TASS-FACTBOX, January 1. As New Year has arrived, the TASS-FACTBOX team has compiled a report on customs, decorations, and characters associated with this holiday.
Christmas tree
The custom of decorating Christmas trees dates back to biblical myths. One legend recounts that a fir-tree, an olive tree, and a palm grew near the cave where Jesus Christ was born. When the Guiding Star appeared in the skies to announce that the Savior was born for all, the olive tree produced its golden fruit, the palm provided shelter from the heat, and the evergreen conifer stood aside. A miracle occurred as stars shot from the sky and transformed the tree.
Several alternative stories exist about the origins of the Christmas tree decoration tradition, many linked to Christianity. However, ancient Germans celebrated Yule, a medieval mid-winter festival aligned with the winter solstice. They decorated forest trees, lit candles, and performed rituals to appease forest spirits. They also placed evergreen branches inside homes, believing these symbols of endurance, health, and longevity. As Christianity spread, most pagan rituals took on new meanings, and Yule was completely replaced with Christmas by the 15th-16th centuries. Still, these traditions endured, and fir trees remained a feature of Christmas celebrations. Initially, trees were placed outdoors, but eventually, a tradition emerged of decorating them inside homes. It is known that, in 1419, apprentices at a bakery in Freiburg decorated a fir tree outside a Catholic hospital for the poor with apples, nuts, and gingerbread. By the 16th century, the custom of placing Christmas trees spread throughout Germany, with decorated conifers remaining until New Year. Over time, the tradition spread across Europe and eventually to America.
Russia has celebrated New Year and Christmas with decorated fir trees since Peter the Great’s reign. In 1699, the Russian tsar ordered the move of New Year celebrations from September 1 to January 1 “to follow other Christian nations’ practice.” In the late 19th century, Russia adopted the European tradition of artificial fir trees, originally made of tissue. From 1929 to 1935, when the Soviet Union banned religion, Christmas celebrations were prohibited, and New Year festivities were also cancelled as “bourgeois remnants.” However, starting in 1936, New Year parties resumed in schools, children's centers, and orphanages, with events featuring fir trees held at the Column Hall of the House of Unions. In 1954, the first party was held at the Hall of the Order of St. George in the Grand Kremlin Palace. Since 1962, the country’s primary New Year event for children has been held at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses (now the State Kremlin Palace).
Decorations
Apples, nuts, eggs, and candies were the original Christmas tree decorations, with paper, cardboard, cotton, and painted fir-tree cones added since the 18th century. All decorations had deep Christian symbolism: six-pointed stars placed atop trees symbolized the Holy Star of Bethlehem, which guided the Magi to Christ’s birthplace. Apples symbolized the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, while candles represented purity.
As craftsmen began producing Christmas tree decorations, brass figures of angels were placed on fir trees. The 1848 apple crop failure in Germany led to the creation of glass decorations. That year, glassmakers in Lauscha, Thuringia, made “apples” from thick glass, marking the start of regular Christmas tree decoration production. In 1867, gas torches were used to blow not only glass bubbles but also objects in other shapes. Over time, glass decorations were primarily made in Germany, though other countries began producing them by the late 19th century.
The first electric lights were placed on the White House tree in Washington in 1895. In Europe, electric lights first appeared on Christmas trees in Finland in 1906.
In Russia, Christmas trees have been decorated since the 1830s. Decorations were handmade or baked. Later, glass decorations began to be imported from Germany. The glassmaking plant in Klin, near Moscow, was the first to begin mass-producing Christmas tree decorations. During the Soviet era, the Star of Bethlehem was replaced with a five-pointed red star, the state symbol, atop the tree. Figures of people, animals, fruit, and vegetables, made from glass, cotton, cardboard, and papier-mache, were popular. The Soviet Union began producing electric lights in 1938.
While today’s assortment of Christmas tree decorations is almost identical worldwide, with baubles being the most common, colored lanterns and tin tinsel remain particularly popular in Ireland. In Norway and Sweden, sun- and snowflake-shaped toys, along with animal figures made from straw or wood, are top sellers.
Gifts
The tradition of New Year gift-giving is believed to have originated with the ancient Romans. It is said that Gaius Julius Caesar started the custom of giving a laurel wreath and a coin on New Year’s Day.
In Japan, it’s customary to exchange oseibo gifts (simple sets of essentials) or otoshidama (money in decorative envelopes). In the U.S., people often give gift items with receipts attached for easy returns. In Austria, practical gifts that can be used daily are common, with tickets for the Vienna State Opera also being popular presents. In Sweden and other Nordic countries, where evenings come early, candles are ideal gifts, helping to create a warm and festive atmosphere. In China, where family harmony is highly valued, it is customary to give pairs of items as gifts.
In Russia, children typically receive sweets and toys as New Year gifts, while adults often get perfumes, chocolates, accessories, or beauty products.
Fairy tale characters
In Europe and America, the primary gift-giver for Christmas and New Year is a figure based on Archbishop Nicholas of Myra, who lived in Asia Minor during the 3rd-4th centuries. He was canonized as a saint and became St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Legend has it that he once dropped gold coins down the chimney of a house where three poor women lived. The coins landed in their stockings—or, in another version, in boots placed by the chimney. This led to the tradition of placing gifts in shoes or stockings. Over time, the image of St. Nicholas evolved into various Christmas figures with distinct national traits.
He is called Grandfather Christmas in some countries, Pere Noel in France and other Francophone regions, Papa Noel in Spain, Babbo Natale in Italy, Sankt Nikolaus in Germany, Mikulas in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Swiety Mikolaj in Poland, and Sinterklaas in the Netherlands, Belgium, and former Dutch colonies.
Russia’s Grandfather Frost dates back to pagan times. In Old Slavic folklore, he was depicted as a short, old man with a long beard and as severe as Russian winters. People left food outside their homes to appease him. Today, Grandfather Frost, or Father Frost, hails from Veliky Ustyug, in the Russian North. He is depicted as a white-bearded old man in a long robe, wearing felt or long boots, carrying a staff and a bag of gifts. Grandfather Frost has no direct counterpart in Western Christmas traditions. He is accompanied by Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, a figure rooted in Russian folklore and 19th-century literature.