On January 17, 2023, a friendly meeting of the participants of the conversation club was held at the European Foundation of Slavic Literature and Culture, dedicated to the traditions and customs of celebrating Christmas time in Rus' - “Merry Christmas time”.
The merry New Year has died down, Christmas has passed, but the series of winter holidays continues. According to a long tradition among the Slavic peoples, Christmas time is celebrated for twelve days from the Nativity of Christ until Epiphany.
This holiday intertwined the pagan rites of the ancient Slavs and the customs of Christianity. In the days of merry Christmas time, people had fun, arranged fairs and festivities. The hostesses diligently prepared for Christmas time: they cleaned the huts, prepared festive clothes and tasty treats.
The guests of the meeting learned all this from the story of the EFSP&K teacher over a cup of fragrant tea.
The main tradition that came to us from paganism is Christmas divination. For the sake of fun, the meeting participants tried to predict their fate in a comic form, pulling out cards with cheerful wishes.
Then they paid attention to how the winter holidays were described in classical literature, visited the current exhibition “Dostoevsky. Episodes” and listened to the writer’s Christmas story “Christ’s Boy on the Christmas Tree”.
Admirers of F. M. Dostoevsky's work can get acquainted with the exhibition at the Aircraft Gallery of the European Foundation of Slavic Literature and Culture.