New Year's holidays (January 1st)
New Year - a holiday celebrated by many peoples in accordance with the adopted calendar, which occurs at the time of transition from last day year on the first day of the next year. The custom of celebrating the New Year already existed in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC.
The beginning of the year from January 1 was established by the Roman ruler Julius Caesar in 46 BC. e. IN Ancient Rome this day was dedicated to Janus - the god of choice, doors and all beginnings. The month of January got its name in honor of the god Janus, who was depicted with two faces: one looking forward and the other backward.
Holiday history
One of calendar holidays... Until the 15th century (possibly also before the adoption of Christianity) in Russia, the new year came on March 1 according to the Julian calendar or on the vernal equinox. As evidence of this, the original names of some months have been preserved: October lat. octo - eighth, November lat. novem - ninth, December lat. decem is the tenth.
From the 15th century, the new year began on September 1, information about the celebration of the New Year appears from the end of the 15th century. "Parisian Dictionary of Muscovites" (XVI century) preserved russian name New Years Eve: First day of the year.
Since 1700, according to the decree of Peter I, the New Year in Russia is celebrated, as in other European countries, on January 1 (according to the Julian calendar).
Since 1919, the New Year's holiday in Russia has been celebrated in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. From 1930 to 1947, January 1 in the USSR was an ordinary working day. On December 23, 1947, by a decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces, January 1 became a holiday and a day off. According to the law of September 25, 1992 in the Russian Federation, January 2 became a day off. Since 2005, New Year holidays have been established in Russia from January 1 to 5, and these days have been declared non-working days (before that, non-working days were only January 1 and 2), and taking into account weekends and Christmas - an official holiday - rest with a five-day working week lasts at least eight days (in practice, starting from 2005 new year - up to 10 days, including non-working days until January 1 and transfer of holidays).
Since 2012, non-working holidays are days until January 8, and weekends falling for this period (in 2012 - January 5 and 6) will be carried over to May holidays (each year - on different days).
Christmas tree
New Year's Eve is very significant holiday... And it is accompanied by a variety of variety events, feasts, festivities. According to tradition, the house is installed christmas tree... In many countries, it is placed at Christmas and is called the Christmas tree. A similar tradition existed in Russia for a long time, but in 1916, during the First World War, the tree was banned by the Holy Synod as a "German custom" and was again allowed by a special decree of the Komsomol before the new year 1936, but already as a New Year tree.
New Year's table
When celebrating the New Year, relatives gather at the table.
In the version of the New Year celebration, the audience first "see off" the year - they remember what it was remembered for or what it was. At 0 o'clock 0 minutes, on January 1, the chimes strike. With the first strike of the chimes, marking the arrival of the new year, it is customary to clink glasses of champagne and make a wish.
An auto-generated image based on Google search results for the holiday name.
Image source: https://images.google.ru/ (electronic resource)
Today we will tell what 3 parental Saturdays will Orthodox believers have during Lent... All of them are held in March 2020.
There are twelve parenting days in total throughout the year. Ten of them are church-wide commemorations of dead Christians, and two more are memorial days celebrated "unofficially" in the folk tradition.
Most parenting days are held on Saturday and depend on the date of Easter.
Three church-wide parental Saturdays (out of ten) are held on time. The strictest fast of the year begins on March 2, lasts 48 days and ends on Saturday, April 18, 2020.
On the first Saturday of Great Lent (March 7, 2020), the day of remembrance of the dead is not appointed. Parental Saturdays are held in the second, third and fourth week, with the reading of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. This will accordingly 14, 21 and 28 March 2020.
I.e, parenting days in March 2020 there will be the following:
* March 14, 2020 (Saturday) - Commemoration of the dead on the 2nd week of Great Lent.
* March 21, 2020 (Saturday) - Commemoration of the dead on the 3rd week of Great Lent.
* March 28, 2020 (Saturday) - Commemoration of the dead on the 4th week of Great Lent.
Further, there are no parental Saturdays for April 4, 2020, April 11, 2020 and April 18, 2020. And the next parental day - Radonitsa, will be after Easter, after 9 days, on Tuesday 28 April 2020.
When and where will the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 be held:
In 2020 regular (65th anniversary) song contest Eurovision 2020 will be held in the Netherlands (Holland).
Selected as a venue for the show multifunctional arena "Rotterdam Ahoy" with a capacity of more than 16 thousand spectators, located in Rotterdam, the second largest city in the country after the capital city of Amsterdam.
The format of the event includes two semi-finals and one final, which are traditionally held on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of the second full week of May.
In 2020, the dates for the semi-finals and the final of Eurovision will be as follows:
* 1st semi-final - May 12, 2020 (BT).
* 2nd semi-final - May 14, 2020 (TH)
* Final - May 16, 2020 (Sat).
Who will represent Russia at Eurovision 2020:
The musical group that will travel from Russia to Eurovision 2020 was named on March 2, 2020 in live Channel One, in the final plot of the Vremya news program.Will represent our country at Eurovision in 2020 group "Little Big" (literal translation into Russian - "Little Big").
The musical style of the group is quite unusual. The musicians themselves call themselves "satirical art collaboration" (a satirical art project), which combines music, images and spectacle. After watching several clips of the collective, there is confidence that the guys will definitely conquer the European podium of popular music. Or, at the very least, they will make an unforgettable impression on the prim Western public.
The current lineup of "Little Big":
- Ilya "Ilyich" Prusikin.
- Sergey "Gokk" Makarov.
- Sofya Tayurskaya.
- Anton Lissov.
That is, when will be, where will Eurovision 2020, who will go from Russia:
* Dates - May 12, 14 and 16, 2020
* Location - Netherlands, Rotterdam.
* Representative from Russia - "Little Big".
The first day of the new year was not always a day off. For the first time in many years, citizens of the Soviet Union did not have to go to work 66 years ago.
The portal invites its readers to take a short excursion into history.
After the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks in Russia sought to eradicate the old traditions and holidays. Christmas and New Years also fell under the hand. Although even the proletariat is accustomed to the good tradition of resting on these days: tsarist Russia January 1 was established as a non-working day by the law of June 2, 1897. The law regulated the duration of working hours in the establishments of the factory and plant, as well as in the mining industry.
From 1918 to 1935, New Year was not an official public holiday, but most families traditionally celebrated it alongside Christmas. In a word, in the first decades of the existence of the Soviet Union, the holiday was considered a family one. There were no Christmas bazaars, so live trees were rarely and “unofficially” erected.
Children were asked to learn, for example, the following verses:
“We will not allow
A young tree
We will not let the forest be destroyed
Cutting out is useless.
Only the one who is the friend of the priests,
The Christmas tree is ready to celebrate!
You and I are enemies of priests,
We don't need Christmas. "
Nevertheless, many generations of Soviet children almost from the cradle heard stories about how Lenin and the children had fun at the Christmas tree in Sokolniki.
“It was not far to get the tree. Right there, in Sokolniki, they chose a better tree, curlier, cut it down and brought it to the forestry school. The guys saw how they nailed the tree to two cross-cut planks so that it stood firmly on the floor. Then the fitter Volodya ran a wire to illuminate the tree and hung electric bulbs from the branches.
The next day, almost from the very morning, they began to wait for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. It was still light in the yard, and the guys kept asking the school manager:
- What if Lenin does not come?
- And if there is a snowstorm again, will Lenin come all the same or not?
The manager was an old Petrograd worker. He knew Lenin even before the revolution. That's why they asked him exactly. And he answered confidently:
"Since Ilyich said that he would come, then he would come."
For the first time, the New Year was officially celebrated only in the mid-1930s, after an article by a prominent Soviet figure Pavel Postyshev in the Pravda newspaper. Glass balls with portraits of Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Engels, balloons with portraits of Politburo members and cardboard circles with images of the leaders of the world proletariat even appeared on sale. But at the same time, on January 1, people regularly went to work: no one announced a day off. 
For the first time, January 1 became a day off and a public holiday in 1948. This happened due to the appearance of the corresponding decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 23, 1947. 
Modern traditions of celebrating the New Year began to appear in the first post-war years. Christmas decorations at first they were very modest - made of paper, cotton wool, later - made of glass, reminiscent of those on Christmas trees of pre-revolutionary times. It is now sold mainly balls and bells. 
In Soviet times, the assortment was much more diverse: decorations in the form of cucumbers, tomatoes, animals, astronauts. And also serpentine, silver "rain", glass beads, etc. 
In post-Soviet times, the Russian brothers gradually began to adopt the Western experience of Christmas and New Year holidays. First, by the Law of the Russian Federation of September 25, 1992, January 2 was also set as a day off. And the New Year's holidays lasting five days, from January 1 to 5, have been established since 2005. In 2013, Russian legislation was amended to add to new year holidays January 6, 7 and 8, making them eight days old.
Belarus is still holding on, winter "holidays" is not introduced. However, in 2014, residents of the country have a rest on January 2. They can also arrange a mini-Christmas vacation for themselves. But for long holidays you will have to pay on working Saturdays. The government adopted: from Thursday, January 2 to Saturday, January 4 and from Monday, January 6 to Saturday, January 11 "in order to determine the optimal mode of operation of the country's organizations."
However, a number of industrial enterprises, especially those that are economically "tied" to Russia, rest at least from 1 to 7 January. Who should sell products and why work when warehouses are already packed? In a word, there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped.
Alexander Nesterov
The first official normative document in the history of Russia that fully regulates labor relations was the Code of Labor Laws, adopted by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on December 10, 1918. The Code contained an Appendix to Art. 104 "Rules for weekly rest and holidays". In clause 7 of this Appendix, non-working holidays established in memory of historical and social events were listed:
January 1 - New Year;
January 22 - January 9, 1905;
March 12 - the overthrow of the autocracy;
March 19 - the day of the Paris Commune;
May 1 - International Day;
November 7 is the day of the Proletarian Revolution.
Local councils of trade unions, with the consent of the People's Commissariat of Labor, could establish, in addition to the above, special days of rest (no more than 10 per year). These days were supposed to be coordinated with the holidays adopted in a given area, as a rule, religious. Their introduction had to be reported to the population by publication. But at the same time, such additional days of rest were not paid.
A similar list of non-working holidays was contained in Art. 111 of the Labor Code of 1922, Art. 112 of the Labor Code of 1922 also contained a norm on the establishment by labor departments, by agreement with the provincial councils of trade unions, special holidays of rest (no more than ten a year), corresponding to local conditions, the composition of the population, national holidays, etc. At the same time, such additional days of rest also began to be paid. On the eve of holidays and rest days, the length of the working day was reduced to six hours, and pre-holiday days were paid as full time.
The number of additional rest days has gradually decreased. Since 1925, eight have left, since 1927 - seven, since 1928 - six. At the same time, the Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated 07/30/1928 "On amendments to Articles 111 and 112 of the Labor Code of the RSFSR" added another non-working day to May Day - May 2. Thus, two whole days were allocated for the celebration of the International Day.
Day 1 January remained in the USSR non-working and holiday until 1929. The situation changed with the adoption of the Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated 09.24.1929 "On working hours and time of rest in enterprises and institutions switching to a continuous production week", in which the concept of "holidays" was replaced by "revolutionary days" when work was prohibited. These included:
January 22 - the day of memory on January 9, 1905 and the memory of V.I. Lenin;
May 1 and 2 are the days of the International;
November 7 and 8 are the days of the anniversary of the October Revolution.
As for the New Year, on this day it was supposed to work on a general basis. January 1 remained a normal working day in the USSR until 1947 inclusive.
In 1945, Victory Day was added to the general public holidays - May 9. However, by 1948 he lost the status of a non-worker, although it was considered a holiday in connection with the entry into force of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 12/23/1947.
Thanks to this Decree, January 1 again became a New Year's holiday. Victory Day remained a labor day until 1965, when L.I. Brezhnev in honor of the 20th anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War signed a decree recognizing May 9 as a non-working holiday.
In the mid-1960s. The May Day holiday was renamed: International Day (May 1 and 2) was renamed International Workers' Day.
Since 1966, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 8, 1965, International Women's Day has become a holiday and a non-working day.
According to Art. 65 of the Labor Code of the RSFSR of 1971, the following non-working holidays were established:
January 1 - New Year;
March 8 - International Women's Day;
May 1 and 2 - International Workers' Day;
May 9 - Victory Day;
November 7 and 8 - the anniversary of the Great October socialist revolution;
December 5 - Day of the Constitution of the USSR (from 1978 postponed to October 7 in connection with the adoption of the new Constitution of 1977).
In this composition, the holidays were preserved until the death of the USSR and even barely survived it.
Sources:
1. Code of Labor Laws of 1918 (adopted by the Central Executive Committee) // SPS ConsultantPlus.
2. Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of 09.11.1922 “On the introduction of the Code of Labor Laws of the RSF.S.R. ed. 1922 g. " (together with the "Code of Laws on the Labor of R.S.F.S.R. "). // SPS ConsultantPlus.
3. Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of 05/05/1925 “On changing Art. 112 of the Labor Code ”. // SPS ConsultantPlus.
4. Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated December 27, 1927 "On amendments to Articles 111 and 112 of the Code of Laws about the Labor of R.S.F.S.R. ". // SPS ConsultantPlus.
5. Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR dated 04/23/1928 "On holidays, dedicated to the day International, and about special days of rest ”. // SPS ConsultantPlus.
6. Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated 07/30/1928 "On amendments to Articles 111 and 112 of the Code of Laws about the Labor of R.S.F.S.R. ". // SPS ConsultantPlus.
7. Law of the RSFSR dated 09.12.1971 "On Approval of the Code of Labor Laws of the RSFSR" (together with the Code). // SPS ConsultantPlus.
8. Roshchupkina E. New Years and the May holidays: a story to be continued. // Kadrovik.ru - 2012, No. 7.
Holidays often seem to be something unshakable - it seems as if our parents, grandparents and more distant ancestors always celebrated the New Year in about the same and at the same time as today. Elderly people, on the other hand, are confident that winter holidays "correctly" were celebrated in their times, but now they are "spoiled." However, in reality, everything is not so simple. The holiday schedule changes constantly - not only over the centuries, but also over the course of a generation.
So, 15 years ago, Russians would have been very surprised if they had learned that we did not go to work for almost a week after the New Year. 70 years ago, they would not have believed that even January 1 could be a non-working day. And 120 years ago, they would ask why they should take the New Year so seriously if there is Christmas, and how rest during the holidays can be prescribed by labor law, and not by church traditions.
We remembered how and when the New Year was celebrated throughout the history of our country, whether it was always and for everyone, it was a time of rest, and also asked if any changes in the "winter holidays" schedule await us in the near future.
Information about the calendar of the ancient Slavs is rather contradictory. According to some sources, the beginning of the year was considered winter solstice (December 21-22 according to the current calendar), according to others - the spring equinox (March 20). Most likely, the calendars were different in different Slavic tribes and localities. After Russia adopted Christianity at the end of the 10th century, the Julian calendar was officially used, the time in which was kept "from the creation of the world" (it was believed that this event took place in 5508 BC).
It was assumed that the world was created on March 1, respectively, this date was considered the day of the beginning of the next year. But in 1492 the king Ivan III approved the decision of the Moscow Cathedral to postpone the New Year for September 1. This decision was made to comply with Byzantine traditions. In Byzantium, the beginning of the year was counted from September 1, since it was on this day in 312 that the first Christian emperor of Rome Konstantin defeated his rival, the last pagan emperor of Rome Maxentia.
In 1699 (that is, in 7208 "from the creation of the world"), the future emperor, and at that time still the king Peter Iissued a decree "On writing henceforth January 1, 1700 in all papers of the summer from the birth of Christ, and not from the creation of the world." Thanks to this, the Russian kingdom became closer to the Western countries, where such chronology was used since the 8th century. At the same time, Peter I did not introduce the Gregorian calendar, which has been used in Catholic countries since 1582. The Russian kingdom and then the Russian Empire continued to use the Julian calendar until the 20th century. Therefore, in Russia the dates were 14 days behind the western ones.
It was believed that Jesus Christ was born on December 25, and the chronology was conducted "from his Christmas" - which means that the New Year should be celebrated on this day. But for convenience, it was customary to count the beginning of the year from the nearest flat date, January 1. On the initiative of Peter I, on this day in 1700, the New Year was celebrated on a national scale. Shortly after the publication of the above-mentioned decree on the change of chronology, the king issued an additional decree dedicated to the celebrations in honor of this event. On January 1, on Red Square in Moscow, mass festivities with fireworks ("fiery fun") were organized. The inhabitants of the capital were ordered on this day "before the gates to make some decorations from trees and branches of pine, spruce and juniper", as well as "from small cannons, if anyone has, and from several muskets, or other small rifle, to fire three times and release several missiles. "
However, later in Russia, as in other Christian countries, Christmas began to be considered a more important holiday. In pre-revolutionary Russia, this holiday was celebrated on December 25 according to the Julian calendar, that is, five days before the New Year. Thus, New Year's celebrations were perceived only as an addition to the Christmas ones. The same thing happened in Catholic countries, where Christmas was celebrated (and is still celebrated today) on December 25, according to the Gregorian calendar.
Ultimately, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe birth of Jesus Christ merged in the minds of Russian people with archaic ideas about the birth of a young deity, symbolizing the onset of a new annual cycle. Many slavic traditions survived, becoming part of Christmastide - the period from Orthodox Christmas (December 25 according to the Julian calendar, January 7 according to the current Gregorian calendar) to the Baptism of the Lord (January 6 according to the Julian calendar, January 19 according to the Gregorian calendar). During this period, people were engaged in fortune telling, dancing, wore fancy dresses... In many ways, this tradition is still alive.
As for non-working hours and New Year's holidays, in pre-revolutionary times it was still impossible to talk about labor law in our usual version. Most of the population of Russia was made up of peasants who were not hired workers. The landowners were interested in the results of their labor, not working time. Winter was a natural period of rest for the peasants, so they did not have any difficulties with the celebration of Christmas and Christmas festivities - especially considering that the church tradition directly prohibits work on Christian holidays.
The same applies to nobles, burghers, merchants, artisans: they cannot be discussed in terms of labor law, the relationship between employers and employees of those times is easier to describe in categories military service (state and noble officials) or patriarchal family (nobles and servants, artisans and students).
The factory workers of the 19th century more or less approached the pattern of labor relations that we understand. It was during the settlement of relations between workers and factory owners that labor law... However, it was too early to talk about guaranteed New Year or any other holidays. Even the length of the working day was not legally limited until 1897. Typically, workers worked 14-16 hours a day from Monday to Saturday. In theory, the factory owner could decide for himself whether to let them rest during the holidays. However, Christian traditions in the country were quite strong, so holidays on Christmas were usually allowed.
In 1897, the working day was limited to 11.5 hours for men (10 hours on Saturday), and for women and children - 10 hours on all working days, from Monday to Saturday (Law of June 2, 1897 "On the duration and distribution of the worker time in the establishments of the factory industry "). As for the holidays, the same law prohibited work on Sunday, Christmas, New Year and other "solemn holidays" (of which there were 14 a year). Moreover, on Christmas Eve the work had to be finished before noon. True, male workers could, by special agreement, work overtime, including on holidays, and many factory owners actively used this.
Almost immediately after the October Revolution, Russia switched to the Gregorian calendar. January 26, 1918 Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR Vladimir Lenin signed a decree "On the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic." According to the document, the next day after January 31, 1918, it was prescribed to count not February 1, but February 14. Russian orthodox Church did not recognize this decision and uses the Julian calendar to this day. therefore orthodox Christmas (December 25, Julian) began to be celebrated on January 7. However, the authorities were no longer worried about this: after the revolution, the separation of the church from the state was announced.
As a result, great difficulties arose with the winter holidays. Celebrating Christmas now ran counter to official atheist ideology. As for the New Year, after the change of the calendar, it began to fall on the Nativity Fast. As you know, during the period of fasting, Christians must observe moderation in everything, that is, there can be no talk of any festivities. This created the preconditions for a clear division of society into two camps: someone continued to observe Christian traditions, celebrated Christmas and did not pay attention to the New Year - and someone adopted a new ideology, began to celebrate the New Year and did not notice Christmas. Particularly stubborn supporters of the Julian calendar continued to celebrate the so-called "old New Year", coming on January 14 in the Gregorian style. This tradition has taken root and has survived to this day - many Russians follow it, even those who have no idea about calendar reform.
It is worth noting that the Soviet government was also far from reconciled with the New Year. Initially, all the traditions of the winter holidays (for example, decorating a Christmas tree) were attributed to Christmas. They were actively fought against as having a religious origin. Relevant slogans and poems were distributed in the media and on posters. Here is one typical example:
Christmas is coming soon -
Ugly bourgeois holiday,
Connected from time immemorial
With him is an ugly custom:
The capitalist will come to the forest
Sluggish, faithful to prejudice,
He will cut down the Christmas tree with an ax,
Letting go of a cruel joke.
However, the traditions of a huge country cannot be broken in a short time. Especially when you consider that the Bolsheviks at that time had to solve much more important tasks than the formation of ideology in relation to the winter holidays. Inevitably, confusion arose, and in many localities, Christmas continued to be celebrated quite officially. Vladimir Lenin himself sometimes visited Christmas trees for children, which, due to a misunderstanding, was reflected in the official chronicles. When the new government began to form labor legislation.Christmas as one of the popular folk holidays, was even declared a non-working day (Resolution of the Plenary Meeting of the Council of Trade Unions of January 2, 1919). However, already in 1929 this decision was canceled, and the celebration of Christmas was banned.
The official "rehabilitation" of the tradition of winter holidays took place in 1935. In the issue of December 28, the Pravda newspaper published a detailed letter from the First Secretary of the Kiev Regional Committee of the CPSU (b) Pavel Postyshevadedicated to justifying this tradition. Postyshev wrote: "In pre-revolutionary times, the bourgeoisie and bourgeois officials always arranged a Christmas tree for their children for the New Year. The children of workers looked with envy through the window at the Christmas tree sparkling with colored lights and the rich children who were having fun around it. Why do we have schools, orphanages, nurseries, nurseries. Do clubs and palaces of pioneers deprive the children of the working people of the Soviet country of this wonderful pleasure? " As a result, the 1936 meeting was organized centrally throughout the country, and the coming of the next, 1937, was celebrated with great pomp. In Moscow, two "main" Christmas trees were installed in Gorky Park and on Manezhnaya Square, in the House of Unions a Carnival Ball was held for excellent students. In 1939, the famous story was published Arkady Gaidar "Chuk and Gek", ending with a joyful celebration of the New Year.
So the New Year became an official Soviet holiday. Of course, no one remembered about Christmas at the state level anymore. Old propaganda stories and pictures about Lenin on the Christmas tree were firmly associated with the New Year and only with him. Little by little, the holiday was overgrown with Soviet paraphernalia: the Christmas tree was decorated with a red star combined with toys in the form of pioneers, tractor drivers and the "queen of the fields" of corn. On new Year's parties children were told about the greatness of the USSR.
However, at the same time such archaic pagan characters as Santa Claus and Snow Maiden gained wide fame. In contrast to the image of Jesus Christ, pagan myths were considered dead and therefore harmless for atheistic ideology. In 1953, at a Christmas tree in the House of Unions, Father Frost and the Snow Maiden sang:
We will stand in a friendly circle by the tree
And we'll sing with the whole country:
"Glory to our great Stalin!
Hail, our dear Stalin! "
It should be noted that the first attempts to create the image of Santa Claus, bringing gifts to children for the winter holidays, were made back in the 19th century. Russians familiar with Western traditions tried to invent a character similar to Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) or "Christmas grandfather." However, this tradition took root badly: the pagan spirit of winter and cold, Frost was still primarily an evil character. And only in the Soviet years did the good Santa Claus become a generally recognized symbol of the New Year.
December 31 and January 1 remained regular working days for a long time. The New Year was considered primarily a children's holiday, so the authorities saw no point in releasing adults from work. Only on December 23, 1947, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On declaring January 1 a non-working day" was issued. It is curious that by the same decree, Victory Day on May 9 (considered a day off since 1945) was declared a working day. Some historians argue that in this way Joseph Stalin tried to belittle the importance of the Victory and "put in place" the veterans who, thanks to their life experience, could pose a serious danger to the authorities. One way or another, May 9 was again declared a day off only in 1965, when the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU was held Leonid Brezhnev (Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of April 25, 1965).
At the same time, January 1 in 1965 remained a non-working day. Over the past years, the attitude towards the New Year has changed: now it was not so much a time for matinees and Christmas trees for children's groups, but a family celebration. It was then that the late Soviet New Year traditions began to take shape, familiar to most modern Russians: champagne, salad "Olivier", the song "A Christmas tree was born in the forest" (written by the poetess Raisa Kudasheva and composer Leonid Beckman 1903-1905), the film "The Irony of Fate" (1975), postcards with Santa Claus and fabulous animals. Unlike May 1, May 9 and November 7, the New Year was little politicized. Although, of course, some attempts were made to link the national holiday with the state ideology. In particular, since 1941, radio messages from representatives of the supreme power to the people have been occasionally sounded, and in 1971, Leonid Brezhnev introduced the tradition of New Year's television addresses by the head of state, which is still alive today.
In general, the authorities did not try to change family character holiday. Soviet New Year films, as a rule, were devoted to love, friendship, informal industrial relations, and other topics important for private life, not for the state. The holiday remained childish in the sense that even adults were allowed at this time to be children, fool around, play snowballs, make a snowman, look not at "great accomplishments", but at "bourgeois" concerns like festive table and gifts. It turns out that in the middle of the 20th century, adult citizens of the USSR did not "take away" the holiday from their children, but joined it.
From 1947 until the collapse of the USSR in 1991, January 1st was invariably a day off. In 1993, January 2 was also declared a day off (Law of the RSFSR of September 25, 1992 ""). At the same time, January 7 became a day off. Despite the fact that December 12, 1993 was adopted, which consolidated the secular nature of the state, the new Russian government recognized Christmas as an official holiday. Thus, she paid tribute to the fashion for the revival of Christian traditions, and also showed solidarity with Western countries, where Christmas was still considered a more important holiday than New Year. It is curious that at the same time it retained its festive status on November 7 (which continued to be called the Day of the Great October Socialist Revolution). While reviving pre-revolutionary traditions, the authorities have not yet dared to abandon communist traditions.
The same normative act fixed the transfer of holidays: now, if the holiday fell on a Saturday or Sunday, the next Monday was considered a non-working day. Thanks to this, the Russians were no longer upset if the holiday coincided with the weekend: the number of non-working days was still increasing compared to the usual week.
In the 1980s and 1990s, New Year traditions of foreign countries began to penetrate into Russia. First, the whole country became famous for the American Santa Claus in a harness with reindeer, appearing from the fireplace to the sound of the song Jingle Bells and putting gifts in stockings. Secondly, it has become fashionable to associate every year with one or another animal, as is customary in China (although the Chinese themselves celebrate the New Year later, in January-February - a new date is set every year). In the early 1990s, an old Santa Claus made of papier-mâché or plastic and Soviet comedies were signs of a "wrong" New Year, and a bright new Santa, Hollywood films and the celebration of an animal symbol were attributes of a successful holiday.
But over time, as anti-American sentiment grew, Santa Claus won back his position. In the 2000s, Santa Claus gradually began to turn almost into a negative character. Now many Russians consider it a symbol of a "consumer and spiritless" holiday, and Santa Claus symbolizes true fun. At the same time, Chinese animals retained their positions. Starting in November, Russians are beginning to wonder who will patronize them next year - a horse, a sheep, a monkey, or another of the 12 animals?
For the first time after the collapse of the USSR, supporters of the revival of pre-revolutionary traditions hoped that the New Year celebration would lose popularity and Christmas would again take its place. They pointed out that Orthodox Christmas is still celebrated according to the Julian calendar, which means that January 1 falls on the period of fasting. However, it was not possible to change the main winter holiday. Most Russians now widely celebrate the New Year, and only religious people seriously celebrate Christmas. IN popular culture only some elements were revived christian holiday - for example, Christmas tree decorations-angels and indoor decorations in the form of a manger with the baby Jesus. Of the religious celebrations, Easter is more popular than Christmas. Even the expression "Easter Christian" has appeared - a person who calls himself a believer, but attends church only once a year on this holiday.
Serious changes to the list of official holidays were introduced by Federal Law No. 201-FZ of December 29, 2004 "". First, the New Year was now prescribed to be celebrated for five whole days, from January 1 to 5. Christmas also remained a non-working day, that is, in fact, January 6 was the only working day in the weekly series of winter holidays. Secondly, instead of November 7, November 4 was declared non-working, which was ordered to be considered the "Day of National Unity". May 2 became a working day (before that, in honor of the Spring and Labor Day, there were two days off: May 1 and 2). December 12 was also declared a working day.
In 2012, the New Year holidays schedule changed again (). From this time, the rest lasts from January 1 to January 8. However, in practice, this does not mean lengthening, but a decrease in vacation. The fact is that at the same time it was decided to postpone weekends that coincide with new year holidays, not on the next business day, but to join any of the other holidays at the discretion of the Government of the Russian Federation. Now, due to the "extra" New Year's holidays, the May holidays are lengthened.
This decision was made due to the fact that too long New Year's holidays caused discontent among a large part of the population. Someone claimed that his loved ones drank too much alcohol in 10 days. Someone complained about the cancellation of the weekend on May 2. Earlier, taking into account the postponement of the weekend, the May holidays became a rather long period of rest, and summer residents used it for sowing. Now, the owners of the gardens argued, the holidays were taken away from them and given to those who like to “just mess around” on New Year's. It was also suggested that the new holiday schedule is designed for those who can fly away to rest in warm countries in winter. At the same time, low-income citizens lost the opportunity to bask in the May sun for an extra couple of days.
The new edition of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation was supposed to satisfy both New Year's fans and supporters of the May holidays. Winter holidays almost did not decrease, and spring holidays increased by a couple of days.
However, the voices of the disaffected still do not cease. Some citizens think that long New Year's holidays are, in principle, too much of a luxury. In general, the Russians, in their opinion, take too much rest. At the beginning of December 2014, the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan submitted to the State Duma a bill canceling the postponement of holidays that coincided with weekends. The authors of the document indicate that in 1992-2014 the number of non-working holidays increased from nine to 14. Taking into account the transfers, their number increases to almost two dozen per year. The State Council of Tatarstan believes that this negatively affects production and the economy.
Critics of this position state that where work cannot be objectively interrupted, it is not interrupted. Stores do not close, continuous-cycle enterprises do not stop, entrepreneurs do not postpone important meetings and negotiations, paid clinics and service establishments continue to work. For many companies involved in the entertainment and tourism industry, the winter holidays, on the contrary, are a rush period.
In fact, the only area where the holidays really usually last more than a week without any reservations is government agencies (not counting emergency services). If at the beginning of January a Russian needs to get some kind of certificate, he may face great difficulties. According to critics, it is necessary to develop a bill that would oblige officials to organize shifts on holidays (and possibly on ordinary weekends: after all, most Russians find it difficult to take time off from work to visit a government institution). At the same time, one should not take away the holidays from ordinary citizens, who can not always count on a good rest.
Another fresh bill, introduced to the State Duma in November by a group of deputies, raises another popular topic. Many citizens are unhappy with the fact that December 31 is a working day. After all, this date is traditionally associated with the New Year. It is on this day that it is customary to collect a table, invite guests, communicate and have fun until morning. January 1 for many is no longer a holiday, but a rest after the holiday. The Russians complain that on December 31, they have to get up early in the morning (although they would like to sleep before a sleepless night), go to work (although no one thinks about the work process anymore), come home in the evening and frantically, in a hurry, prepare to receive guests. The deputies proposed to include December 31 as non-working days, and make January 8 a worker. Thus, the holidays will not be lengthened, but simply moved.
Whatever initiatives are developed, the holiday schedule for 2015 has already been approved (Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 27, 2014 No. 860 ""). Non-working days of January 3 and 4 (Saturday and Sunday) will be moved to January 9 and May 4. As a result, Russians will rest from January 1 to 11, from May 1 to May 4, and also from May 9 to 11. Also non-working will be February 21-23, March 7-9, June 12-14 and November 4, falling on Wednesday.
Less than two weeks are left before the start of the All-Russian "winter holidays". Probably, on New Year's Eve it would be best to forget about the prehistory of the holiday and about possible future changes, and just have a good rest. In the end, the main thing never changes: the year begins anew, as if from scratch.
