On the night of January 13-14, the Old New Year is celebrated - a holiday that ends the series of January festivities and feasts. After the Old New Year, many people begin to take down Christmas trees and New Year's decorations in their homes until next year. Read about what this holiday is and why the New Year is called old in the RIA Novosti article.
Why New Year became old
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Old New Year is also called New Year according to the old thailand mobile database style and is associated with the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
The Julian calendar was established thanks to Gaius Julius Caesar, the Roman emperor who lived in 100-44 BC. This system of calculation came to Russia with the spread of Christianity.
Under Peter the Great, the date of the New Year celebration was moved from September 1 to January 1. Peter also introduced the tradition of decorating homes with spruce branches.
After the October Revolution of 1917, our country switched to the Gregorian calendar, which was introduced into use in Catholic countries by Pope Gregory XIII. It was believed that this calendar was more accurate, and the difference with the Julian calendar was almost 2 weeks - as many as 13 days. The Bolshevik government believed that the difference in calendars complicated communication with other countries and created obstacles in international relations, and therefore Russia switched to a new system of calculation.
But the Orthodox Church did not accept the changes in the calendars and continued to focus on the Julian calendar. That is why, according to the old style, the New Year falls on January 14 and a tradition has developed to celebrate it too. Of course, it is not celebrated as widely as the official New Year on December 31, but for many it is a day when they can once again meet with loved ones and spend time together.
Traditions of celebrating the Old New Year
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On the first day of the Old New Year, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord and the memory of Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea. On the eve of this day, it has long been customary to set the table, bake pies and cook kutia - a hearty porridge made from wheat, seasoned with meat, lard, nuts and fruits. Since Saint Basil was the patron saint of shepherds and pig breeding, it was considered important to put a pork dish on the table, for example, aspic or at least sausage, and ideally - a roast pig, whose head was to be eaten by the owner of the house.