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Belarusian New Year: Customs and Traditions
New Year is the first holiday in the calendar cycle. The tradition to mark the beginning of a new year first appeared in Mesopotamia some 25 centuries ago. Today the holiday is celebrated almost all over the world. Different times brought different New Year customs, rituals and personalities. To this very day, we witness the emergence of new interesting New Year traditions.
 The ancestors of modern Belarusians believed that a new year started during the spring equinox. The most welcomed guests back then were carolers. They went from house to house singing songs and celebrating the host and his work. They also praised the hostess for being a wise advisor and helper, as well as an adult daughter and an unmarried son. The hosts sincerely thanked the carolers and gave them traditional gifts – eggs, cheese and sausages.
The caroling tradition gradually went away in the Middle Ages when the Christian Church gained ground in Belarus and started a fierce fight against pagan traditions. The calendar changed – the start of a new year was shifted from spring to winter. In the 10th century, almost all Europe pegged the new year cycle to Christmas.
For a long time, different parts of Belarus celebrated New Year at different times. The territory of Belarus that was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania celebrated New Year on 1 January since 1364. The eastern part of Belarus marked New Year according to Byzantine tradition – on 1 September – from 1493 to 1700. On 20 December 1700, Peter I issued an order to celebrate the beginning of a new year on 1 January.
When the beginning of the calendar year was shifted to winter, New Year festivities acquired winter features. The central figures of the festivities were carolers. They put on costumes of a goat, bear and other animals, went from house to house and sang carols.
An important part of New Year celebrations was a solemn ritual dinner cooked to the principle “the way you spend New Year’s Day is the way you will spend the rest of the year”. Therefore, a family would put 12 dishes on the table, each of them symbolizing a season. The twelve-dish traditional dinner included sausages, meat balls and other dishes from pork or beef, as well as butter, cheese, pancakes, pickled and marinated vegetables, kisel or compot, fish, mushrooms. Kutia (grain pudding) was a mandatory dish; therefore, the whole dinner was also called “kutia”. While cooking the festive meal people believed and hoped that their everyday meals will be just as good as kutia throughout the entire year.
During New Year celebrations our ancestors performed a variety of rituals in order to bring peace and prosperity to the family. Fortunetelling was another important New Year tradition. Some regions of Belarus had a sowing ritual performed by children. Children went from house to house with a bag full of grain, greeted hosts and imitated sowing – they spread rye, barley and oat grains on the floor. The ritual was performed in silence or a short symbolic song was sung wishing the hosts well-being and good harvest next year. Little artists were rewarded with gifts.
There was an interesting rite that was believed to improve the wellbeing of the family and mutual understanding between its members. Fifteen minutes before the new year, the entire family would gather at the festive table to thank the past year and leave all their problems, sorrows and illnesses behind. The family’s eldest would take a small earthen bowl, fill it with water by half and place it in the middle of the table. Everyone present would extend their left hand and keep it above the water for a minute sharp. In their thoughts they would cast away their illnesses, losses, envy and crop failure – all the top things they were unhappy about in the old year. If the family had babies, the adults would hold them, extend their hand and keep it above water together with theirs. A minute later the same person would take the bowl and splash the water outside together with all the sorrows. Once the midnight struck, the same bowl was fully filled with water and placed on the table. Then everyone present would extend their right hand and silently wish good things, strong health, success, luck and happiness. A minute later the bowl would be handed sideways following the way the sun travels and each person would drink their share of “wishes”.
Nowadays many believe that if you put down the most ardent desire on a piece of paper once the clock starts striking midnight and manage to burn the paper before the last strike, the wish will definitely come true.
Magic of the first day of the year like the magic of any beginning has given birth to a range of omens, taboos, rules of behavior. Before New Year’s Day people would try hard to pay all their debts lest they would spend the entire next year paying them. Our ancestors believed that if on New Year’s Eve something happens to a person, the same things will be happening to him or her for the entire year. It was thought a bad idea to do some heavy labor on the first day of a year lest you would spend the entire year without rest and pleasure from work well done. Around New Year’s Day, traders would sell merchandise for a small fee to the first buyer because it would guarantee successful trade for the entire year. Maidens used to get changed several times a day and wore only new apparel. They believed they would be getting new presents for the entire year then. It was required to place copper or gold money into the bowl you used to wash yourself on the first New Year morning in order to stay strong and beautiful for the entire year. Placed in the washing utensil, silver money and items would guarantee a fresh and fair complexion.
Watching the nature for years, people came up with New Year omens to foresee farmer’s luck for the next year. Folks would say “The first day of summer will be as good as the first day of January”, “If the sky is filled with stars on the New Year night, you can expect good crops and lots of berries”.
The idea to erect a New Year tree became gradually popular in Belarus in the second half of the 19th century – early 20th century. The rite was borrowed from Western Europe where it had been practiced for ages. The oldest document that mentions a Christmas tree was found in the town of Celesta, Alsace Province, France. It is dated by the year 1521. Initially the fir tree was believed to possess special magic powers and had worshippers. A New Year tree decoration process looked a bit like a sacrifice ritual. People would do it to make the tree look benevolently upon them, to borrow its life force that could help a person or their family. In days of old, a New Year tree was decorated smartly: apples signified the Fall of Man while oblations signified redemption. Later on, paper flowers became involved along with wreaths, gilded nuts, and sweets. Glass decorations went into use accidentally. The year that saw poor yield of apples and nuts skillful glassblowers of Lorraine Province made apples and nuts of glass. The novelty was very well received. Later on, the religious sense of the rite was lost. The green decorated fir tree became then a symbol of life, health, luck and gradually became the central symbol of New Year celebrations. It should be noted that it was rich Belarusians that adopted the custom of New Year tree decoration in the late 19th century – early 20th century. The custom was adopted by Belarusian peasants, artisans and workers much later.
 With time, New Year characters evolved. In the 20th century, Grandfather Frost was the key character of New Year celebrations in Belarus just like in most European countries. The image has evolved over centuries, with each nation making a contribution of its own. In some countries dwarfs were believed to be ancestors of Grandfather Frost, in others medieval vagrant jugglers were.
 In the Belarusian mythology there was this character that greatly influenced the Belarusians and their idea of what Grandfather Frost should look like. This is the ancient deity Zyuzya, the epitome of winter cold. People mentioned him in New Year festive rites until the 19th century. According to folklore traditions, Zyuzya was a gray-haired old man, short and bearded, without a hat but with an iron club. The Belarusians believed that Zyuzya spent most of the winter in forests. Occasionally he would go to visit villages and bring biting frosts there. When Zyuzya got angry he would hit his club on a tree stub and severe frosts would break up. On Christmas Day people used to leave some part of kutia as a treat for him. Head of family would throw the first spoon of kutia through a window saying: "Frost, come over here and treat yourself to kutia.”
Among the ancestors of Grandfather Frost there were real people, in addition to the mythological ones. In the 4th century there lived Archbishop Nikolai in the Byzantine city of Myra. According to legend, he was very kind, he was not afraid to fight for the offended, helped those in need. After the death Nikolai the Wonderworker became one of the most venerated Christian Saints. For Belarusians Saint Nikolai was the second after God protector of people from all troubles and misfortunes. The Day of Saint Nikolai the Wonderworker is celebrated on 19 December and is one of the most revered church holidays. On Nikolai’s Day, before meals people used to say a special prayer asking Nikolai the Wonderworker for prosperity, good harvest, livestock offspring, family harmony and peace. This day marked the beginning of preparations for festive gatherings, gave a special feeling of the upcoming holidays. Perhaps this is why such traits of Saint Nikolai as kindness, sense of justice gradually became the attributes of the main New Year character – Grandfather Frost.
New Year rites and traditions continued to change throughout the 20th century. Most of them have lost their magic meaning and turned into fun. Grandfather Frost got companions like Snow Maiden, Mother Winter and other winter characters.
The first decade of the 21st century brought many new and interesting things into New Year celebrations. For example, the Belarusians now go to visit Grandfather Frost in person. This became possible as Belarusian Grandfather Frost got a permanent residence. His fairytale estate stretches on the area of 15 hectares of pristine forests of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park. In addition, temporary residences of Grandfather Frost have sprung up in other places of the country.
The folkloric figure of Zyuzya has been revived. He has settled down in the Belarusian Poozerye. The village of Ozertsy, Postavy District, Vitebsk Oblast, has become his permanent place of residence. Zyuzya of Poozerye is renowned for his hospitality. On New Year’s Eve he welcomes tourists from all over Belarus, treats them to hot herbal tea from a firewood samovar, pancakes and spice cakes made to ancient recipes.
Over the last decade the tradition of New Year charity events for children has been reestablished and has become commonplace in Belarus. Festivities are held in every region of the country. They are a small New Year miracle for orphaned, special needs children as well as children from low-income families. The biggest festivity for many Belarusian kids is the main New Year’s Eve ball attended by the President of the Republic of Belarus.
 New Year’s Day is one of the most popular folk holidays in Belarus. The beginning of a new year symbolizes the beginning of a new life when everyone might have a chance to avoid mistakes and misfortune. This is why, on New Year, as in old times, people make wishes to leave all problems and sorrows behind in an old year and have only the best things in a new one.
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