Old New Year
Description:
The evening before the New Year is called a generous evening. This holiday received its name from the generous kutya - ritual food, which is prepared for the New Year. Unlike the “lean” (January 6, according to the new style), this kutya was really generous: fried sausages, freshenin, cheese, scrambled eggs, pancakes with gravy, bloody were put on the table. In the center of the New Year ritual food was the meat of a pig, which because of its fertility was perceived as a symbol of yield.
Each hostess tried to prepare as many dishes as possible for the generous evening, because, according to the old belief, as a person spends the old year and meets the new one, so will the whole coming year be for him.
On a rich kutya, when all the festive dishes were already on the table, the owner opened the window or doors and invited frost to the festive dinner, seeking thereby to influence the forces of nature: “Frost, frost!” Haji kuzzi eschi! Don't be a rat, for we're budzes tsyabe bitsi gray and scarecrows! Come and get some kouthi! Don't come in the summer, or we'll beat you with iron whips. The hostess, too, typing a spoonful of kutya and coming to the window, had to knock and turn to the frost: “Frost, frost, haji kutsu esci, cab not maroziu rasada, agurkoy, garbuzou, mortuary, burakou i usyago, that I treba apiatsi” (Frost, frost, come taste the kuts, so as not to freeze the seeds, cucumbers, squash, squash, I need to sow everything).
In order for chickens to rush at home, and not to other people's yards, after a festive dinner, they brought a hoop to the house, laid out the remains of the dinner in it (especially - kutya) and fed chickens in this hoop.
The New Year’s Eve was accompanied by generosity. Looters (groups of youth of 5-7 or more people) went around all the houses in the village, congratulating the hosts on the holiday with songs, in exchange for which the hosts had to treat carolers.
The central "actor" of the generous company was the "goat" - a mobile, capable of dancing guy dressed in an upturned casing. He held the head of a goat made of wood or paper. "Goat" was accompanied by a guide who was supposed to be able to speak concisely. The guide, or “grandfather” was dressed in old clothes, attached to him a beard of hemp, gave him a staff. The rest supported the main actors.
People believe that on the night of January 13-14, fortune-telling is most likely to come true. At the same time, the Belarusian Orthodox Church urges young people to abandon the tradition of Christmas divination, which contradicts the Orthodox faith. On a safe marriage, girls should offer prayers to canonized Orthodox saints who are traditionally patrons of happy spouses - Andriana and Natalia, Peter and Fevronia.
These traditions are observed in rural areas to this day. The celebration of the Old New Year and in urban areas became popular. We all love holidays, especially in winter!