![Basilius-Kathedrale auf dem Roten Platz in Moskau 212 origWI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Basilius-Kathedrale_auf_dem_Roten_Platz_in_Moskau_212_origWI.jpg)
New Year trees are decorated trees similar to
Christmas trees that are displayed to specifically celebrate the New Year. They should not be confused with the practice of leaving up a Christmas tree until after
New Year's Day (traditionally until the
Epiphany
Epiphany may refer to:
* Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight
Religion
* Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ
** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...
on 6 January). New Year trees are common in various cultures and nations, chiefly the
former Soviet Union
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
, former
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
,
China and
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.
Russian and Turkish traditions
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n and
Turkish New Year trees are of the same varieties as those used for Christmas trees, although a
spruce tree is the most usual type. The decorations are the same as for Christmas trees; however the Russian style New Year tree is completely secular and its decorations include no religious symbols. While Russian and Turkish North Americans purchasing a tree after Christmas when prices have plummeted might enjoy notable savings, most do not wait beyond Christmas to buy their trees.
History of the Soviet New Year Tree
![Bezbozhnik u stanka - Run along, Lord, 1931, n](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Bezbozhnik_u_stanka_-_Run_along%2C_Lord%2C_1931%2C_n._22.jpg)
The tradition of installing and decorating a ёлка (pr: yolka, tr: spruce tree) for
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
dates back to the 17th century when
Peter the Great imported the practice as a result of his travels in Europe. Peter decreed in 1699 that the New Year will be celebrated on 1 January instead of 1 September, and that "Fir tree, pine and juniper branches and trees shall be used to decorate houses and gateways along main streets". However, in
Imperial Russia, ''yolka'' were banned beginning in 1916 by the
Synod as a tradition originating in Germany (Russia's enemy during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
).
After the
revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
, Christmas celebrations—along with other religious holidays—were discouraged and de facto prohibited as a result of the Soviet
antireligious campaign.
The
League of Militant Atheists
The League of Militant Atheists (), also Society of the Godless () or Union of the Godless (), was an atheistic and antireligious organization of workers and intelligentsia that developed in Soviet Russia under influence of the ideological and ...
encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, among them being the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays, including
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
; the League established an antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.
With the Christmas tree being prohibited in accordance with
Soviet anti-religious legislation
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, people supplanted the former Christmas custom with New Year's trees.
The New Year tree was encouraged in the USSR after the famous letter by
Pavel Postyshev
Pavel Petrovich Postyshev (russian: Па́вел Петро́вич По́стышев; – 26 February 1939) was a Soviet politician, state and Communist Party official and party publicist. He was a member of Joseph Stalin's inner circle, befor ...
, published in ''
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the ...
'' on 28 December 1935, in which he asked for trees to be installed in schools, children's homes,
Young Pioneer Palace
Young Pioneer Palaces or Palaces of Young Pioneers and Schoolchildren were youth centers designated for the creative work, sport training and extracurricular activities of Young Pioneers and other schoolchildren. Young Pioneer Palaces originat ...
s, children's clubs, children's theaters and cinemas. In his letter, Postyshev wrote:
In 1937, a
Novy God (New Year) Tree was also installed in the
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
House of the Unions
The House of the Unions (russian: Дом Союзов) (also called ''Palace of the Unions'') is a historic building in the Tverskoy District in central Moscow, Russia. It is situated on the corner of Bolshaya Dmitrovka and Okhotny Ryad streets. ...
. An invitation to the Yolka at the Palace of Unions became a matter of honour for Soviet children. After the
dissolution of the USSR
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
, stigma against religion subsided amidst renewed public interest.
History of the Turkish New Year tree
![New Year Tree in a Turkish home](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/New_Year_Tree_in_a_Turkish_home.JPG)
A Turkish New Year tree, in
Turkish "Yılbaşı Ağacı", looks the same as a Christmas tree with Christmas ornaments. It is called a New Year tree because it is specific to the New Year and, with about 95% of Turkey's population
Muslim, most
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
do not celebrate Christmas.
After the modernisation of Turkey, the
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 ...
and the
fiscal calendar were replaced by the
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
and New Year celebrations started in the late 1920s. The celebrations became popular in Turkey and Christmas trees were brought into the country as New Year trees. Since then, the custom of setting up a tree for the New Year is a traditional event in Turkey. It is usually put up between the beginning of December and the end of January, the mid date being New Year's Eve. Also, the habit of giving presents at Christmas was changed to the giving of New Year presents. The New Year tree can be considered an example of westernised
Turkish culture
The culture of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Kültürü) combines a heavily diverse and heterogeneous set of elements that have been derived from the various cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, Caucasia, Middle East and Central Asia t ...
or Turkified European culture.
Also, there is evidence showing that the Turkic tribes celebrated winter solstice with a
wish-making tree, a tradition called
Nardoqan which could be the ancestor of the modern Christmas tree according to some historians.
Vietnamese and Cantonese custom
![PanYu Clifford Farm Tree New year plants](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/PanYu_Clifford_Farm_Tree_New_year_plants.jpg)
Planting a New Year tree or cây nêu is also a Vietnamese custom that is part of the springtime
Tết
Tết (), short for Tết Nguyên Đán ( Chữ Hán: 節元旦), Spring Festival, Lunar New Year, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations in Vietnamese culture. The colloquial term "Tết" is a shortened form of ...
festival. Often a bamboo pole serves as the "tree".
''
Hoa đào'' (in Northern) or ''
Hoa mai'' (in Southern) and
kumquat
Kumquats (; zh, 金桔), or cumquats in Australian English, are a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae. Their taxonomy is disputed. They were previously classified as forming the now-historical genus ''For ...
trees are also decorated and displayed in Vietnamese homes during
Tết
Tết (), short for Tết Nguyên Đán ( Chữ Hán: 節元旦), Spring Festival, Lunar New Year, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations in Vietnamese culture. The colloquial term "Tết" is a shortened form of ...
.
In Cantonese, the new year tree is called ''Nin Fa'' (, literally New Year Flower). Bamboo is just one of the new year trees for the Cantonese, the others being mandarin and peach. The mandarin plant is called ''Kat'' (), which is a homophone to , standing for good luck. The peach flower stands for good relationships; love is one of the relationships, so it's also a wish for love.
See also
*
Christmas tree
*
Hanukkah bush
A Hanukkah bush is a bush or tree—real or simulated—that some Jewish families in North America display in their homes for the duration of Hanukkah. It may, for all intents and purposes, be a Christmas tree with Jewish-themed ornaments. It is ...
*
New Year
New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...
*
Ceremonial pole
A ceremonial pole is a stake or post utilised or venerated as part of a ceremony or religious ritual. Ceremonial poles may symbolize a variety of concepts in different ceremonies and rituals practiced by a variety of cultures around the world. ...
*
Kadomatsu
are traditional Japanese decorations made for the New Year's. They are a type of '' yorishiro'', or objects intended to welcome ancestral spirits or ''kami'' of the harvest. ''Kadomatsu'' are usually placed in pairs in front of homes and buil ...
References
External links
New Statesmanarticle on Russian New Years trees
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Year Tree
Trees
Turkish culture
Russian culture
New Year celebrations