In Russia, the date of the New Year was not fixed. Farmers started their work in the field on March 1, which was considered the first day of the year. In other cases, the New Year coincided with the spring equinox on March 22. For some Slavic pagans, the first day of the year was the so-called "winter solstice" on December 22 (the shortest and coldest day of the year), but the holiday was usually celebrated when the earth "awoke" and was ready to offer another harvest. At the same time, on the eve of what we know as the winter New Year, Russians celebrated St. Basil's Day. People prepared various pork dishes for this holiday, believing that Saint Basil of Caesarea would ensure the growth of livestock and a prosperous life. To ensure a rich harvest, there was also a ritual called "sowing." In the early morning, children would visit houses and scatter spring wheat, which was carefully collected and stored until spring—the real sowing season. Children who participated in the ritual received sweet gifts, which they put into homemade colorful sleeves. After the Baptism of Russia, the Byzantine calendar came to the Russian people, which set the New Year to September 1. This had its own logic: when agricultural work was complete and the harvest was gathered, it was time to begin a new life and prepare for the next season. Moreover, it was believed that on the first day of September, God created the world. For several centuries, the New Year was celebrated twice: officially in the fall and according to ancient customs in the spring. In the 15th century, when Russia was freed from the Mongol yoke, Tsar Ivan III ordered the establishment of a single date, and the New Year celebration was moved to September, both for the Russian church and for the general population. Since 1495, on September 1, ceremonies called "On the Beginning of the New Year," "On the Annals," or "The Ceremony of Long Life" were held in the Kremlin. The tsar and the metropolitan (later patriarch) led the festive procession, which went on under the sound of church bells. In the 17th century, this tradition was further enhanced: now the monarch, his entourage, and the boyars would approach the people in fancy clothes and congratulate them. After the solemn church service, people celebrated the New Year in their homes with songs, dances, and treats, but it was called differently—"The First Day of the Year." Peter I decided to celebrate the New Year according to European traditions after returning to Russia from his Grand Embassy in 1698. A year later, on December 20, 1699, the tsar issued a new decree, detailing the changes that his subjects would face at the beginning of the new century. From then on, the calendar would be based on the birth of Christ, not the creation of the world, and New Year's Day was to be celebrated on January 1. Peter the Great's decrees didn't stop there. By his command, all homes were to be decorated with pine, fir, or juniper branches. Since this tradition was little known in Russia, examples of decorated trees were displayed at the Moscow Gostiny Dvor. However, after the tsar’s death, the tradition of Christmas trees was soon forgotten, and the decorated tree only became a symbol of the New Year holiday in the 1830s-40s. From that point on, the New Year became a public, not a household, holiday. The tsar dreamed that the day would be celebrated with fireworks and loud cannon or gunshots. On the streets, Peter I ordered bonfires made of wood, brushwood, and tar to be lit and kept burning throughout the entire festive week. On the night of December 31, 1699, to January 1, 1700, the holiday was celebrated for the first time according to Peter’s decrees. A grand fireworks display was organized on Red Square, and Muscovites fired muskets and launched gunpowder rockets near their homes. Boyars and military men wore Hungarian caftans, and their wives wore festive dresses sewn in European fashion. The noisy celebrations lasted until January 6 and ended with a religious procession. Here, Peter the Great again rejected ancient traditions and did not follow the clergy in rich robes. Instead, he wore a uniform and stayed on the banks of the Moscow River, surrounded by soldiers from the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments, watching the procession. Since then, the New Year has always been celebrated on the night of December 31 to January 1. In the early 20th century, the holiday gained another symbol—Father Frost, whose "prototype" is believed to be either the pagan sorcerer named Treskun or Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. During World War I, the New Year was not celebrated as lavishly as Peter I had wished—many people did not want to repeat the German traditions. After the October Revolution, New Year celebrations were sometimes banned and sometimes allowed again. The final revival of the New Year holiday occurred in the 1930s: the main winter holiday was rehabilitated, and it returned as bright, noisy, and magical. And it has remained so to this day. It was not until 1947 that January 1 was declared a public holiday.