Happy Old New Year! I love the winter holidays in Russia - in the space of less than a month, we had Western Christmas (Dec 25), New Years, Russian Christmas (Jan 7), and Old New Years (today, Jan 13)! Most Russians don't celebrate Western Christmas, but being an expat, I celebrated it by having a party with some friends. Russian Christmas is a religious holiday, so it's not celebrated by everyone, and Old New Years isn't really celebrated unless it falls on a weekend since everyone is back at work starting Jan 11. However, the whole country is on vacation from January 1-10, so the break is welcomed no matter what you choose to celebrate! The other nice thing about having two New Years is that if you fall through with the resolution you made on the 1st, you can try again starting on the 13th :)
posted by Ashira
