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Thank you for sharing this. I'm reminded of my surprise when my Russian language teacher at university told me that Russians celebrated Xmas, and with trees no

Thank you for sharing this. I'm reminded of my surprise when my Russian language teacher at university told me that Russians celebrated Xmas, and with trees no less. This didn't compute with the typical nationalistic propaganda that passes for 'news'. "The socialist bloc of countries that arose after World War II was not a monolithic entity, it had significant country and cultural differences." "Unlike the Soviet integrated circuit designation or the East German semiconductor designation, the Romanian government did not set standards for the labeling of semiconductors."

flohofwoe 4y ago
> This didn't compute with the typical nationalistic propaganda that passes for 'news'. "Nationalistic propaganda" told you that Eastern Bloc countries didn't celebrate Christmas, wat? The whole religious aspect of Christmas was extremely toned down of course, but even the communists didn't have the power to dismantle the Church (surveil and suppress they did though).
- docmechanic 4y ago
  Do you have a specific question, or are you just triggered to read 'nationalistic propaganda' in this context?
  - flohofwoe 4y ago
    I'd be interested what country's propaganda claimed that Christmas (or the equivalent in the Orthodox church) wasn't celebrated in Eastern Bloc countries, because despite a number of exagerations in Western media of the Cold War era this seems a bit far fetched (having been exposed both to Eastern and Western propaganda in East Germany in my childhood). Christmas in the Eastern Bloc didn't have a 'religious undertone' anymore, but that's also been true for a long time in most civilized Western countries.
- thriftwy 4y ago
  Not sure about the rest of Eastern Bloc, in USSR the new year took on the big celebration with tree and feast. Which made the following (Julian) Christmas a small, quiet family holiday for people still exhausted by the large one.
  - filoleg 4y ago
    You are 100% correct. NYE is the largest celebration of the year that ended up stretching for days somehow, with the tree and drinking and gifts and all. Only pretty religious people observed Christmas, and it wasn't something that was really even considered as a celebration, more like a minor religious holiday.
    - Maursault 4y ago
      What makes it strange is that Jesus was a Pisces. Christmas, Christmas trees, mistletoe, carolling, wreaths, and even gift-giving became part of the Roman cover-up of a pagan ritual occurring on winter solstice.
grishka 4y ago
> Russians celebrated Xmas Huh? I'm Russian and I don't remember when Christmas even is. We celebrate the new year, and yes, there are trees. Christmas is very much a religious holiday for religious people.
- filoleg 4y ago
  Yeah, fully agreed with your take. I dont remember celebrating it even once, aside from a few times when I was keeping company to my grandma who was observing it. And even then, it could hardly be called a celebration. Also, Christmas in Russia isn't celebrated on the same date as in the US either (Dec 25th), it is around Jan 7th or so due some old-time disagreements about calendar system transitions.
- kgeist 4y ago
  Is Russian "New Year" really different from American "Christmas"? Both are about a certain old man giving gifts to children, both are about a certain kind of tree, etc. From what I gathered, it's not really a religious holiday in USA either - there's little about Jesus. The names are different, the dates and customs are different, but the essence is same.
  - docmechanic 4y ago
    +1
  - grishka 4y ago
    Yes, it's mostly the same thing. The old man is called "дед мороз", literally "grandfather frost". As a child you'll find your gift from him under the tree in the morning of January 1st. I believe North Americans' Santa Claus puts gifts into socks on Christmas night instead? By the way, all of this applies to other ex-USSR countries too, including at least Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
    - docmechanic 4y ago
      +1
baybal2 4y ago
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flohofwoe 4y ago

> This didn't compute with the typical nationalistic propaganda that passes for 'news'. "Nationalistic propaganda" told you that Eastern Bloc countries didn't celebrate Christmas, wat? The whole religious aspect of Christmas was extremely toned down of course, but even the communists didn't have the power to dismantle the Church (surveil and suppress they did though).

docmechanic 4y ago
Do you have a specific question, or are you just triggered to read 'nationalistic propaganda' in this context?
- flohofwoe 4y ago
  I'd be interested what country's propaganda claimed that Christmas (or the equivalent in the Orthodox church) wasn't celebrated in Eastern Bloc countries, because despite a number of exagerations in Western media of the Cold War era this seems a bit far fetched (having been exposed both to Eastern and Western propaganda in East Germany in my childhood). Christmas in the Eastern Bloc didn't have a 'religious undertone' anymore, but that's also been true for a long time in most civilized Western countries.
thriftwy 4y ago
Not sure about the rest of Eastern Bloc, in USSR the new year took on the big celebration with tree and feast. Which made the following (Julian) Christmas a small, quiet family holiday for people still exhausted by the large one.
- filoleg 4y ago
  You are 100% correct. NYE is the largest celebration of the year that ended up stretching for days somehow, with the tree and drinking and gifts and all. Only pretty religious people observed Christmas, and it wasn't something that was really even considered as a celebration, more like a minor religious holiday.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    What makes it strange is that Jesus was a Pisces. Christmas, Christmas trees, mistletoe, carolling, wreaths, and even gift-giving became part of the Roman cover-up of a pagan ritual occurring on winter solstice.

grishka 4y ago

> Russians celebrated Xmas Huh? I'm Russian and I don't remember when Christmas even is. We celebrate the new year, and yes, there are trees. Christmas is very much a religious holiday for religious people.

filoleg 4y ago
Yeah, fully agreed with your take. I dont remember celebrating it even once, aside from a few times when I was keeping company to my grandma who was observing it. And even then, it could hardly be called a celebration. Also, Christmas in Russia isn't celebrated on the same date as in the US either (Dec 25th), it is around Jan 7th or so due some old-time disagreements about calendar system transitions.
kgeist 4y ago
Is Russian "New Year" really different from American "Christmas"? Both are about a certain old man giving gifts to children, both are about a certain kind of tree, etc. From what I gathered, it's not really a religious holiday in USA either - there's little about Jesus. The names are different, the dates and customs are different, but the essence is same.
- docmechanic 4y ago
  +1
- grishka 4y ago
  Yes, it's mostly the same thing. The old man is called "дед мороз", literally "grandfather frost". As a child you'll find your gift from him under the tree in the morning of January 1st. I believe North Americans' Santa Claus puts gifts into socks on Christmas night instead? By the way, all of this applies to other ex-USSR countries too, including at least Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
  - docmechanic 4y ago
    +1

baybal2 4y ago

[dead]