Last Class and the New Yea

I had my last Russian class until the next semester starts and I taught my last English class too. My last group had their oral exam today and the topic was the Russian New Year. Here are some interesting facts that I learned about Russian new year:

• Russian New Year is the biggest holiday of the year. We suspect that New Year used to be just like our New Year, but during the Communist Revolution the Christmas holiday was 'replaced' with New Year.
• Russians give gifts at New Year, not at Christmas (except of course for Russian xians)
• New Year is a VERY big family holiday. And they gather together and enjoy each others' company with many specific family traditions.
• The Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on December 7.
• Mandarin oranges are huge too. My students explained that this was because prior to Stalin there was a 'deficit' of such delicacies. Don't know if this is the case, but it's how they explained it to me.
• Students love to go skiing during the holidays as well.
• They also celebrate New Year twice. On December 31-January 1 and then they celebrate Old New Year on January 13 - January 14 (before the calendar was changed)
• Drinking does appear to be a large part of the holiday for many Russians, but not all. Many of my students really disagreed with the sentiment that many Russians are hard drinkers.
• Many students and families have the tradition at midnight, when the clock begins to strike midnight, you write down your wishes for the next year on a sheet of paper, burn it into a glass of champagne, and then drink the glass down before the clock finishes striking midnight. Then your wishes will come true.
• My students explained to me that Russian tradition stems from both Christ!an orthodoxy and a history of paganism. Many of them (mostly girls) call upon old occult traditions - mostly to try and find out who their husbands will be.
• Contrary to popular belief the students inform me that there are not that many bears in Siberia. At least not where we are.
• Here's an AWESOME link with information about Russian Christmas -- at the bottom is some info on New Years: http://russian-crafts.com/customs/christmas.html