S'novum Godom - Happy New Year!

While Communism robbed the Jews of Russia of many of their religious practices, it had a similar impact on the local Christian population. As a result, Christmas here was re-configured: some aspects were maintained, others ditched, and some simply changed for the sake of convenience. For starters, all celebrations were moved to January 1 and the holiday became New Years. Santa was replaced with Dyod Moroz , Grandfather Frost, who gives out gifts with his granddaughter escort, Snegurochka (Snow Maiden). Christmas trees are renamed "yolka" and are decorated with non-religious symbols.

Judging by the traffic, the crowds in the malls and the ridiculous mob scenes in most public places today, EVERYONE celebrates the holiday. Even though it may seem strange to us for Jews to buy fir trees and take pictures of their children with old men in red suits with white fur trim, it is completely normal around here. Thus, it was no surprise to us that the theme of the week-long Adain Lo children's camp we attended this past week was "New Years." Each day celebrated a different type of new year on the Jewish calendar: Rosh Hashanah, Tu B'Shvat, the new year for animals and Passover. And in honor of the Russian new year, the last night of camp concluded with a small fireworks display.

Our camp experience this time around was far more enjoyable, especially since we knew what to expect. We did a better job of bringing kosher food with us, so that we could actually enjoy mealtimes; likewise, we did a better job of bringing books and DVDs to help us enjoy the unstructured free time. We interacted with the children far more, especially since we posted daily trivia questions to our door (yes, in Russian, thanks to the help of our fellow counselors). The kids knocked on our door all hours of the day and night (even when we had a "we're closed" sign up), excited to answer the questions and win candy in exchange. Hopefully, they learned a thing or two in the process.
We don't have any real plans for the holiday weekend. We are enjoying the quiet time mostly -- watching movies at home with a glass of wine in hand, visiting the local Yusopov Palace this afternoon (where Rasputin was killed), and gearing up for the EVA family camp next week. Tomorrow night, we'll wander around downtown, hoping to catch a glimpse of real Russians celebrating New Years, Russian style.

If you're interested in learning more about the Russian/Jewish dimension of the Russian New Year, here is an interesting article by a Russian Jewish woman who moved to America and struggles with her identity around the holidays:
December Dilemma, Russian Style
Caught between the fir tree of the old Soviet days and the menorah
Yuliya Chernova December 22, 2006 The Jewish Week