👼🏼 Orthodox Christmas is celebrated in Russia today.

🎄 MGIMO International team wholeheartedly congratulates everyone who celebrates this bright holiday! We wish you and your loved ones kindness and inspiration. May the coming year 2026 bring you the joy of new discoveries and success in the implementation of the most ambitious plans.

On the occasion of this holy holiday, we’ve collected interesting historical facts about the history and traditions of celebrating Christmas in Russia ❤️

🗓️ Date is a matter of style
Christmas in Russia is celebrated not on December 25, but on January 7 because of the difference in calendars. The Russian Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar ("old style"), which is 13 days behind the generally accepted Gregorian calendar.

💫 Christmas Eve and the first star
Christmas Eve (January 6) is called “Sochelnik”, from the word "sochivo" — a lean dish made from soaked wheat grains with honey, nuts and raisins (it is also called kutya). The main ancient tradition of this day is not to sit down for dinner before the first star appears in the sky. This is a symbolic memory of the Star of Bethlehem, which showed the Magi the way to the Christ Child. The traditional Christmas Eve dinner is lenten and consists of 12 dishes according to the number of apostles.

🙏🏻 From prohibition to rebirth
After the 1917 revolution, the celebration of Christmas in the USSR was completely banned as a religious relic. The star of Bethlehem was replaced with a five-pointed star, and the Christmas tree with a New Year's tree. It was only in 1991 that January 7 was declared an official non-working day in Russia, and the holiday began its public revival.

🎄New Year and Christmas
A unique festive "marathon" has developed in modern Russia. First, on December 31 – January 1, the whole country celebrates the New Year (with champagne, Olivier salad and social events). And after that, in a quieter and more spiritual atmosphere, Christmas comes — with church services and family feasts.

🍽️ Main dish
The traditional Christmas meat dish was and often remains baked goose with apples.

🎪 Carols and mummers
An old Christmas tradition is caroling (“koluyadki” in Russian). In the old days, young people and children dressed up (often using turned-out fur coats and masks), wandered around villages, sang special carols with wishes of well-being to the owners, and received sweets and coins in return. It was believed that such rounds brought good luck to the house for the whole year.

🫶🏻 Orthodox Christmas, rich in traditions, is an integral part of Russia's historical cultural code. A holy, warm family holiday symbolizing spiritual renewal and faith in the bright present and future.

Merry Christmas everyone!

🌐 MGIMO International (ENG) / МГИМО для иностранцев (RUS)

✨A New Year Celebration with Global Scale and National Flair ✨

We're keeping the festive spirit alive and publishing a #NewYearReport from Turkmenistan by Kerim, a member of the International Applicants Club, who told us how his homeland transforms during this holiday time! 🇹🇲

"For each of us, Kerim shares, the New Year is associated with something personal. For me, as a Turkmenistani, it's an amazing combination of incredible scale of festivities on the streets and heartfelt tranquility at home."

🎄During these days, Ashgabat fully lives up to its status as the "White Marble Pearl of Central Asia." The white marble city is adorned with festive lights, and the main attraction becomes the central square – "Älem." It is there that the country's Main New Year Tree stands tall.

🏡Despite all the external glitter, the heart of the holiday is the family feast. It's not customary in Turkmenistan to celebrate the New Year alone or just with friends. This is a time when several generations gather at one table: from the deeply respected "Yaşuly" (elders) to the youngest family members. It is in this continuity of generations that the main meaning of the holiday lies.

"We listen to the advice of our elders, share our plans, and believe in the best," Kerim says.

🇷🇺 The festive table here is a reflection of hospitality, where traditional New Year's salads are always accompanied by fragrant plov (rice dish with meat, vegetables, and spices): it's important for the table to be "bereketli" – abundant! In Turkmenistan, they say a guest is a blessing, so doors are always open, and even an unexpected guest will not leave hungry.

⭐And the main characters of the holiday are Aýaz Baba (Father Frost) and his granddaughter Garpamyk (Snow Maiden). Their costumes often feature elements of national dress: intricate embroidery and traditional patterns.

The New Year in Turkmenistan reminds us that even in a holiday celebrated all over the world, there is always room for national roots.

By Kerim Dovletov

🌐 MGIMO International (ENG) / МГИМО для иностранцев (RUS)

Continuing our #NewYearReport series with a look at how New Year is celebrated in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 🇰🇵

📢 In the DPRK, there are two New Year dates, each carrying its own historical, cultural, and familial significance.

🎄January 1 marks the official, secular New Year, observed according to the international Gregorian calendar. It is a public holiday.

🌙

Seollal

(설날) — the traditional Korean Lunar New Year — is considered the main family holiday. Its date changes each year (late January to February), and in terms of importance, it surpasses the solar New Year.

🎪 Solar New Year is celebrated on a grand and solemn scale. For children, festive performances, concerts, and theatrical matinees are organized, especially in cultural centers and children’s palaces.

📺 Official addresses, holiday broadcasts, concerts, mass performances by artistic groups, and sporting events also play a key role in the New Year celebrations. These foster an atmosphere of unity and solemnity.

🍚 Seollal in the DPRK is, above all, a family celebration. Relatives gather at home around a shared table, which always features Korean dishes: rice, noodles, soups, kimchi. It’s traditional to prepare tteokguk — a rice cake soup symbolizing renewal and the start of a new life cycle. It is believed that eating it makes you one year older.

The key ritual is ancestor veneration or

charye

. The ceremony is usually held at home before a special table of food offerings.

New Year in North Korea is not just a date on the calendar — it’s part of the country’s cultural fabric, where respect for tradition, family, and history holds a central place. It is celebrated quietly, with dignity, and with deep respect for heritage, preserving national identity in the modern world ❤️

Author — Artyom Kuznetsov

🌐 MGIMO International (ENG) / МГИМО для иностранцев (RUS)

Russia's New Year holidays are gradually coming to an end, but there’s still a full weekend ahead, so we're keeping the festive spirit alive and sharing a selection of beloved Russian and Soviet films that the whole country rewatches during long winter evenings! 🎞️✨

👉 The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975, dir. Eldar Ryazanov) – the number one classic.

The USSR's uniform architecture played a cruel trick on a Muscovite who, on the eve of the New Year, accidentally flew to Leningrad and woke up in an apartment identical to his own but belonging to a stranger young woman. Now the characters must decide whether this is a coincidence or fate.

The film has long been broken down into iconic quotes that unite older and younger generations. And on January 1, 2026, it will be 50 years since the film's premiere! By the way, it also premiered on a Thursday back then.

👉 “Charodei” (“The Wizards”) (1982, dir. Konstantin Bromberg)

A musical comedy about employees of a magical research institute who, ahead of December 31, are preparing a

magic wand

for the service industry, but face sabotage from ill-wishers and overcome obstacles to

save their invention and love along the way

.

The film is based on ideas by the Strugatsky brothers and gifted Russians many iconic New Year songs.

👉 Yolki (dir. Timur Bekmambetov)

A modern New Year’s comedy where several stories from different Russian cities intertwine into one big holiday tale. Taxi drivers, children, lovers, lonely souls, and eccentrics –

all are racing to make it by the chimes and fulfill their wishes.

The film became so beloved that last year, the twelfth installment of Yolki was released.

👉Silver Skates (2020, dir. Mikhail Lokshin)

In wintery St. Petersburg of 1899, the son of a lamplighter and the daughter of a minister meet by chance.

A fairy-tale-like, beautiful, and grand love story.

👉The Family Man (2025, dir. Dmitry Vlaskin)

Millionaire Georgiy spends his birthday completely alone and

demands that his assistant arrange a real family for him by morning

. To his amazement, Georgiy wakes up surrounded by a wife, a son, and a daughter who claim they've always been with him.

Now he must learn to be a husband and a father and money won't solve everything.

These kinds of films – sincere and beloved by all – are excellent for learning Russian and understanding the "mysterious Russian soul." It’s no coincidence that even many foreign leaders, before visiting Russia, spend a few hours watching films from this list.

🗓️ So, choose a film that speaks to your heart and enjoy both the classic Soviet cinema that whole generations grew up with and the modern films that have already become a tradition!

🌐 MGIMO International (ENG) / МГИМО для иностранцев (RUS)