8% of Russians complain of winter holidays being too long, while 15% dislike noisy fireworks. That’s not all that you may find surprising about the holiday season and celebrations of the New Year’s Eve in Russia!

Russian New Year’s Eve celebrations are very much like western Christmas and New Year’s Eve merged together

If you think of the way Christmas is celebrated in your country and try to mentally merge it with the outgoing atmosphere of New Year’s Eve, you’ll get an approximate scale of 31 December festivities in Russia.

It is like western Christmas and New Year’s Eve combined and then multiplied by 2.

New Year’s Eve is the most awaited and cheerful holiday of the year in Russia. People are starting to get ready weeks in advance, thinking of outfits for the party and buying presents for each other. The gifts are also given to friends and family on New Year’s Eve and not on the Christmas day. So, if you forgot to send a Christmas present to your Russian girlfriend, there is still time!

The fir tree is called “The New Year tree”.

Another absolutely necessary attribute of the celebrations is President’s speech before the ringing of Kremlin’s clock on Spasskaya Tower, which is broadcast on TV. Of course, because Russia has 9 time zones and each of them has to have it, the speech is recorded in advance and published online by Vladivostok viewers 9 hours before Moscow celebrates the arrival of the new year.

Mandarins are considered to be a necessary attribute as well, a recent online poll revealed.

Things that lift holiday spirit of Russians

Tutu.ru asked its users about holiday preparations, what helps them to feel more in tune and what destroys the merry spirit.

• The most widely admired holiday spirit lifter is the decorated fir tree as well as pretty garlands and decorations in stores and at home (40%).
• 7% of respondents feel that traditional New Year’s Eve movies and TV shows help them to feel cheerful.
• 7% of respondents feel that the scent of mandarins is uplifting.
• 6% of people consider Christmas markets in Europe to be of assistance to feel merrier.
• The same share of people (6%) get joy out of cooking the holiday feast.
• Further 6% of respondents get a kick out of buying presents for family and friends.

Only 4% of respondents get a boost out of ringing of the Kremlin clock and preceding President’s speech, which champagne cheers up only 2% of users. New Year’s Fireworks got only 1% approval rate as a spirit-lifting happening. The same share of respondents (1%) get joy from choosing an outfit for the party.

Surprisingly, 21% of respondents get no joy from festive preparations at all! 1 in 5 survey participants admitted not even liking the New Year’s Eve.

Things that annoy Russians about the holiday season

The most annoying factor about weeks leading to the most important holiday of the year are crowds of people in stores: 18% of survey participants feel this destroys the merry spirit.

16% of respondents aren’t happy about expenditure on food, gifts, and outfits. The same share of participants (16%) feel gloomy about the annual reports that they have to finish at work.

15% of Russians hate noisy fireworks, while 11% pointed to traffic jams as party poopers. 5% of users find communication with family during the holidays annoying.

The most surprising finding could be that 8% of Russians, or 1 in 12, feels depressed about lengthy holidays. Employees in Russia have 8 days off work from 1 to 8 January in 2020, but 31 December 2019 is a working day. Most people love to take a longer break, but there are quite a few Russians who obviously don’t!

Read also:

• 12 surprising New Year’s Eve customs in Russia
• How much money Russians spent during Christmas holidays
• How much do Ukrainians plan to spend on gifts during Christmas 2019?
• What is different in how Christmas is celebrated in Russia and Ukraine vs. western countries?