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The problem is that over the 70 years of the Soviet regime the celebration of all the religious holidays including Christmas was strongly discouraged and most traditions related to it were lost. Maybe this is for the better because Christmas and Easter should be about Christ, and not about foods and drinks.

Anyway, people told you about the New Year already, and here are some Christmas-related things:
- Russian Orthodox church observes a 40-day lenten period before Christmas. Give up your animal food (meat, dairy) and entertainment.
- On the day before Christmas (сочельник) don't eat anything until the first star appears. Then you can have a lenten meal. The traditional dish is сочиво (a kind of cereal with poppyseed and raisins, here are some recipes http://pismena.ru/2004/st-rozhdestvo-sochivo.htm).
- Then go to church for Christmas service.

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mortimer-ford.livejournal.com

I think that I will not be going to Russia for Christmas.

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Don't worry, 95% of the people do not observe any of this. Christmas is mostly another pretext for making a lavish meal and having a state holiday (as far as I know, no one works from Jan.1 to Jan.10 or so).

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shimshoni.livejournal.com

If you want to celebrate Russian New Year - leave your Christmas Tree until December 31st, buy the cheapest Champagne and some red caviar, and start drinking and eating exactly at midnight December 31:) Don't forget about the Olivie salad - yep!
no kidding:)
Also you may find in the web the sound of the main Russian Kremlin Clocks (it's called Куранты) and listen to them at midnight. While the Kuranty bells at midnight twelve times - make a wish!:)

sorry, my English needs some help too))

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There is almost dead (at least here in Moscow) tradition of "колядование". As Wikipedia describes it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koleda): "...tradition of strolling, singing, and having fun on Christmas Eve, same in the Balkan Slavs. It specifically applies to children and teens who walk house to house greeting people, singing and sifting grain that denotes the best wishes and receiving candy and small money in return."

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shimshoni.livejournal.com

and don't forget about Russian Santa, Ded Moroz - he brings his presents not December, 25th, not January, 7th, but exactly 12am January 1st (it's in Russia called 24.00 o'clock December, 31:)

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Sadly the are no really popular special Christmas meals or traditions after 70 years of communist rule. Some people go to church, many others just have some kind of "another New Year dinner, but smaller" - but nothing really special.

However it's possible to find out some stuff about celebrations in the Czarist Russia by googling "рождество в дореволюционной России" if you're interested in the topic.

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alisa-igorevna.livejournal.com

Kolydovanie is not dead in Russia! Some children are going with Cristmas songs to neighbouring houses and asking candies and money :)

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alisa-igorevna.livejournal.com

russian Ded Moroz always coming with young girl called Snegurochka. Melanie, you can try to be Snegurochka in New Year :) Find your Ded Moroz, buy champagne, make "Olivie" salad (boiled potato, eggs, carrot, chicken, green peas, marinated cucumbers and mayonnase) and enjoy! :)

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alon_68

More correct, С Новым годом. The adjective must be in the same case as noun.

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alon_68

The Russian "Christmas" (better to say, "New Year") Tree usually stays far after December 31, at least till January 14 that corresponds to January 1 in the old "Julian" style calendar and has somehow odd name "Old New Year" in Russia :)

And some people tend to leave the New Year Tree even after this.

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alon_68

AFAIK, the state holidays are from New Year till Orthodox Christmas (January 1-7). The pretext is that most of people will not work anyway these days :)

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ah! Bless!.. Isn't it sad that so many of you have nothing to eat let alone cooking a real gourmet stuff. poor, poor post-soviet generation lol

or maybe lot of you should learn how to cook, innit? )

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It's nice that some people still continue this tradition :)

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It's not about absense of food or inadequate cooking skills :)
It's about lack of Christmas traditions in modern Russian society due to long period of anti-religious actions and propaganda, that's all.

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towarysc.livejournal.com

And what about the President's appeal to the nation? And you forgot about the petards or primitive fireworks blasting in the New Year night:)

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There was not any more necessity for anti-religious actions than for, to say, interdict walking naked in the streets of moscow in winter.
there's no a heck of a lot more of necessity for 'traditions' recovery today, i mean -what it's now - russians are just having that feudalism reanimated.

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shimshoni.livejournal.com

yep! totaly forgot! you are right!:)

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wondershot.livejournal.com

That sounds a little bit like Christmas caroling :)

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wondershot.livejournal.com

I think traditions are a little bit more than mere feudalism.

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xxblackxsatinxx.livejournal.com

My dictionary lied! Damn you Collins *Shakes fists at dictionary*

Thanks for the correction. :)

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it is Christmas Lent (рождественский пост), as opposed to the Great Lent (Великий пост)

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so what are they about?

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wondershot.livejournal.com

If you have to ask, you'll never know.

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i know. you claim, innit

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wordchick.livejournal.com

I live in Ukraine, which has its own branch of Orthodoxy. That said, many people here follow the Russian branch, and observe this supper (http://russian-crafts.com/customs/christmas.html) tradition.

I've also been told that Orthodoxy had a healthier existence in villages during Soviet times, because the authorities were less concerned/present, so you might find such customs still flourishing in more rural areas. I can't state that, but that's my guess.

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>>I live in Ukraine, which has its own branch of Orthodoxy.
Not exactly. Theologically, Russian Orthodoxy is no different from Ukrainian Orthodoxy (if you don't mean Uniates who are not Orthodox at all, they are Catholic).

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BTW the contents of the link you give are very strange; I don't believe it is written by someone who really knows what they are talking about.

It comes to us from Elizabeth Kontras, who celebrated the Feast of the Nativity in the traditional Russian way with her babishka (Grandmother) and zeddo (Grandfather) in Monessen, Pennsylvania until their passing in the 1970-1980's. The twelve foods are:

1) Mushroom soup with zaprashka; this is often replaced with Sauerkraut soup
2) Lenten bread ("pagach")
3) Grated garlic
4) Bowl of honey
5) Baked cod
6) Fresh Apricots, Oranges, Figs and Dates
(...)
10) Parsley Potatoes (boiled new potatoes with chopped parsley and margarine)

"zaprashka", "zeddo" are not even Russian words. Also, I find it extremely improbable that a traditional peasant dinner in Ukraine or Russia, in midwinter, no matter how festive, would include fresh (!) apricots, figs and dates. Ditto the new potatoes. And so on. This is only possible if you have modern supermarkets with fridges.

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wordchick.livejournal.com

Sorry, you're absolutely right. I wasn't paying close attention and assumed any differences in the makeup of the twelve dishes was due to cultural differences. Here is a more familiar list of dishes, which, though not necessarily Russian, sound tasty, realistic and could be used by the OP.
http://pages.prodigy.net/l.hodges/xmas.htm

As for Orthodoxy- do you mean that because the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox churches hold to the same beliefs, they can be considered the same within Greater Christianity? I don't understand the situation terribly well, but I know that the three groups within Ukraine differentiate between themselves. (Sorry if this is off-topic)

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Members of Orthodox churches can take the communion with each other if there is no theological difference between the churches. This is called евхаристическое общение (I could not find English term in a dictionary). I am not sure what three groups you are talking about (I know only two) but if the third one is Uniates, they are not Orthodox but Catholic.

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wordchick.livejournal.com

I think we call it 'full communion.' It's really interesting to see how distinct Orthodox churches are from each other. I had always thought that Orthodoxy functioned more like Roman Catholicism; if a church is not a member in good standing, it follows that they are not a part of the whole. I realize that the RC church does actually have full communion with the Eastern Catholic churches, but they are rarely mentioned.

The ones I am thinking of are the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of Moscow Patriarchate and Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. I know nothing about how they differ from each other, but I believe none of them is Catholic.

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