Russian Christmas Traditions

Viewing videos requires the latest version of Adobe's Flash Player.
Get the latest Flash player.

Showing 1-5

Part of the video series: Christmas Traditions Around the World

Argentinian Christmas Traditions

Welsh Christmas Traditions

Add to My Playlist What is a playlist?

Summary: Russian Christmas traditions involve many unique holiday activities. Learn more about the Christmas traditions in Russia with this free holiday video.

Views: 559 | Tags: holiday, activities, christmas, world, the, traditions, around

Get the latest Flash player.

Email Video Add to Favorites

About the Expert

Karina Fraley Karina Fraley is the official mom for mommywood.com. In addition to her work for Expert Village and mommywood.com, she is working on a children's crafting b... read more

Hide Comments

Conversations About This Video

Comments
(0 comments)
Questions & Answers
(0 questions) (0 answers)

Be the first to comment on this video.

Have a question about this video topic? Ask our community members and let them share their knowledge with you!

Ask A Question

You must sign in to perform that task.

Log In Now!
Don't have an account? Click here to sign up for FREE!

Sign Up Now!
Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Email Address:

Password:

Confirm Password:

Screen Name:

I would like to receive the Expert Village Video of the Day

Date of Birth:

Gender: Male Female

Country:

Zip/Postal Code:

Enter the letters you see below

What's This?

I agree to the terms of use and privacy policy.

Video Transcript

Russian Christmas Traditions

We are talking about different Christmas traditions from around the world. In Russia, there are actually a couple of different things that happen during Christmastime. One of them is just a winter festival, and the other one is a traditional Christmas, during which people fast for 39 days sometimes--up until Christmas Eve, which is January 6th when the first star appears in the sky. And then they have a twelve course meal after a very long fast, and each course is for one of the apostles, and they have an abundance of food--all different kinds of things--cabbage and fish and millet and fruit. And, as you can imagine, it is a very big celebration. People drop hay onto the ground in hopes that the feed would grow that year, and they make clucking sounds so the hens will lay eggs. And the children are brought presents by the babushka, which, legend has it, was a witch who actually had been traveling with the three wise men and then decided that she wasn't going to keep going to go see the baby Jesus. So they went on ahead without her, and then at some point she regretted having been left behind and she tried to catch up but wasn't able to. So the entire way she was filling her basket with gifts for the baby Jesus, and, nowadays, legend has it that she, to this day, is still searching for the baby Jesus. Just in case he's at any house she visits, she leaves a present for him. It's a very charming tradition. A legend that is not completely different from that, in Italy, where the witch is said to have also regretted not having visited the baby Jesus when she had her chance.