The Presidential Library illustrates the history of congratulations

On the eve of the New Year, the Presidential Library presents unusual congratulations on the holiday. The library’s portal in the collection New Year and Christmas in Russia features the history of the celebration of the New Year, a collection of old postcards and calendars. At all times, people have tried to wish their loved ones a Happy New Year, putting the most sincere feelings and emotions into their wishes.

The historical essay by the writer Ivan Bozheryanov How Russian people celebrated and celebrate the Nativity of Christ, the New Year, Epiphany and Maslenitsa (1894) says that under Peter I the fashion arose to write poetry for the New Year.

The section “Periodicals about the celebration of the New Year and Christmas” presents pre-revolutionary and Soviet publications.

In the first January issue of the St. Petersburg “Humorous Almanac” (1906), among the anecdotes, feuilletons and cartoons, one can find several New Year’s tips.

No one could have imagined that the twentieth century would bring two terrible wars. Peaceful life was interrupted in the summer of 1914, when the First World War began.

The Leningrad blockade is one of the most tragic pages of the Great Patriotic War. But despite the hunger and cold, the besieged city celebrated the New Year. The children were really looking forward to it.

New Year's greetings were always accompanied by colorful cards and photographs. The New Year’s collection on the library’s portal provides an entire section Visual Materials dedicated to them, which includes pre-revolutionary postcards and Soviet New Year’s images. A separate selection of photographic materials is dedicated to New Year's St. Petersburg.