The blame for the appearance of such a date as Old New Year in the national calendar is usually shifted to the Soviet authorities. But, if you start to understand, Peter the Great is to blame, not the Bolsheviks. Below we will tell you more about why.
Prerequisites for the appearance of the Old New Year
As we wrote in an article about the history of ChristmasBefore Peter the Great's decree in 1699, the calendar in Russia was from the creation of the world. While Europe had already kept the calendar from the Nativity of Christ for a thousand years.
Peter I, as it is known, was a follower of Western trends. Therefore, for the development of international relations decided to switch to the European system of chronology. On December 31, 7208 inhabitants of Russia went to sleep, and in the morning woke up on January 1, 1700.
How did it happen that 200 years later the Russian calendar still lagged behind the common European calendar? The reason is that in the 16th-18th centuries not all European countries lived by the same calendar. Some continued to adhere to the Julian calendar, while most Catholic countries switched to the Gregorian calendar.
Peter the Great chose the Julian calendar, which was already a few days behind the Gregorian calendar. In 200 years, this difference reached 13 days.
Life on two calendars
So, Peter the Great switched Russia to the Julian calendar, but there was still confusion. In 1700, the difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars was 11 days.
Until 1918, Russian travelers, merchants and statesmen continued to live on two dates. If documents were sent to a country with the Gregorian calendar, Russia indicated its own date, and 11-13 days were added for the recipient country. This was inconvenient for international relations. However, before the establishment of Soviet power, there was no hurry with the calendar reform.
How Russia switched to the Gregorian calendar
Immediately after the revolution, the Soviet authorities decided to radically change outdated traditions. On January 24, 1918, a document was issued, according to which after January 31, 1918, February 14 immediately followed. By that time, most Western countries had long ago switched to the Gregorian calendar. This eliminated the need to double-count dates in international documents.
By the way, there was an option to not jump 13 days ahead, but annually for 13 years, remove 1 day from the calendar. So it would be 364 days a year instead of 365. The initiative is interesting and would have been really painless for the people. But in this case, the discrepancy between the Soviet and European calendars remained for a long time. In addition, every year for 13 years it would have been necessary to take into account the difference in dates in a new way.
Why there is a New Year's Eve lookalike - Old New Year's Eve
The fact is that the new Soviet authorities made decisions drastically, without consulting anyone. They did not take into account that the majority of the people lived according to the church calendar and were bound to Christian holidays. And Russian church did not begin to accept innovations of Bolsheviks and has remained to live on Julian calendar. That is calendars continued to diverge on 13 days.
And the main stumbling block was the winter holidays - Christmas for the faithful, and New Year's Eve for the secular population.
According to the new style Christmas should have been celebrated on January 7, and according to the Julian calendar the church continued to consider this day as December 25. It would seem, what difference does it make for ordinary people? But the Christmas fast, which began on November 28, New Style, and ended on Christmas Eve, January 6, came into play. About this we have separate article.
Thus, in the secular New Year according to the New Style a strict fast was to be observed. And during the fast it was forbidden to have fun and eat fried food. But since the Bolsheviks tried to divert the attention of young people from the Christian Christmas, they organized plays and concerts on New Year's Eve.
Society split into two camps. Some people began to celebrate New Year's Eve on January 1 (in the midst of Lent). And some remained faithful to Christian traditions and celebrated New Year's Eve according to the old style, after the end of the fast.
How to celebrate the Old New Year
Old New Year is an unofficial, popular holiday that is not a day off. Nevertheless, since this day tacitly marks the end of the two-week New Year's celebration, many families try to celebrate it as well.
In fact, everything is individual. Some people come up with their own family traditions and stick to them. For example, they prepare a festive dinner and give small gifts to family members.
By the way, many Russians are sure that after the Old New Year it is already definitely possible to put the Christmas tree away! Although by this time in the rest of the world all the New Year decorations have long since been put away and the festive mood has been left behind.
