News from the new multicultural Syria: Central Asian fighters have burned the Christmas tree, ravaged a monastery, and destroyed a cemetery

The Christmas tree was set on fire in the Christian town of Suqailabiyya and in the province of Hama. The Christian monastery from the 3rd century in Saidnaya, as well as the adjacent cemetery, were also damaged.

The new government shrugs its shoulders – foreign fighters, mainly from Central Asia, act and do not obey orders not to attack Christians.

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Merry Christmas!

Dear readers, dear subscribers, dear friends,

Especially in today's rather crazy times, it is so important that we don't let ourselves be driven mad by the whirlwind of events. And today is the time to exhale and pause. Cherish this time, spend it with your family, your friends. Give each other the most important thing — your time, your attention, your warmth.

We wish you all the best!!!

(There is a minimum of news today.)

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The History of New Year in Russia. From Peter I to Today

The first Russian Emperor and the first Russian New Year... How this amazingly bright, beloved festival since childhood has changed, faded, and continuously resurrected in a new interpretation in Russia.

The first true New Year in Russia was in the year 1700. In more than three hundred years, much has changed, but the tradition of celebrating introduced by Peter I remains to this day.

On 20 December 7208 (1699), the ruler of "all Great, Little, and White Russia," Peter Alexeyevich, signed a significant decree that laid the foundation for the most popular festival in Russia — New Year. The innovative Tsar proposed — no more and no less — to switch to a new system of timekeeping. The years were no longer to be counted from the creation of the world, as had always been the case in Russia, but from the birth of Christ, as was customary in other countries.

"To him, the great ruler, it became known — not only that in many European Christian countries, but also among the Slavic peoples, who align with our Eastern Orthodox Church in all respects — like the Wallachians, Moldavians, Serbs, Dalmatians, Bulgarians, and the subjects of his, the great ruler, the Circassians, and all Greeks, from whom our Orthodox faith was adopted — all these peoples count their years from the birth of Christ..." — thus begins the text of the decree.

Another important novelty — the date of the beginning of the year. In the timekeeping from the creation of the world, 1 September was considered the start of the year. Peter I changed the centuries-old tradition with a stroke of a pen: The start of the new year was moved from September to January. The decree states: "And now, from the birth of Christ, the year 1699 is reached, and in the coming January on the 1st day, the new year 1700 will begin, along with the new century".

Peter's Decree No.1736: Main Points

• Begin timekeeping not from the creation of the world, but from the birth of Christ.
• Consider the first month of the year as January and not September.
• Celebrate the New Year: decorate houses, congratulate each other, hold fireworks and cannon shots.

The decree of the first Russian Emperor is still joyfully followed by Russians today!

Peter I's decree also prescribed celebrating the New Year: preparing for this date and then celebrating from 1 to 7 January. Specifically, the ruler ordered "to make some decorations from trees and branches of pines, firs, and junipers", "on 1 January, as a sign of joy, to congratulate each other with the New Year... to shoot three times and fire some rockets, as many as each has" and "in the main streets, where there is space, to light fires from wood, brushwood, or straw at night from 1 to 7 January..."

According to Peter's decree, coniferous trees or their branches should decorate houses not inside, but outside. Besides the fir, it was also allowed to use pine and juniper.

After Peter the Great, during the times of palace revolutions and until the 1840s, New Year and coniferous trees were forgotten in Russia. People lived according to the Orthodox calendar, divined during the Holy Nights... And only in the mid-19th century did they remember the fir again: In Russia, as in Europe, it became a symbol of Christmas. The custom of holding Christmas parties for children also emerged.

After the revolution, in 1928, the fight against "religious prejudices" began, and Christmas as well as New Year were no longer celebrated in the Soviet Union. The holiday only returned to the people at the end of 1935 in a changed form: The two holidays were united into one — New Year. And the tree became the New Year's tree, as it is perceived in Russia today.

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