MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS Correspondent Nikolay Kochetkov/. The Murmansk Region is home to the only botanical garden in the Arctic, where grow thousands of plants from across the globe. People come here for striking impressions, which those who live in the North need so much in a polar night and amid monotonous snow. This story is about how people celebrate the New Year in that paradise and what they choose to decorate instead of a Christmas tree.

'It's paradise you have here'

"Celebrating the New Year in the botanical garden is a positive story. First of all, we all know that winter is a fairly sterile season in terms of colors and smells, and add to this it's still dark enough because of the polar night. Everyone who comes to us during the New Year holidays very often would say about the same phrase: "It's paradise you have here! Why not have color therapy sessions here."

"That's absolutely true," said Olga Petrova of the Avrorin Polar Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute. "Whenever visitors come to the greenhouse, in contrast to the striking white snowdrifts outside, they get to a place where they can enjoy the world of colors and smells, and this gives vivid emotions."

The Polar Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute is located in Kirovsk on the Khibiny Mountains slope. It is one of the world's two existing botanical gardens in the Arctic and the only one north of the Arctic Circle with a collection of introduced plants relocated from natural habitats.

"The botanical garden's value for science is huge, because it is the only global experiment of the kind to relocate plants to the Far North, to observe them, study how those plans feel in the extreme Arctic conditions. There is no such thing anywhere else in the world. In fact, honestly speaking, the botanical garden is simply beautiful. A very exotic and the only place in the Arctic where summer all the time," the botanical garden's representative said.

Kadomatsu instead of a Christmas tree

The special place has special New Year's traditions. During a "New Year's circumnavigation" tour, visitors learn how people in different countries decorate plans that are different from the beloved Russian Christmas tree. Visitors can see a Kadomatsu, a Japanese New Year's decoration, a message to everyone who sees it.

"The Japanese are fans of symbols, so the Kadomatsu is a composition of several plants that must be in the composition. The base is bamboo as a symbol of flexibility and resilience to adversity. Pine as a symbol of health and longevity. Fern as a symbol of pure thinking. If you don't feel like telling each of your guests - "Dear, I wish you to be healthy, to endure everything that fate presents to you, while remaining beautiful and with pure thoughts" - just put together a Kadomatsu and place it at the house entrance. We have been doing so for the third year now," she continued.

The garden's staff prepares New Year surprises for visitors. Olga chose not to reveal all secrets, however, and only told us about special tours she had developed jointly with the institute's Director Evgeny Borovichev.

"January 7 is a special day of special guided tours. We let our employees rest and, together with Evgeny Borovichev, we welcome visitors and give them completely new stories that no one has heard before, and further on we finalize those stories to include them into the main tour line. This year's tour is called "Time in Leaves." It will be a botanical journey on a time machine," Olga said.

Striking emotions

The Polar Alpine Botanical Garden evokes vivid emotions. Guests are most fond of tropical fruit trees and plants.

"When you can physically see tangerine, kumquat, lemon or pineapple, can you really remain in a bad mood? Very popular comments from our guests are: "You'd rather have sun beds here", "Heavenly delight", or "The odor is so delicious ". Last New Year's holidays, we were pleased to watch mothers with infants who came here just for a walk. They would leave strollers and were walking by the plants to cheer up," Olga told us.

Foreign visitors get very happy to learn that some plants have been brought from their homeland, and wonder how well they feel in the greenhouse among snowdrifts under the polar night veil.

"During the New Year season, we stop traditional tours offering walks in the park and greenhouse. Holidays mean leisure: have a good time, look, smell, though anyway, of course, among our New Year's guests there would always be very curious ones who can stand for a long time throwing questions at the guide. It's great that the guests are different, and we are very happy to welcome everyone - both big and small, those who come just to take photos, and those who are truly interested in plants. So, the New Year is a great time to have a great weekend in the tropics in the Arctic," Olga said in conclusion.

New Year's events in the Arctic

New Year's holidays in the Murmansk Region will be traditionally eventful. Not far from Kirovsk, where the Polar Alpine Botanical Garden is located, the Mysterious Forest open-air art park opened on December 20. The Snow Village ice sculpture park will open on December 27. The Hyperborean New Year was celebrated in Kovdor on December 20-22.

"In the capital of the Russian Arctic - Murmansk - the fair dubbed "It's warm in the North!" will continue throughout the New Year holidays. Guests will be invited to taste Arctic cuisine, to visit a Christmas market, souvenir stands, an open-air skating rink, an ice bar and an ice maze. Workshops for kids will be held next to the region's main New Year tree, and on January 9, Father Frost will arrive here," said Valeria Vanchikova, managing the region's tourist information center.

Festive events will continue after the New Year holidays, she added. On January 11, the locals and guests will celebrate the first dawn after the polar night's 40 days, and on January 16-18, the Morozko festival will run in Olenegorsk - special guests there will be Father Frost from Veliky Ustyug and Snow Maiden from Kostroma.