How New Year was celebrated in the USSR, and how it differs from modern

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

As in the days of the Soviet Union, the New Year remains one of the most beloved holidays for Russians to this day. In all houses, they decorate a Christmas tree, prepare food and buy gifts for the closest and dearest people. But nevertheless, the changes that have occurred in life since the collapse of the USSR could not but make adjustments to the main holiday.

Waiting for the holiday

It was the approach of the New Year that was filled with emotions, expectations and fantasies. The children were impatiently counting the days until the wizard Santa Claus fulfilled their cherished desires. And the adults plunged into the pre-holiday chores, and very early - 2-3 weeks before December 31. The total deficit that reigned in the country left its mark - it was necessary to get the necessary food, clothes, gifts. Those who had acquaintances working in stores were in an advantageous position - it was easier to buy champagne, green peas and cervelat for the table.

The tradition of decorating a Christmas tree arose even before the revolution - then it was an invariable attribute of children's holidays, they danced around it, celebrating Christmas. But in the early Soviet Union, the green beauty was a forbidden attribute - they saw signs of anti-Sovietism and bourgeois manners in her. True, already in 1935 the tree returned to the life of Soviet citizens and since then has become an invariable symbol of the New Year. Until the 60s, only living forest beauties stood in houses, and only then artificial ones began to appear on sale.

Matinees in kindergartens

New Year's parties are an integral part of the life of a Soviet kindergartner. Everyone was preparing for this event - children, educators, parents. Mothers made costumes, fathers made the necessary props. Boys and girls learned poems, which they then recited with expression while standing in the music hall next to a decorated Christmas tree and the kind wizard Santa Claus. Matinees were filled with theme songs, games of "Snowballs", "Freeze", round dances and dances. Boys most often dressed up as bunnies, bears, gnomes. And the girls flaunted in costumes of snowflakes, New Year's crackers, squirrels and chanterelles. At that time, by the way, all kinds of carnival masks were presented in abundance.

The scripts of the matinees, although they differed in actions and characters, nevertheless had a common leitmotif - good and friendship conquered evil, children saved Santa Claus and Snow Maiden from evil wizards and helped the holiday take place. Gifts were candies that were packed in colorful bags or cardboard boxes.

Christmas tree decorations and apartment decoration

Christmas decorations during the Soviet era were not very diverse. In the 40s, toys made of pressed wool or multilayer cardboard were common, some of them even glowed in the dark. Later, there were copies of glass. Basically, these were balls of different sizes and colors, monochromatic and with patterns. There were also toys in the form of various figures. In general, Soviet Christmas tree decorations can be called unique - they reflected the entire history of the country, significant events, values, and lifestyle. "Patriotic" stars, airplanes, airships, cars reflected the development of production.

In 1937, balloons with portraits of leaders and members of the Politburo were even released. A variety of cucumbers, apples, corn cobs, mushrooms, pears, berries demonstrated the importance and success of agriculture. Toys in the form of lanterns, animals, birds, houses and household items - clocks, light bulbs, teapots, samovars were also unchanged. In the collections of Christmas tree decorations, one could find a reflection of the development of the Far North and the Arctic (pilots, polar bears, polar explorers), the popularity of the circus (clowns, elephants, dogs), successes in the space industry led to the appearance of rockets and astronauts on Christmas trees, in war and post-war times - soldiers, guns, tanks. Heroes of fairy tales and cartoons were popular toys. Toys on clothespins were released in a separate series, which quickly settled in every family.

Christmas trees were decorated with glass beads, toys made of beads and glass beads, multi-colored tinsel and rain.

In those days, they tried to dress up the apartment. There was no abundance of interior decorations in the stores, so I had to turn on my imagination. The whole family cut snowflakes out of white paper, napkins or foil. Moreover, there were no generally accepted stencils, everyone who picked up the scissors was a designer. Later, together with the children, they began to make beads from strips of colored paper - they were folded into rings and connected to each other in a chain. In Soviet times, a tradition arose to attach colored rain to the ceiling - its edge was twisted into a piece of cotton wool, moistened, and it would stick to the whitewash as if by magic.

Scarce foods and New Year's table menu

The fact that it was impossible to find gourmet products in the public domain led to the formation of long lines in stores. To be sure to have time to buy the cherished treats, the hostesses began to storm the shops in advance.

The most popular products to buy were green peas, which were an indispensable component of traditional Olivier; cervelat, which was taken with "sticks"; loaves of boiled sausage, the most popular of which was "Doktorskaya"; salted herring - as a separate appetizer or as a base for everyone's favorite "fur coat".

The invariable attribute of the New Year's table was "Soviet champagne", vodka and tangerines. Many people bought chicken that was in short supply at that time, which was extremely rare on the shelves and was sold "no more than 2 pieces per person."

On the New Year's table, in almost every home, you could see jellied meat, aspic, beetroot salads, vinaigrette, mimosa, olivier, fish dishes, stuffed chicken. In some families, traditional treats were pies, dumplings or manti.

Most popular New Year gifts

Considering the modest selection of goods on the store shelves, buying a gift was not an easy task. Most often, Soviet citizens went on a visit, taking with them a bottle of wine or champagne, a box of chocolates or marshmallows in chocolate. Quite often they gave women Soviet perfumes, men - colognes.

Sometimes they gave Soviet cufflinks, ties - but for some it was considered bad manners. Children were most often given only sweets. New Year's cards were a special part of the congratulations. They were always chosen with trepidation and personally signed to each addressee, handed over personally or sent by mail. Kind, colorful, bright postcards kept a whole bunch of emotions and memories.

New Year's address

The traditional New Year addresses of the head of state, familiar to all of us, originated in the USSR. For the first time this happened in 1971 - at 11:50 pm Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev spoke on the first two TV channels and congratulated the residents of the country on the New Year.

Interestingly, at the end of the 80s, there was an unusual tradition - the celebration of the New Year was accompanied by a mutual exchange of congratulations with the citizens of America. Then US President Ronald Reagan addressed the citizens of the USSR, and Mikhail Gorbachev congratulated the Americans. This was the case from 1986 to 1988.

There was also a wonderful tradition in the Soviet Union to send postcards to relatives and friends. Perhaps, many remember at least one of this collection. 40 of the brightest and kindest postcards made in the USSR.