British aristocracy. And eventually, the Christmas tree tradition spread downward through the middle classes in many Christian countries.

(And nowadays, in spite of the "anti-Papist" intentions of Martin Luther, Christmas trees are certainly universal among Roman Catholics in the Anglo-American world, while Nativity scenes are widely popular among Protestants -- including Lutherans!)

So, if you complain about Coca-Cola and McDonald's as "cultural imperialism", but you put up a ёлочка in your home, you're not being totally consistent from a historical point of view.

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. =)