Ukrainians traditionally celebrate the New Year on the night of December 31 to January 1. However, it is also worth refer the Old New Year to popular winter holidays in Ukraine. It is celebrated on the night of January 13-14.
This holiday is not celebrated as much as the traditional New Year. And not all Ukrainians attach great importance to this day. However, the Old New Year has an interesting history of celebration.
How can New Year be Old?
Let’s look at a story that took place over 100 years ago. Until 1918, Ukraine lived according to the Julian calendar. According to it, the celebration of Christmas fell on December 25, and the New Year was on January 1.
However, in 1918, the Central Rada, the legislative authority in Ukraine, carried out a calendar reform. According to it, the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian, which was used in European countries. Therefore, the celebration of the New Year was postponed 14 days ahead.
Why did it happen?
The difference in the calendars caused formal and practical inconveniences between countries. People belonging to different Christian denomination had different dates of celebration.
Subsequent representatives of the Ukrainian government, namely the government of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky, the Symon Petliura Directory head, and then the Bolsheviks, also adhered to the Gregorian calendar, which was equated with the European chronology.
At the next historical stage in the formation of Ukrainian statehood, people began to celebrate holidays in a different way. The fact is that the Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize the Gregorian calendar and the Bolshevik government. As a result, most of the parishioners, among whom were many Ukrainians, continued to use the old, Julian calendar. And believers in some regions have adopted the new dates of the holidays.
Therefore, even considering the fact that new official holiday dates appeared, people used to celebrate Christmas on January 7th, and the New Year – from January 13th to 14th. As a result of these events, these winter holidays began to be celebrated in different ways throughout Ukraine.
Christmas and New Year celebrations
There were two dates for Christmas and New Year celebrations. For a long time, these winter holidays were celebrated in different ways, on the territory of modern Ukraine. The celebration of the so-called Old New Year took on a certain shade of political opposition that opposed the power of the Bolsheviks.
At first, the Bolshevik authorities did not directly prohibit the celebration of holidays according to the old calendar, although the official holiday was only on January 1. However, this has changed over time. In 1929, the Christmas holidays were canceled, and the sale of Christmas trees and the celebration of the New Year, Christmas, and Epiphany were banned. During this period, the listed holidays began to be identified with a hangover from bourgeois.
“Smooth resumption” of winter holidays began in 1935. Since then, the period of creating new attributes of the New Year as a national holiday began. Although the traditions of celebrating the second New Year, called the Old New Year, have been preserved.
How to celebrate the Old New Year
The evening on the eve of the Old New Year is called Generous or Malanchyn. At this time, it is customary to sing schedrivky and cook festive kutya, as well as carol and tell fortune. January 14 is called St. Vasyl Day.
One of the most fun rituals for the Old New Year is to “drive a goat”. The roots of this mystical ritual go back to pre-Christian times. After a quiet family feast on the New Year’s Eve, Ukrainians have Christmas time – a time of fun and improvised shows.
The goat mask is the most popular one because it symbolizes the harvest. And since the goat never walks alone, it is customary to drive it. The people who drive the goat are called kozavody (shepherds). They went from house to house and arranged small performances with songs.
In this performance, Malanka was among obligatory characters. This is the role of a girl, which is always played by a guy dressed up in women’s clothes. According to the improvisation, Malanka is an inept housewife, so the character parodies various household chores with haughty clumsiness. Vasyl is her spouse. Together they go from house to house with wishes of health, prosperity, and family happiness.
This is how an unusual holiday appeared in Ukraine – the Old New Year. Despite historical contradictions, it is remembered on the night of January 14 and modestly celebrated.
If you want to discover what dishes Ukrainians serve on this holiday, welcome to our entertaining article.
