Old New Year is a holiday unique in its kind. The tradition to celebrate this day is associated with the divergence of two calendars: Julian - the calendar of the "old style" and the Gregorian calendar - the calendar by which modern people live. This discrepancy at the moment is 13 days, and the New Year in the old style is celebrated on the night of 13 to 14 January.
Why do some modern people of continue to celebrate the New Year according to the old calendar? First of all, this holiday is actual for those who are fasting - after all the Christmas fasting ends only on January 6, which means that on the night of December 31, January 1, plenty of New Year's meals will not be enjoyed by the fasting people. New Year in the old style is important for Orthodox believers living in countries where the church continues to use the Julian calendar( the Russian Orthodox Church, which showed stubbornness and did not want to live "in a new style").Well, for most of the compatriots, the Old New Year is just another reason to get together, have fun, "fix" the meeting of the main holiday of the year.
The Old New Year, unlike its modern "fellow" - the holiday is not fussy, calm, measured. On this day it is not customary to give gifts and arrange wild feasts.
At the same time, the New Year in the old calendar is of great interest from the point of view of the study of folk traditions, omissions, rituals. The Old New Year is a component of the Svyatok ( 12 days, beginning from the Nativity of Christ and ending with Epiphany) - a popular holiday among youth in Russia.
In the people the evening before the Old New Year was called Generous. This evening, they prepared a generous kutya, dressed with a smeater. Dinner on a generous evening collected the whole family at the table. Households used to go generous, girls this evening wondered about the betrothed, and on the first day of the New Year( January 14), in the morning the villagers came to the houses. The rite of sowing, which has survived to this day, symbolizes the desire for prosperity to the owners of the house. The seedlings( carols) had to be generously endowed with sweets and a ringing coin, and the seeds collected and preserved until the spring to sow them on the field - it was these grains that were supposed to bring a rich harvest.
New Year in the old calendar, like all 12 days Svyatok is the time of youth gatherings. Modern youth, of course, has long replaced these gatherings with hangouts in a nightclub. However, in some villages and villages they are still trying to preserve the traditions of the last century.
January 14 - this is also Vasiliev day .According to popular belief, fortune telling on this day certainly came true. The main theme of girlish divination is marriage and all that is associated with it: when this event takes place, who will be the husband and whether this union will be happy. And despite the emancipation of modern girls and not so much a desire to get married as it was with the beautiful half of the population a hundred years ago, no, no, and yes, some girl will put a hairbrush under the pillow on the night of Vasilia.will the future groom come to hair comb hair?
The Old New Year is also the time of various folk labels .On the first day of the New Year everyone wanted to see the first guest in the house of a man who was supposed to bring happiness. That's why only the boys and boys were allowed to sow in the morning of January 14.On this day, you can not give anyone money in debt - otherwise you will need them all the year round.
The Old New Year is unique in that in its celebration pagan traditions and Orthodox traditions have long been intertwined. Today, the New Year in the old style - this is the last holiday in the series of New Year's and Christmas festivities, after which the people who have just celebrated are finally returning to labor days.
