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Religion wasn't welcome in the Soviet Union but that doesn't mean that people didn't still enjoy holidays. To make the holidays Soviet-friendly, they made New Year an official holiday. We're talking about the whole shebang. Picture a western Christmas and that's what the Russian New Year is like. Families get together for a huge feast, we put up a New Year's tree (identical to a Christmas tree), and Grandfather Frost and his granddaughter, the Snow Maiden, bring all the children of Russia presents. Kids are allowed to stay up late and at the stroke of midnight open their presents, though everyone has different rules on this (my mom let us open our presents around 11 since we bugged her so much). Personally, I like it better than the western Christmas because New Year is a holiday that ALL Russians find important and celebrate; it doesn't matter if you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, whatever.

Now that the Soviet Union no longer exists and Russia is just Russia, a lot of religious Christians celebrate Christmas too. But it's on January 7th (Russian Orthodox church follows the old calendar) and it's definitely a much quieter and religious event, usually held in church. New Year will probably always be Russia's most important holiday.

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