MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS Correspondent Irina Skalina/. On long Arctic expeditions, every polar explorer, surrounded with ice and ocean, in pitch dark winters and with uncertainty ahead, was excitingly looking forward to the holiday. Most important was the team's moral climate, supported by routine tasks and a clear daily routine, as well as by emotional relaxation. What could be better for that role than the New Year's Eve and Christmas for people staying in Father Frost's land?
Harsh pioneers dreamed of miracles
Arctic expeditions up to the early 20th century featured men only. Grown-up and harsh, the Arctic pioneers were thoroughly getting prepared for the holiday, thought over a program, made Christmas trees from whatever they had, trying to make this day a bright event in the monotonous dark everyday life that would be remembered for a long time.
"As we can see now, most often those defusing the expedition situation are ladies," said Evgeny Ermolov, head of the Russian Arctic National Park's Historical and Cultural Heritage Conservation Department. He has been on polar expeditions many times and has been studying first polar expeditions for quite long. "I mean, back then on a steamer, schooner or ice floe were men only. They were organizing active leisure time for themselves. Everyone with talents used to demonstrate them: tap dancing, magic tricks with cards, and singing."
Scheherazade on Novaya Zemlya
The first Russian expedition to the North Pole, led by Georgy Sedov, spent the winter from 1912 to 1913 on Novaya Zemlya. The team was doing well, and thus they celebrated cheerfully Christmas and the New Year, even had a cannon salute. For Christmas, they fried bear steaks, which Nikolay Pinegin in memoirs called the "Christmas goose." The expedition published the Cabin Company magazine with humorous news and funny announcements.
For the New Year, they decorated the Christmas tree, making it from sticks, kindling and wire. They made fir paws from a torn-apart Manila cable. Decorations, of course, were also self-made - pieces of herring, a sausage, test tubes with rum and cognac. They cut out of cardboard a "ballerina", an "eskimo girl", a "rich old lady," and other figures. Gifts under the 'tree' were bottles for water samples.
"During the expeditions, of course, any alcohol was dosed. When on holidays, bottles were put on the table, and that was a big event," Ermolov noted. "Glasses for the coming year, for friends and family were raised twice: at local time and at St. Petersburg midnight. For the New Year celebration, the Sedov expedition prepared an opera - they staged Scheherazade, sang, danced and made costumes."
Everyone was cheerful, the future seemed bright, despite the polar night. But the New Year 1914 seemed already gloomy and frightening. By that time, the Sedov expedition got to Franz Josef Land, and stopped for the winter in the Tikhaya Bay of the Hooker Island. The North Pole seemed inaccessible, and it was unclear whether they would make it from the icy lands: almost no fuel, the steamer was in poor condition, and sick people. They greeted January the 1st with toasts and cannon fire, but, as Pinegin said in memoirs, "with no fun."
"We need to mention a difference there: the so-called gentlemen officers - the chief, the captain, the navigator, - and the expedition participants, that is, the scientists, and, in fact, the rest of the men. There was a difference in the first year, and an even bigger difference in the second year. Because on the second New Year's celebration, on the second Christmas, ordinary guys received just a few hundred grams of meat. Plus a strong male handshake," historian and tour guide Vasily Abramovsky said.
However, the first and second New Years was completely different with the expedition on the St. Anna schooner, which ran at the same time. That expedition was led by Georgy Brusilov. He intended to sail along the Northern Sea Route, but almost at the very beginning things went wrong: the ship was ice trapped near the Yamal, and the St. Anna began to drift north. So, the first wintering was unexpected, all the participants worried, many got seriously ill and seeing in the year 1913 was far from joyful. Brusilov was trying to cheer up everyone, but a couple of days later he got seriously ill and fell into unconsciousness.
Strange as it may seem, a year later, the drifting team somehow regained spirits, and 1914 did not seem that hopeless to them. However, they were moving further north with the ice, then even further west, bypassing Franz Josef Land.
"Alexander Konrad wrote in the diary that people were in a much better mood and everything was more fun," Ermolov said. "I can explain this by the fact that their first wintering was really unexpected, while a year later they got used to it, the environment became familiar."
Konrad is one of the two surviving members of that expedition on the St. Anna. In April 1914, eleven people led by navigator Valerian Albanov left the ship, two - Albanov and Konrad - reached Franz Josef Land, from there, from Cape Flora, by an incredible chance they were picked up by survivors of the Sedov expedition (by that time, Georgy Sedov passed away) when they got there in searching for fuel and provisions.
When the holiday is cancelled
The first team wintering at the first Soviet polar station on Franz Josef Land, Tikhaya Bay, was preparing to see in their first New Year, 1930. It was there that Sedov's expedition wintered in 1914, and where in 1929 appeared a house and everything necessary for a relatively comfortable life.
On the New Year Eve, the polar explorers washed and cleaned rooms, sent greeting telegrams to the country's leadership and colleagues, received greetings from friends and families, listened to the gramophone and were looking forward to hearing on the radio Mikhail Kalinin's greeting to the nation. Radio operator Ernst Krenkel adjusted the broadcast to the volume so that the speech could be heard in the lounge.
At the due time, a pleasant female voice solemnly announced that the New Year celebration was canceled as the holiday is for the bourgeoisie only.
"They were not at a loss, saying, 'Well, if canceled then canceled, but we have something to what we will raise our glasses, as we had a good year in 1929, so let's celebrate so that next year is no less bright and fruitful!'" Evgeny Ermolov said retelling memories of polar explorers.
Celebration to the best of our ability
The wintering team also sent a telegram to Norway's legendary pioneer Fridtjof Nansen, who had once reached Franz Josef Land, where he and Hjalmar Johansen wintered at Cape Norway in a dugout of walrus skins and stones to see year 1896 in. They kept diaries, of course.
"The diaries had one phrase about the New Year, and it seems brilliant to me: We celebrate this day, Christmas, to the best of our ability. Johansen has turned out his sweatshirt, and I've changed my underpants," Vasily Abramovsky said referring to the Norwegians.
Their previous holidays aboard the drifting Fram had been much more comfortable and enjoyable.
"Back then, they had about 14 courses, even orange marmalade," Vasily Abramovsky said.
This is for the New Year celebration
Food on polar expeditions, even nowadays, is a main attraction. For example, when people, especially beginners, are going on a voyage of the Arctic Floating University, the expedition managers strongly recommend they took favorite treats: fruits, chocolates, sweets, olives, chips - whatever they may like. Food on the ship is usually hearty: meat, pasta, potatoes, soups, though nothing exquisite. And surely everyone dreams of something tasty. On the Professor Molchanov, the entire expedition usually comes for an afternoon snack for a treat of pastries.
Ivan Papanin, even on the drifting ice floe, paid great attention to delicious food. As for treats for the New Year, everyone got them, even dog called Cheerful. On the New Year night, the expedition's leader congratulated everyone, they sang The Internationale, kissed and greeted each other hoping year 1938 would be as happy for them as the past year 1937.
By that time, by the way, the New Year celebration was officially resumed, and inside the tent they listened to a broadcast from Red Square and to the Kremlin Chimes.
"Now to Papanin. He got prepared for the New Year's Eve: he opened a jar of pressed caviar, took out sausages, smoked brisket, cheese, nuts, chocolate, and handed to each person 35 Teddy Bear chocolate-covered praline sweets. The pressed caviar, which, by the way, quite often appears in memoirs of those times, is pressed black caviar, where individual eggs are not preserved as it has a dense consistency and rich taste. It is great for spreading on a sandwich. An ideal dish for frost and field conditions," Vasily Abramovsky said.
Nobody can explain now why every team member has received exactly 35 sweets. Could those be leftovers divided into four parts, or not? The North Pole-1 station did not have problems with supplies. Work on the ice floe did not stop even for the New Year, and the explorers continued meteorological observations, Ernst Krenkel sent a report to the Rudolf Island, and only when that was done they proceeded to toasts, including, of course, to Comrade Stalin.
Modern polar explorers
In the mid-20th century, the Krenkel Polar Observatory on the Heiss Island was a biggest settlement on Franz Josef Land. There used to live not only men, but also women and even children, and the village had a kindergarten. Wherever there are kids, there must be a Christmas tree, Father Frost and the Snow Maiden. The adults wintering on the Heiss wrote in memoirs, they believed and waited for miracles no less than kids. Everyone was carefully preparing for the holiday. The program was ready well in advance. They wrote scripts, made costumes, and ladies cared a lot about outfits.
"They always had a carnival, for example, I can remember that once they had a theme "Dances of the Peoples of the World," Evgeny Ermolov said. "It was great fun and great emotions: they wrote poems, songs specifically for each holiday, they had a musical group, played musical instruments."
At times, more than 100 people wintered on the Heiss Island. Nowadays, it is one of the two permanently inhabited islands of Franz Josef Land, where several meteorologists live. According to Roman Ershov, Sevhydromet's leader, the station definitely has a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations. So the meteorologists will see the New Year in with all traditional attributes, and the Russian Arctic National Park's staff on the Alexandra Land Island, to where planes fly, may even have tangerines. As for the Christmas tree, they have already decorated it.