In OTL history, Russia's relationship with the Christmas holidays and the Christmas festive season has been complex. Especially in more recent modern history, of the last ca century or so. Traditionally, most Russian Christians have been Russian Orthodox, so it's no surprise that they celebrated and celebrate the Nativity, and thus Christmas, according to the Julian Calendar. Thus, they celebrate Christmas on the 6th and 7th of January, instead of Most other Orthodox Christians and related eastern-rite churches, primarily in eastern Europe, and parts of central, northern and southern Europe, also celebrate the Nativity/Christmas according to the Julian Calendar.
The big divergence between Russia and other majority-Christian countries in their celebrations of Christmas occured in part thanks to the October Revolution and Russia's transition to a communist regime. Though there had been some brief occassional periods in soviet history where religion was somewhat more tolerated than usual, overt displays of religiousness were heavily discouraged. There was a long-term forced secularisation process that lasted for some seventy years and also impacted the observance of many holidays. In the Christmas context, celebrating Christmas, whether according to the Gregorian or Julian calendar, was discouraged. The emphasis had been shifted fully towards the celebration of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Famously, though Russia had adopted the tradition of the holiday tree like many modern countries, it was not actually recognized as a Christmas tree. The USSR era had introduced the present form of the "yolka"/"fir-tree" in the mid-1930s as their official centrepiece to the winter holidays, and it was not a Christmas tree, but a New Year's tree. Even well over thirty years after the USSR had ceased to exist, and a century after the creation of soviet Russia, In OTL modern day Russia, Christmas is still perceived primarily as a very private religious holiday, whereas the actual main celebration for most of the public (whether religious or secular) is the celebration of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Interestingly enough, OTL countries that were once a part of the USSR, but were more on the periphery, and had local independence movements or enjoyed independence before forced annexation into the USSR, seemed to have kept up more distinctly Christmas traditions for decades. Even though these traditions were often just as "underground" and "private" as in the rest of the USSR, the people in the more peripheral member republics of the USSR seemed to have kept the idea of a more distinct Christmas season (based on either the Gregorian or Julian calendar) alive for much longer.
As a result, the Baltic countries returned to both religious and secular Christmas traditions right after the fall of communism and the renewal of their independene, and Ukraine had also openly celebrated both western-rite (Gregorian calendar) and eastern-rite (Julian calendar) Christmas holidays since at least the 1990s, if not since the tail end of the 1980s. Speaking for other former East Block countries that were not directly part of the USSR, the suppression of Christmas was even less successful there, and places like Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia et al never stopped celebrating Christmas (western-rite and eastern-rite) and New Year's in their own preferred way, at all. Even Russian efforts at forced cultural exports like Dyed Maroz ("Father Frost") couldn't supplant either Saint Nicholas and the Christchild. (Tellingly, with the return to democracy since the 1990s, even Santa Claus has had no success in supplanting them, either.)
Russia was the core and leading part of the USSR, and also of the tsarist Russian Empire before it, so much is obvious. This might explain why implementing an "let's-erase-Christmas-from-public-reverence" campaign worked more easily there, as Russia proper had generally few areas that would want to become independent or follow a more unique set of local traditions, including public holidays (both secular and religious). Still, it's remarkable that whereas the peripheral former USSR countries that are (more or less) majority-Christian had largelly returned to age-old and evolving Christmas traditions, many similar to celebrations in Catholic and Protestant countries and in Orthodox countries, Russia has largelly avoided this even during the last thirty years, when displays of religiousness are no longer ostracized. On the upside, an OTL modern day Russian Orthodox Christmas is almost strictly religious in its focus, it's not really commercialized with ancilliary stuff, but on the downside, Russians seem to have become very different to the majority of Christmas-celebrating countries in Europe, Asia and elsewhere.
Let's now imagine a world where the Russian monarchy wasn't done away with and was forced to reform into a constitutional monarchy, or a world where the October Revolution never succeeded, for whatever reason, and Russia had eventually become a democratic Russian Republic. In both scenarios, the old Russian Empire is gone by the ATL early 21st century.
In the first scenario, maybe the ruling family agreed to constitutional reforms for the interwar years, with Russia democratizing and becoming a Russian-speaking UK or Sweden, only for the royals and their circle launching some coup and rolling back the reforms a decade or two later, by the time of some ATL equivalent to world war two. It doesn't go well for imperial family, there's a counter-revolution against the Romanovs, ridding them of power. However, the monarchy is preserved, but a new dynasty is founded from some cadet branch of the formerly ruling Romanvos or a related European royal family. The empire in its original sense is abolished and dissolved, many of the peripheral countries of the former empire declare independence. In the post-war and post-crisis years, the Russian constitutional monarchy continues to democratize and becomes a modern developed country, though it's not always smooth sailing.
The second scenario is a bit less complicated. The Russian Republic of 1917 prevails, the communists never come to power. Despite some efforts to keep the former empire together, they lose control of its peripheral parts in the 1920s and these declare independence and become modern countries (Finland like in OTL, Ukraine regains independence full-time, the Baltics keep their independence, etc.) Due to this and due to internal problems, there are many predictable power struggles and power plays over the years, but in three or four decades, Russia eventually stabilizes (á la France's or South Korea's eventual political stabilization by the later 20th century, or like the UK when it was forced to dissolve the British Empire). ATL Russia becomes a respected and developed democratic republic. Again, it's not all smooth sailing, but they do manage to mature as a democratic country.
So, in either of the two scenarios, how would the resultant ATL Russia's celebrate the December and January holidays, including Christmas ?
I think it's obviously likely that most Christians in Russia would celebrate according to the Julian Calendar, so Christmas would be in early January, not in December. (The western-rite Christian minorities would likely celebrate in December.) Beyond that more obvious fact, I'm not sure.
Did the OTL Romanovs import any German and British customs of celebrating Christmas during their reign, prior to 1917 ? Could these continue or be even expanded, and we might see more secular celebrations of Christmas in Russia include these elements, or even Russian Orthodox Christmas celebrations adopting some of these "new-fangled western traditions" ?
Would Christmas in Russia retain a more strictly-religious perception or would it become a general public holiday like in the "West", with Russians grumbling about the "commercialization" of even Orthodox Christmas ? Could there be a backlash, maybe even among Russian royals, towards the "western Christmas traditions" and some period of campaigning for a "return to the humbler Orthodox Christmas traditions", or such ? Also, on that note, could the newer introduced traditions include Christmas season recipes not traditional to Russia, in addition to Christmas season decorations not traditional to Russia ?
How would a democratic tsarist monarchy or a democratic Russian Republic in an ATL present day celebrate the Christmas holidays ?
I wonder what you fine ladies and gentlemen can come up with.
The big divergence between Russia and other majority-Christian countries in their celebrations of Christmas occured in part thanks to the October Revolution and Russia's transition to a communist regime. Though there had been some brief occassional periods in soviet history where religion was somewhat more tolerated than usual, overt displays of religiousness were heavily discouraged. There was a long-term forced secularisation process that lasted for some seventy years and also impacted the observance of many holidays. In the Christmas context, celebrating Christmas, whether according to the Gregorian or Julian calendar, was discouraged. The emphasis had been shifted fully towards the celebration of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Famously, though Russia had adopted the tradition of the holiday tree like many modern countries, it was not actually recognized as a Christmas tree. The USSR era had introduced the present form of the "yolka"/"fir-tree" in the mid-1930s as their official centrepiece to the winter holidays, and it was not a Christmas tree, but a New Year's tree. Even well over thirty years after the USSR had ceased to exist, and a century after the creation of soviet Russia, In OTL modern day Russia, Christmas is still perceived primarily as a very private religious holiday, whereas the actual main celebration for most of the public (whether religious or secular) is the celebration of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Interestingly enough, OTL countries that were once a part of the USSR, but were more on the periphery, and had local independence movements or enjoyed independence before forced annexation into the USSR, seemed to have kept up more distinctly Christmas traditions for decades. Even though these traditions were often just as "underground" and "private" as in the rest of the USSR, the people in the more peripheral member republics of the USSR seemed to have kept the idea of a more distinct Christmas season (based on either the Gregorian or Julian calendar) alive for much longer.
As a result, the Baltic countries returned to both religious and secular Christmas traditions right after the fall of communism and the renewal of their independene, and Ukraine had also openly celebrated both western-rite (Gregorian calendar) and eastern-rite (Julian calendar) Christmas holidays since at least the 1990s, if not since the tail end of the 1980s. Speaking for other former East Block countries that were not directly part of the USSR, the suppression of Christmas was even less successful there, and places like Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia et al never stopped celebrating Christmas (western-rite and eastern-rite) and New Year's in their own preferred way, at all. Even Russian efforts at forced cultural exports like Dyed Maroz ("Father Frost") couldn't supplant either Saint Nicholas and the Christchild. (Tellingly, with the return to democracy since the 1990s, even Santa Claus has had no success in supplanting them, either.)
Russia was the core and leading part of the USSR, and also of the tsarist Russian Empire before it, so much is obvious. This might explain why implementing an "let's-erase-Christmas-from-public-reverence" campaign worked more easily there, as Russia proper had generally few areas that would want to become independent or follow a more unique set of local traditions, including public holidays (both secular and religious). Still, it's remarkable that whereas the peripheral former USSR countries that are (more or less) majority-Christian had largelly returned to age-old and evolving Christmas traditions, many similar to celebrations in Catholic and Protestant countries and in Orthodox countries, Russia has largelly avoided this even during the last thirty years, when displays of religiousness are no longer ostracized. On the upside, an OTL modern day Russian Orthodox Christmas is almost strictly religious in its focus, it's not really commercialized with ancilliary stuff, but on the downside, Russians seem to have become very different to the majority of Christmas-celebrating countries in Europe, Asia and elsewhere.
Let's now imagine a world where the Russian monarchy wasn't done away with and was forced to reform into a constitutional monarchy, or a world where the October Revolution never succeeded, for whatever reason, and Russia had eventually become a democratic Russian Republic. In both scenarios, the old Russian Empire is gone by the ATL early 21st century.
In the first scenario, maybe the ruling family agreed to constitutional reforms for the interwar years, with Russia democratizing and becoming a Russian-speaking UK or Sweden, only for the royals and their circle launching some coup and rolling back the reforms a decade or two later, by the time of some ATL equivalent to world war two. It doesn't go well for imperial family, there's a counter-revolution against the Romanovs, ridding them of power. However, the monarchy is preserved, but a new dynasty is founded from some cadet branch of the formerly ruling Romanvos or a related European royal family. The empire in its original sense is abolished and dissolved, many of the peripheral countries of the former empire declare independence. In the post-war and post-crisis years, the Russian constitutional monarchy continues to democratize and becomes a modern developed country, though it's not always smooth sailing.
The second scenario is a bit less complicated. The Russian Republic of 1917 prevails, the communists never come to power. Despite some efforts to keep the former empire together, they lose control of its peripheral parts in the 1920s and these declare independence and become modern countries (Finland like in OTL, Ukraine regains independence full-time, the Baltics keep their independence, etc.) Due to this and due to internal problems, there are many predictable power struggles and power plays over the years, but in three or four decades, Russia eventually stabilizes (á la France's or South Korea's eventual political stabilization by the later 20th century, or like the UK when it was forced to dissolve the British Empire). ATL Russia becomes a respected and developed democratic republic. Again, it's not all smooth sailing, but they do manage to mature as a democratic country.
So, in either of the two scenarios, how would the resultant ATL Russia's celebrate the December and January holidays, including Christmas ?
I think it's obviously likely that most Christians in Russia would celebrate according to the Julian Calendar, so Christmas would be in early January, not in December. (The western-rite Christian minorities would likely celebrate in December.) Beyond that more obvious fact, I'm not sure.
Did the OTL Romanovs import any German and British customs of celebrating Christmas during their reign, prior to 1917 ? Could these continue or be even expanded, and we might see more secular celebrations of Christmas in Russia include these elements, or even Russian Orthodox Christmas celebrations adopting some of these "new-fangled western traditions" ?
Would Christmas in Russia retain a more strictly-religious perception or would it become a general public holiday like in the "West", with Russians grumbling about the "commercialization" of even Orthodox Christmas ? Could there be a backlash, maybe even among Russian royals, towards the "western Christmas traditions" and some period of campaigning for a "return to the humbler Orthodox Christmas traditions", or such ? Also, on that note, could the newer introduced traditions include Christmas season recipes not traditional to Russia, in addition to Christmas season decorations not traditional to Russia ?
How would a democratic tsarist monarchy or a democratic Russian Republic in an ATL present day celebrate the Christmas holidays ?
I wonder what you fine ladies and gentlemen can come up with.
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This includes "fads" like the spread of the Christmas tree, which was not a universally accepted Christmas decoration until the influence of various royals throughout Europe in the 19th century, including the Habsburgs in Austria-Hungary.
