How can the New Year be old? It's simple if you are in Russia.
The trick is that before 1918 in Russia we used the Gregorian calendar, which differs from the Julian calendar. It is shifted by two weeks.
Jan 1 of the Julian calendar is Jan 14 by the Gregorian calendar.
I like standardization, and I am proud that we made the change, that we haven't chosen to create a mess with different standards like with miles, kilometers, liters and pints.
But some people didn’t like that shift at that time, and they continue
It was called New Year by Old style or Old New Year for brevity.
Since we like any reason for celebration, people started to love the traditional New Year and it ha become our new tradition.
How do we celebrate it? Well, it's kind of the same New Year, but a lighter version.
When the holidays are almost over, and we are getting ready to get back our duties, celebrating the Old New Year is kind of the final point in that holiday's journey.
Despite all that, it is still an "unofficial" holiday, and I have no idea why.
If something is widely common and exists for 100 years, in my opinion it’s time to admit it officially, even if it’s strange.
Do you have something like that? Do you celebrate something twice?
