December 28, 2015

How to Celebrate the New Year


How to Celebrate the New Year

Now that Christmas is past, are you still looking to extend that holiday spirit a little bit longer? Then why not celebrate New Year’s the Russian way! We’ve gathered some tips to make your celebration as authentic as possible.

It’s common knowledge in Russia that the way you meet the New Year is how you’re going to spend it. So it comes as no surprise that Russians put a lot of thought into how they’re going celebrate the biggest holiday of the year. Add to that a healthy dose of Chinese zodiac influences, and you’ve got yourself the foundation for a whole range of sometimes contradictory tips and suggestions.

What Year Is It?

This isn’t a trick question! Of course it’s going to be 2016, but more importantly, it’s the year of the Fire Monkey. When preparing for your New Year’s celebration, it’s crucial to not just have a good time and please your guests, but to also please the animal of the year. This year’s animal is capricious, easily distracted, in love with money, fruits, candy, and other shiny things. As one website puts it, “modesty is not one of the monkey’s strong suits,” so feel free to put little monkeys all over your house (and then try to ignore their little eyes watching you all evening).

To really get into the adventurous spirit of the year, another website suggests doing something really out of the ordinary: a masquerade, or a “quest on the city streets,” or a crazy party, or a light show, or a rock concert. Even better, why don’t you go abroad – that’ll be especially memorable! But then it concedes that probably many of their readers want to spend the evening at home with their families. Those people will just have to please the monkey some other way.

Shiny New Year tree
Now that's an appropriately shiny tree

What Should You Eat?

Being a tropical animal, the monkey demands exotic fruits: bananas, pineapples, oranges. Good luck getting your hands on them out of season! As a herbivore, the monkey would prefer vegetarian dishes, although perhaps the fruit will appease it and it’ll turn a blind eye to traditional dishes like Olivier salad, cold cuts, pâtés, and the like.

What Should You Wear?

What did we say about the monkey loving shiny things? Make yourself shiny! And this year’s monkey isn’t just a monkey, it’s a Fire Monkey, so it has twice the reason to love sparkles and bright colors. That being said, each website’s interpretation of “bright colors” is slightly different. Red, orange, yellow are obvious favorites, but why will lilac and purple be popular this year, as one website asserts? No one knows! At least all the advice-givers agree that the little black dress should stay in the closet this year.

Toasting to the New Year

What Should You Do?

But in the end, even with all this advice, with its roots in a questionable interpretation of the Chinese zodiac, perhaps you’re better off celebrating New Year’s the traditional way: get your friends and family together, whip up some of your favorite dishes, and toast some champagne to next year being even better than the last. Whatever you do, make sure to have a happy New Year!

Tip sources: [Online-z] [missbagira] [vedmochka]

Image sources: site.sovety.ru, Wikimedia Commons, xlopushka.net

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955