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We are not so different
Today, Russian and foreign students met again at the USUE Museum. This time they shared with each other the traditions of celebrating New Year and Christmas.
Directly at the entrance to the hall of the museum, we met students with a TV screen with movie stills from the Eldar Ryazanov’s Irony of Fate. “It is the most popular New Year Russian film,” Russians explained to foreigners. Tangerines and sweets on the table were already waiting for students.
The first meeting of students took place in November. Therefore, it took little time to present themselves and they immediately proceeded to the main thing - decorating the Christmas tree. The Russians said that in our country traditionally all the family decorate a Christmas tree and that, according to an unwritten tradition, some part of the tree will look less-dressed. Having decorated the fir-tree with a garland, the audience shouted: “Christmas tree, light up!”, which was a signal for Father Frost and Snow Maiden to appear in the museum. Foreigners recited poems in Russian, which they had learned during their studies at the Preparatory Faculty. They received small gifts from the fairy-tale hero.
Then, students from Cameroon, Egypt, India, and Senegal talked about what New Year traditions exist in their countries. Most every of these countries has been influenced by Western Europe. So, in African countries, Catholic Christmas and Santa Claus are more famous. However, for example, in Egypt, most of the population professes the Islamic faith. Therefore, Christmas is not celebrated there. However, in big cities, where there are always a lot of tourists from Europe, they organize New Year celebrations as a compromise between secular and religious holidays.
It is very warm in almost all countries where USUE international students came from. And the snow there, if it falls, is light. Therefore, there are no winter attributes of the New Year familiar to us, including the main decoration of any apartment in Russia—fir tree or pine. Some cultures have their own calendar system. For example, in India, according to the unified national calendar, the current year is 1943. However, they seldom use it, preferring global date designations.
Director of the USUE Museum, Yulia Taushkanova, noted that the goal of the organizers was to bring together representatives of different cultures so that they could make sure there is more in common between peoples than it might seem at first glance.
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