Official State Public Holidays

NEW YEAR - 1 JANUARY

The biggest holiday in Russia which most people look forward to is the New Year celebrations. For Russians this celebration is similar to how Christmas is celebrated in the West, ie with family, presents, and lots of food and drink. Unlike most Western New Year celebrations where people meet the New Year with friends, in Russia it is predominately a family occasion. Like the Western Christmas tree, Russian homes will be decorated with a New Year tree. The traditional food is the Russian 'olivie' salad and the drink of choice is Shampanskoe (the Russian champagne). Like the West has Father Christmas or Santa Claus on Christmas, on New Year's Eve in Russia Dyed Moroz (Grandfather Frost) visits Russian children to hand out presents and treats, often accompanied by his granddaughter Snegurochka the Snow Maiden. People also give their family, friends and colleagues New Year presents. and most firms hold corporate parties around the New Year. Before 2005 Russians just got 1-2 January off for New Year, but now 1-5 January and then 8 January are designated non-working days. The 7 January is also a public holiday - Orthodox Christmas. This means that the first eight days of the year are non-working holidays in the country. Taking into account swapping weekends for working days, Russians went back to work on 11 January in 2011, on 10 January in 2012 and on 9 January in 2013! These long holidays though are not popular with everybody, some people argue that it is stupid to have such a long break from work in January when the country is in the midst of winter.