Russia holidays |
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Nobody loves New Year's Eve like the Russians do - it's the most exciting holiday of the year, with parties, presents, and champagne toasts. On December 31 each family prepares a lot of delicious specialties: the Holiday table is full of different kinds of salads, cold bark pork, smoked salmon and sturgeon, caviar, vodka, champagne, fruit and sweets. The New Year Holiday tastes like tangerines that are eaten in large quantities at this time. Christmas holidays in Russia are quite long – from January 1st till January 10th. It’s a family holiday with a rich festive table, champagne and tangerines. The New Year party starts with “seeing the old year off”, sharing all the positive things that the passing year has brought into people’s lives. At midnight The Kremlin Tower clock strikes 12 times and the New Year celebration begins and lasts all night long. A lot of people after midnight are crowding the beautifully illuminated streets to continue the festival there with snowballs, dancing and of course with fireworks that you can hear throughout the whole night. Orthodox Christmas takes place in Russia on January 7 according to the Orthodox traditions. It is a religious holiday with liturgies that last all night in all Orthodox cathedrals and churches around the city. Many people also celebrate a strange holiday called “Old New Year”, which is in fact the Orthodox New Year celebrated according to the old Julian calendar on the night January 13/14. The schoolchildren have vacations from December 28 until January 10. This is the season for many public festivals called "Yolka" (New Year Tree). These are concerts, shows, competitions where everything revolves around the New Year Tree, Ded Moroz, Snegurochka and other persons from Russian fairy tales. If you want to understand St Petersburg properly, you should visit it in winter. Saint-Petersburg is amazing in winter. The city never looks more beautiful than when the sun finally rises on streets covered with fresh snow. Peter’s the Great city is fascinating under a thick blanket of snow, showing its new beauty. The Neva River and canals of St. Petersburg are completely frozen. It is possible to walk across the frozen Neva from the Hermitage to the St. Peter and Paul Fortress. Advantage of this season is that you can get better prices for accommodation and tour guide’s service and don’t forget about winter sports! The locals go skiing or skating, kids have fun going down the ice slides, making snowmen and playing snowballs. If you travel a little bit far from the city you may find troikas or horse-drawn sledges. The Neva and Saint-Petersburg rivers and canals are frozen. It is possible to walk on the ice and here and there you get to see fishermen sitting on it. Restaurants, cafes and night clubs have special New Year shows with live music, lots of singing and dancing. For a “fun night-life scene,” head to Purga (Fontanka Embankment 11, where, according to Mr. Dougherty’s article, every evening at midnight, “New Year’s Eve” is celebrated with bells, sparklers and free drinks. The cultural life of the city is also going at full pace, with plenty of premieres and parties. Different art and music festivals are performed in the city at that time. On these dates it is also a delight to see the magic ballet "The Nutcracker" that is traditionally performed in the main theatres of St. Petersburg. The streets of St. Petersburg are decorated with festive lights, garlands and New Year toys. In all the squares and in every flat you can find beautiful natural Christmas trees, filled with ornaments, toys and colored lights.
In some squares and streets of our city you can see beautiful ice sculptures created by professional designers. You can come across Christmas markets and kiosks (outdoors stores) serving hot blini (Russia pancakes).
On these days Russian Santa Claus – Father the Frost visits the families and gives a lot of gifts to the small kids. He is the fairy tale person - tall and strong, with long white beard wearing fur hat, blue or red heel-long coat trimmed with white fur and Russian traditional high boots (valenki) and with a big bag full of presents. Father the Frost (Ded Moroz) is accompanied by Snow Maiden (Snegurochka) his granddaughter. To get presents from Ded Moroz the kids have to dance around the Christmas tree, sing a song or recite a poem. Ded Moroz drives Russian traditional three-horse sledge (troyka).
We will be glad to give you a new experience and taste all the things mentioned before.
According to your wishes we organize group and individual programs for all your stay here in Saint-Petersburg.
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