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

How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
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.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
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.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

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