Yuletide and Christmas stories in Russian literature of the 18th-21st centuries. Yuletide stories from “Thomas” – from miracle to reality and vice versa

Yuletide and Christmas stories in Russian literature of the 18th-21st centuries.

Wonderful winter holidays have long included, and probably still include, ancient folk Christmastide (pagan in origin), and religious holiday The Nativity of Christ, and the secular holiday of the New Year.

Literature has always been a reflection of the life of the people and society, and the mysterious Christmas theme is simply a treasure trove of fantastic stories that convey the world of the wonderful and otherworldly, always bewitching and attracting the average reader.

Christmastide, in the succinct expression of A. Shakhovsky, is “evenings of folk fun”: fun, laughter, mischief are explained by a person’s desire to influence the future (in accordance with the proverb “as he began, so he ends” or with the modern one - “as you meet New Year, that’s how you’ll spend it”).

It was believed that the more fun a person spends the beginning of the year, the more prosperous the year will be...

Artist A. Emelyanov "Christmastide"

However, where there is excessive laughter, fun, fervor, it is always restless and even somehow alarming... This is where an intriguing plot begins to develop: detective, fantastic or simply romantic... The plot is always dedicated to Holy Days - the time from Christmas to Epiphany .

In Russian literature, the Yuletide theme begins to develop with mid-18th century V.: At first these were anonymous comedies about games, Christmas tales and stories. Their characteristic feature was the long-standing idea that it is during the Yuletide period that “evil spirits” - devils, goblin, kikimoras, banniks, etc. - become most active. This emphasizes the hostility and danger of Yuletide time...

Fortune telling, caroling by mummers, and dish songs became widespread among the people. Meanwhile, Orthodox Church has long condemned such behavior as sinful. The decree of Patriarch Joachim of 1684, prohibiting Yuletide “possessions,” says that they lead a person into “soul-destructive sin.” Yuletide games, fortune-telling and mummery (“mask-playing”, putting on “animal-like mugs”) have always been condemned by the Church.

Subsequently, a need arose for folk Christmas tales and stories to be processed literary. Writers, poets, ethnographers and folklorists began to engage in these activities, in particular M.D. Chulkov, who published the humorous magazine “Both and Sio” throughout 1769, and F.D. Nefedov, from the end of the 19th century. who published magazines with Christmas themes, and, of course, V.A. Zhukovsky, who created the most popular Russian ballad “Svetlana”, which is based on folk story about a heroine who tells fortunes at Christmas time...

Many poets of the 19th century also turned to the theme of Christmas: A. Pushkin (“Fortune telling and Tatyana’s Dream” (excerpt from the novel “Eugene Onegin”), A. Pleshcheev (“The Legend of the Child Christ”), Y. Polonsky (“Yolka” ), A. Fet (“Fortune telling”), etc.

Gradually, during the period of development of romanticism, the Christmas story attracts the whole world of the miraculous. Many stories are based on the miracle of Bethlehem, and this is the transformation of just a Christmas story into a Christmas story...

The Christmas story in Russian literature, unlike Western literature, appeared only in the 40s. XIX century This is explained by the special role of the holiday, which is different from Europe.

Christmas Day is a great Christian holiday, the second most important after Easter.

For a long time in Russia, the world celebrated Christmastide, and only the Church celebrated the Nativity of Christ.

In the West, the Christian tradition became much earlier and more closely intertwined with the pagan one; in particular, this happened with the custom of decorating and lighting a Christmas tree for Christmas. Ancient pagan rite veneration of the tree became a Christian custom. The Christmas tree has become a symbol of the Divine Child. The Christmas tree entered Russia late and took root slowly, like any Western innovation.

WITH mid-19th V. The appearance of the first stories is also associated with Christmas themes. Earlier texts, such as “The Night Before Christmas” by N.V. Gogol, are not indicative; firstly, Gogol’s story depicts Christmastide in Ukraine, where the celebration and experience of Christmas was closer to the Western one, and secondly, Gogol, the pagan element (“devilishness”) prevails over the Christian.

Another thing is “Night at Christmas” by the Moscow writer and actor K. Baranov, published in 1834. This is really a Christmas story: the leading motive in it is mercy and sympathy for the child - a typical motive of the Christmas story.

The massive appearance of such texts was observed after the Christmas stories of Charles Dickens from the early 1840s were translated into Russian. - “A Christmas Carol”, “Bells”, “Cricket on the Stove”, and later others.

These stories were a huge success among Russian readers and gave rise to many imitations and variations. One of the first writers to turn to the Dickenian tradition was D.V. Grigorovich, who published the story “Winter Evening” in 1853.

“The Lord of the Fleas” and “The Nutcracker” by Hoffmann and some of Andersen’s fairy tales, especially “The Christmas Tree” and “The Little Match Girl,” played an important role in the emergence of Russian Christmas prose.

Plot the last fairy tale used by F.M. Dostoevsky in the story “The Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree”, and later by V. Nemirovich-Danchenko in the story “Stupid Fedka”.

The death of a child on Christmas night is an element of phantasmagoria and a too terrible event, emphasizing the crime of all humanity against children...

But from a Christian point of view, little heroes acquire true happiness not on earth, but in Heaven: they become angels and end up on the Christmas tree of Christ Himself. Actually, a miracle occurs: the miracle of Bethlehem repeatedly affects the destinies of people...

Later, Christmas and Yuletide stories were written by almost all major prose writers from the 19th century. XX centuries Yuletide and christmas stories they could be cheerful and sad, funny and scary, they could end with a wedding or the death of heroes, reconciliation or a quarrel.

But with all the diversity of their plots, they all had something in common - something that was in harmony with the festive mood of the reader, sometimes sentimental, sometimes uncontrollably cheerful, invariably causing a response in the hearts.

Each such story was based on “a small event that had a very festive character” (N.S. Leskov), which made it possible to give them a general subtitle. The terms “Christmas story” and “Yuletide story” were, for the most part, used as synonyms: in texts under the heading “Yuletide story” motifs associated with the holiday of Christmas could predominate, and the subtitle “Christmas story” did not at all imply the absence of folk motifs in the text Christmas time...

The best examples of the genre were created by N.S. Leskov. In 1886, the writer wrote a whole cycle of “Yuletide Stories.”

In the story “The Pearl Necklace,” he reflects on the genre: “It is absolutely required of a Christmas story that it be timed to coincide with the events of the Christmas Eve - from Christmas to Epiphany, that it be somewhat fantastic, have some kind of moral... and, finally - so that it certainly ends cheerfully.

There are few such events in life, and therefore the author is forced to invent himself and compose a plot suitable for the program.”

Both “Vanka” and “On Christmastide” by A.P. Chekhov are unique Yuletide stories.

In n. XX century, with the development of modernism in literature, parodies of the Yuletide genre and humorous recommendations on how to write Yuletide stories began to appear.

So, for example, in the newspaper “Rech” in 1909, O.L.D”or (Orsher I.) published the following guide for young writers:

“Any person with hands, two kopecks for paper, pen and ink and no talent can write a Christmas story.

You just need to adhere to the well-known system and firmly remember the following rules:

1) Without pig, goose, Christmas tree and good man The Christmas story is not valid.

2) The words “manger”, “star” and “love” should be repeated at least ten, but no more than two to three thousand times.

3) The ringing of bells, tenderness and repentance should be at the end of the story, and not at the beginning of it.

All the rest does not matter".

The parodies indicated that the Yuletide genre had exhausted its possibilities. Of course, one cannot help but note the interest in the spiritual sphere among the intelligentsia of that time.

But the Yuletide story moves away from its traditional norms. At times, as, for example, in V. Bryusov’s story “The Child and the Madman,” it provides an opportunity to depict mentally extreme situations: the miracle of Bethlehem is perceived as an unconditional reality in the story only by the child and the mentally ill Semyon.

In other cases, Christmas works are based on medieval and apocryphal texts, in which religious moods and feelings are especially intensively reproduced (the contribution of A.M. Remizov is important here).

Sometimes, by reproducing the historical setting, the Yuletide plot is given a special flavor (as, for example, in the story by S. Auslander “Christmastide in Old Petersburg”), sometimes the story gravitates towards an action-packed psychological novel.

The traditions of the Christmas story were especially honored by A. Kuprin, creating excellent examples of the genre - stories about faith, goodness and mercy “The Poor Prince” and “The Wonderful Doctor”, as well as writers from Russia abroad I. A. Bunin (“Epiphany Night”, etc.) , I.S. Shmelev (“Christmas”, etc.) and V. Nikiforov-Volgin (“Silver Blizzard”, etc.).

In many Christmas stories, the theme of childhood is the main one. This topic is developed statesman and the Christian thinker K. Pobedonostsev in his essay “Christmas”: “The Nativity of Christ and Holy Easter are primarily children’s holidays, and in them the power of Christ’s words seems to be fulfilled:

Unless you are like children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Other holidays are not so accessible to children’s understanding...”

“A quiet night over the Palestinian fields, a secluded den, a manger. Surrounded by those domestic animals that are familiar to the child from the first impressions of memory - in the manger the entwined Baby and above Him the meek, loving Mother with a thoughtful gaze and a clear smile of maternal happiness - three magnificent kings following a star to a wretched den with gifts - and in the distance on the field there are shepherds in the middle of their flock, listening to the joyful news of the Angel and the mysterious choir of the Heavenly Forces.

Then the villain Herod, pursuing the innocent Child; the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem, then the journey of the holy family to Egypt - how much life and action there is in all this, how much interest for a child!”

And not only for a child... Holy days are such an amazing time when everyone becomes children: simple, sincere, open, kind and loving to everyone.

Later, and not surprisingly, the Christmas story was “revolutionarily” transformed into a New Year’s story. New Year as a holiday replaces Christmas, and the kind Father Frost comes to replace Christ the Child...

But the state of awe and expectation of a miracle is also present in the “new” stories. “Christmas tree in Sokolniki”, “Three assassination attempts on V.I. Lenin” by V.D. Bonch-Bruevich, “Chuk and Gek” by A. Gaidar are some of the best Soviet idylls. There is also no doubt that E. Ryazanov’s films “Carnival Night” and “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath” are oriented towards this tradition...

Yuletide and Christmas stories in Russian literature of the 18th-21st centuries.

wonderful winter holidays have long been included and probably still include, and ancient folk Christmastide(pagan in origin), and church feast of the Nativity of Christ, and worldly New Year's holiday. Literature has always been a reflection of the life of the people and society, and even the mysterious yuletide theme- simply a treasure trove of fantastic stories that convey a world of the wonderful and otherworldly, always bewitching and attracting the average reader.

Christmastide, in the capacious expression of A. Shakhovsky, - "evenings of folk fun": fun, laughter, mischief are explained by a person’s desire to influence the future (in accordance with the proverb “as you begin, so you end” or with the modern one - “how you celebrate the New Year is how you will spend it”). It was believed that the more fun a person spends the beginning of the year, the more prosperous the year will be...

However, where there is excessive laughter, fun, fervor, it is always restless and even somehow alarming... This is where an intriguing plot begins to develop: detective, fantastic or simply romantic... A plot that is always timed for Holy Days – time from Christmas to Epiphany.

In Russian literature, the Yuletide theme begins to develop from the middle XVIII century: at first it was anonymous comedies about games, Christmas tales and stories. Their characteristic feature was the long-standing idea that it is during the Yuletide period that “evil spirits” - devils, goblins, kikimoras, banniks, etc. - become most active. This emphasizes the hostility and danger of Yuletide time...

Fortune telling, caroling by mummers, and dish songs became widespread among the people. Meanwhile, Orthodox Church for a long time condemned such behavior is considered sinful. The decree of Patriarch Joachim of 1684, prohibiting Yuletide “possessions,” says that they lead a person into “soul-destructive sin.” Yuletide games, fortune-telling and mummery (“mask-playing”, putting on “animal-like mugs”) have always been condemned by the Church.

Subsequently, a need arose for folk Christmas tales and stories to be processed literary. These began to be studied by writers, poets, ethnographers and folklorists, in particular M.D. Chulkov, who published the humorous magazine “Both this and that” throughout 1769, and F.D. Nefedov, from the end of the 19th century. publishing magazines with a Christmas theme, and, of course, V.A.Zhukovsky, who created the most popular Russian ballad "Svetlana", which is based on a folk story about a heroine fortune-telling at Christmas time... Many poets have also turned to the theme of Christmas time XIX century: A. Pushkin("Fortune telling and Tatyana's dream"(excerpt from the novel “Eugene Onegin”) A. Pleshcheev("The Legend of the Child Christ"), Ya. Polonsky ("Christmas tree"),A. Fet ("Fortune telling") and etc.

Gradually, during the period of development of romanticism, the Christmas story attracts the whole world of the miraculous. At the heart of many stories - miracle of bethlehem, and this is the transformation of just a Christmas story into a Christmas story... Christmas story in Russian literature, in contrast to Western literature, appeared only by the 40s XIX century This is explained by the special role of the holiday, which is different from Europe. Christmas Day- a great Christian holiday, second in importance after Easter. For a long time in Russia, the world celebrated Christmastide, and only the Church celebrated the Nativity of Christ.

In the West, the Christian tradition became much earlier and more closely intertwined with the pagan one; in particular, this happened with the custom of decorating and lighting a Christmas tree for Christmas. The ancient pagan rite of veneration of the tree has turned into a Christian custom. Christmas tree became a symbol of the Divine Child. The Christmas tree entered Russia late and took root slowly, like any Western innovation.

From the middle of the 19th century. The appearance of the first stories is also associated with Christmas themes. Earlier texts, such as "Christmas Eve"N.V.Gogol, are not indicative, firstly, Gogol’s story depicts Christmastide in Ukraine, where the celebration and experience of Christmas was closer to the Western one, and secondly, in Gogol the pagan element (“devilishness”) prevails over the Christian one.

Another thing "Night on Christmas Day" Moscow writer and actor K. Baranova, published in 1834. This is truly a Christmas story: the leading motive in it is mercy and sympathy for the child - a typical motive of the Christmas story. The massive appearance of such texts is observed after they were translated into Russian Christmas stories Charles Dickens early 1840s – “ A Christmas Carol", "Bells", "Cricket on the Stove", and later others. These stories were a huge success among Russian readers and gave rise to many imitations and variations. One of the first writers to turn to the Dickenian tradition was D.V.Grigorovich, who published the story in 1853 "Winter evening".

In the emergence of Russian Christmas prose, an important role was played by "Lord of the Fleas" And "Nutcracker"Hoffman and some fairy tales Andersen, especially "Christmas tree" And "The Little Match Girl". The plot of the last fairy tale was used F.M.Dostoevsky in the story "The boy at Christ's tree", and later V. Nemirovich-Danchenko in the story "Stupid Fedka".

The death of a child on Christmas night is an element of phantasmagoria and a too terrible event, emphasizing the crime of all humanity towards children... But from a Christian point of view, little heroes acquire true happiness not on earth, but in Heaven: they become angels and end up on the Christmas tree of Christ Himself. Actually, a miracle occurs: the miracle of Bethlehem repeatedly affects the destinies of people...

Later Christmas and Yuletide stories Almost all major prose writers wrote To.XIX – AD XX centuries Yuletide and Christmas stories could be funny and sad, funny and scary, they could end with a wedding or the death of heroes, reconciliation or a quarrel. But with all the diversity of their plots, they all had something in common - something that was in harmony with the festive mood of the reader, sometimes sentimental, sometimes uncontrollably cheerful, invariably causing a response in the hearts.

At the heart of each such story was “a small event that has a very festive character”(N.S. Leskov), which made it possible to give them a general subtitle. The terms “Christmas story” and “Yuletide story” were, for the most part, used as synonyms: in texts under the heading “Yuletide story” motifs associated with the holiday of Christmas could predominate, and the subtitle “Christmas story” did not at all imply the absence of folk motifs in the text Christmas time...

The best examples of the genre have been created N.S. Leskov. In 1886, the writer wrote a whole cycle “Yuletide Stories”.

In the story "Pearl necklace" he reflects on the genre: “A Christmas story is absolutely required that it be timed to coincide with the events of the Christmas Eve - from Christmas to Epiphany, so that it is somewhat fantastic, had any morality... and finally - so that it certainly ends funny. There are few such events in life, and therefore the author is forced to invent himself and compose a plot suitable for the program.” Some kind of Christmas stories are "Vanka", And "At Christmas time" A.P. Chekhov.

In n. XX century., with the development of modernism in literature, parodies of the Yuletide genre and humorous recommendations on how to write Yuletide stories began to appear. So, for example, in the newspaper “Rech” in 1909. O.L.D”or(Orsher I.) provides the following guidance for young writers:

“Any person with hands, two kopecks for paper, pen and ink and no talent can write a Christmas story.

You just need to adhere to the well-known system and firmly remember the following rules:

1) Without a pig, a goose, a Christmas tree and a good man, a Christmas story is not valid.

2) The words “manger”, “star” and “love” should be repeated at least ten, but no more than two to three thousand times.

3) The ringing of bells, tenderness and repentance should be at the end of the story, and not at the beginning of it.

All the rest does not matter".

The parodies indicated that the Yuletide genre had exhausted its possibilities. Of course, one cannot help but note the interest in the spiritual sphere among the intelligentsia of that time.

But the Yuletide story moves away from its traditional norms. Sometimes, as, for example, in the story V. Bryusova "The Child and the Madman", it provides an opportunity to depict mentally extreme situations: the miracle of Bethlehem as an unconditional reality in the story is perceived only by the child and the mentally ill Semyon. In other cases, Christmas works are based on medieval and apocryphal texts, in which religious sentiments and feelings are especially intensively reproduced (the contribution of A.M.Remizova).

Sometimes, by reproducing the historical setting, the Yuletide plot is given a special flavor (as, for example, in the story S. Auslander "Christmas time in old Petersburg"), sometimes the story gravitates towards an action-packed psychological novel.

I especially honored the traditions of the Christmas story A. Kuprin, creating wonderful examples of the genre - stories about faith, goodness and mercy "Poor Prince" And "Wonderful doctor", as well as writers from Russian diaspora I.A.Bunin ("Epiphany Night" and etc.), I.S.Shmelev ("Christmas" etc.) and V. Nikiforov-Volgin ("Silver Blizzard" and etc.).

In many Christmas stories childhood theme– main. This topic is developed by a statesman and Christian thinker K. Pobedonostsev in his essay "Christmas": “The Nativity of Christ and Holy Easter are primarily children’s holidays, and in them the power of Christ’s words seems to be fulfilled: Unless you are like children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Other holidays are not so accessible to children’s understanding...”

“A quiet night over the Palestinian fields, a secluded den, a manger. Surrounded by those domestic animals that are familiar to the child from the first impressions of memory - in the manger the entwined Baby and above Him the meek, loving Mother with a thoughtful gaze and a clear smile of maternal happiness - three magnificent kings following a star to a wretched den with gifts - and in the distance on the field there are shepherds in the middle of their flock, listening to the joyful news of the Angel and the mysterious choir of the Heavenly Forces. Then the villain Herod, pursuing the innocent Child; the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem, then the journey of the holy family to Egypt - how much life and action there is in all this, how much interest for a child!”

And not only for a child... Holy days are such an amazing time when everyone becomes children: simple, sincere, open, kind and loving to everyone.

Later, and not surprisingly, the Yuletide story was “revolutionarily” reincarnated as New Year. New Year as a holiday replaces Christmas, and the kind Father Frost comes to replace the Infant Christ... But the state of awe and expectation of a miracle is also present in the “new” stories. “Christmas tree in Sokolniki”, “Three assassination attempts on V.I. Lenin” V.D. Bonch-Bruevich,"Chuk and Gek" A. Gaidar- some of the best Soviet idylls. There is also an undoubted orientation towards this tradition of films. E. Ryazanova "Carnival Night" And "Irony of Fate or Enjoy Your Bath"…

Yuletide and Christmas stories are returning to the pages of modern newspapers and magazines. Several factors play a special role here. Firstly, the desire to restore the broken connection of times, and in particular, the Orthodox worldview. Secondly, return to many customs and forms cultural life which were so violently interrupted. The traditions of the Christmas story are continued by modern children's writers. S. Serova, E. Chudinova, Y. Voznesenskaya, E. Sanin (mon. Varnava) and etc.

Christmas reading has always been a special reading, because it is about the sublime and non-vain. Holy days are a time of silence and a time for such pleasant reading. After all, after such a great holiday - the Nativity of Christ - the reader simply cannot afford anything that would distract him from high thoughts about God, about goodness, mercy, compassion and love... Let's take advantage of this precious time!

Prepared by L.V.Shishlova

Used Books:

1. The Miracle of Christmas Night: Christmas Stories / Comp., intro. Art., note. E. Dushechkina, H. Barana. – St. Petersburg: Khudozh. Lit., 1993.
2. Star of Bethlehem. Christmas and Easter in poetry and prose: Collection / Comp. and joined M. Pismenny, - M.: Det. lit., - 1993.
3. The Star of Christmas: Christmas Stories and Poems / Comp. E.Trostnikova. – M.: Bustard, 2003
4. Leskov N.S. Collection Op. in 11 vols. M., 1958. t.7.

“There are holidays that have their own smell. At Easter, Trinity and Christmas there is something special in the air. Even non-believers love these holidays. My brother, for example, interprets that there is no God, but on Easter he is the first to run to matins” (A.P. Chekhov, story “On the Way”).

Orthodox Christmas is just around the corner! The celebration of this bright day (and even several - Christmastide) is associated with many interesting traditions. In Rus', it was customary to devote this period to serving one’s neighbor and deeds of mercy. Everyone knows the tradition of caroling - singing chants in honor of the born Christ. Winter holidays inspired many writers to create magical Christmas works.

There is even a special genre of Christmas story. The plots in it are very close to each other: often the heroes of Christmas works find themselves in a state of spiritual or material crisis, the resolution of which requires a miracle. Christmas stories are imbued with light, hope, and only a few of them have sad ending. Especially often, Christmas stories are dedicated to the triumph of mercy, compassion and love.

Especially for you, dear readers, we have prepared a selection of the best Christmas stories, both Russian and foreign writers. Read and enjoy, may the festive mood last longer!

"The Gift of the Magi", O. Henry

A well-known story about sacrificial love, which will give everything for the happiness of its neighbor. A story about tremulous feelings that cannot but surprise and delight. In the finale, the author ironically remarks: “And here I told you an unremarkable story about two stupid children from an eight-dollar apartment who, in the most unwise way, sacrificed their greatest treasures for each other.” But the author does not make excuses, he only confirms that the gifts of his heroes were more important than the gifts of the Magi: “But let it be said for the edification of the sages of our days that of all the givers these two were the wisest. Of all those who offer and receive gifts, only those like them are truly wise. Everywhere and everywhere. They are the Magi." As Joseph Brodsky said, “at Christmas everyone is a little wise man.”

“Nikolka”, Evgeniy Poselyanin

The plot of this Christmas story is very simple. At Christmas time, the stepmother acted very meanly to her stepson; he should have died. At the Christmas service, a woman experiences belated repentance. But on a bright holiday night a miracle happens...

By the way, Evgeny Poselyanin has wonderful memories of his childhood experience of Christmas - “Yule Days”. You read and are immersed in the pre-revolutionary atmosphere of noble estates, childhood and joy.

"A Christmas Carol", Charles Dickens

Dickens's work - the history of the present spiritual rebirth person. The main character, Scrooge, was a miser, became a merciful benefactor, and turned from a lone wolf into a sociable and friendly person. And this change was helped by the spirits who flew to him and showed him his possible future. Observing different situations from his past and future, the hero felt remorse for his wrong life.

“The Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree”, F. M. Dostoevsky

A touching story with a sad (and joyful at the same time) ending. I doubt whether it is worth reading to children, especially sensitive ones. But for adults, perhaps it’s worth it. For what? I would answer with the words of Chekhov: “It is necessary that behind the door of everyone there is a happy happy person someone would stand with a hammer and constantly remind him by knocking that there are unfortunate people, that, no matter how happy he is, life will sooner or later show him its claws, trouble will happen - illness, poverty, losses, and no one will see him or will hear, as now he does not see or hear others.”

Dostoevsky included it in the “Diary of a Writer” and he himself was surprised how this story came out of his pen. And the author’s writer’s intuition tells him that this could very well happen in reality. The main sad storyteller of all times, H. H. Andersen, has a similar tragic story - “The Little Match Girl”.

"Gifts of the Christ Child" by George MacDonald

The story of a young family going through difficult times in their relationships, difficulties with a nanny, and alienation from their daughter. The last one is the sensitive, lonely girl Sophie (or Fosi). It was through her that joy and light returned to the house. The story emphasizes: the main gifts of Christ are not gifts under the tree, but love, peace and mutual understanding.

“Christmas Letter”, Ivan Ilyin

I would call this short work, composed of two letters from a mother and son, a real hymn of love. She is the one unconditional love, runs like a red thread through the entire work and is its main theme. It is this state that resists loneliness and defeats it.

“Whoever loves, his heart blooms and smells fragrant; and he gives his love just like a flower gives its scent. But then he is not alone, because his heart is with the one he loves: he thinks about him, cares about him, rejoices in his joy and suffers from his suffering. He doesn't have time to feel lonely or wonder whether he is lonely or not. In love a person forgets himself; he lives with others, he lives in others. And this is happiness.”

Christmas is a holiday of overcoming loneliness and alienation, it is the day of the manifestation of Love...

"God in the Cave", Gilbert Chesterton

We are accustomed to perceive Chesterton primarily as the author of detective stories about Father Brown. But he wrote in different genres: he is the author of several hundred poems, 200 short stories, 4000 essays, a number of plays, the novels “The Man Who Was Thursday”, “The Ball and the Cross”, “The Migratory Tavern” and much more. Chesterton was also an excellent publicist and deep thinker. In particular, his essay “God in the Cave” is an attempt to comprehend the events of two thousand years ago. I recommend it to people with a philosophical mindset.

“Silver Blizzard”, Vasily Nikiforov-Volgin

Nikiforov-Volgin in his work surprisingly subtly shows the world of children's faith. His stories are permeated with a festive atmosphere. So, in the story “Silver Blizzard”, with trepidation and love, he shows the boy with his zeal for piety, on the one hand, and with mischief and pranks, on the other. Consider one apt phrase from the story: “These days I don’t want anything earthly, especially school!”

Holy Night, Selma Lagerlöf

Selma Lagerlöf's story continues the theme of childhood.

Grandmother tells her granddaughter interesting legend about Christmas. It is not canonical in the strict sense, but it reflects the spontaneity of the people's faith. This is an amazing story about mercy and how “a pure heart opens the eyes with which a person can enjoy seeing the beauty of heaven.”

“Christ visiting a man”, “Unchangeable ruble”, “At Christmas they offended”, Nikolai Leskov

These three stories struck me to the core, so it was difficult to choose the best one. I discovered Leskov for myself with some unexpected side. These works by the author have common features. This is both a fascinating plot and general ideas of mercy, forgiveness and doing good deeds. Examples of heroes from these works surprise, evoke admiration and a desire to imitate.

"Reader! be kind: intervene in our history too, remember what today’s Newborn taught you: to punish or to have mercy? To the One who gave you the "verbs" eternal life"...Think! This is very worth your thought, and the choice is not difficult for you... Do not be afraid to seem funny and stupid if you act according to the rule of the One who said to you: “Forgive the offender and gain yourself a brother in him” (N. S. Leskov, “Under Christmas was offended."

Many novels have chapters dedicated to Christmas, for example, “The Unquenchable Lamp” by B. Shiryaev, “Conduit and Schwambrania” by L. Kassil, “In the First Circle” by A. Solzhenitsyn, “The Summer of the Lord” by I. S. Shmelev.

The Christmas story, for all its apparent naivety, fabulousness and unusualness, has always been loved by adults. Maybe because Christmas stories are primarily about goodness, about faith in miracles and the possibility of human spiritual rebirth?

Christmas is truly a holiday of children's faith in miracles... Many Christmas stories are devoted to describing this pure joy of childhood. I will quote wonderful words from one of them: “The great holiday of Christmas, surrounded by spiritual poetry, is especially understandable and close to a child... The Divine Child was born, and to Him be praise, glory and honor of the world. Everyone rejoiced and rejoiced. And in memory of the Holy Child, on these days of bright memories, all children should have fun and rejoice. This is their day, a holiday of innocent, pure childhood...” (Klavdiya Lukashevich, “Christmas Holiday”).

P.S. When preparing this collection, I read a lot of Christmas stories, but, of course, not all of them in the world. I chose according to my taste those that seemed the most fascinating and artistically expressive. Preference was given to little-known works, which is why, for example, N. Gogol’s “The Night Before Christmas” or Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker” are not on the list.

What are your favorite Christmas works, dear matrons?

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1. O’Henry “The Gift of the Magi”

This touching story about the value of a gift, regardless of its price; this story is about the importance of self-sacrifice in the name of love.

Young married couple survives on eight dollars a week, and Christmas is just around the corner. Dell cries in despair because she cannot buy her beloved husband a gift. Over many months, she was able to save only a dollar and eighty-eight cents. But then she remembers that she has simply gorgeous hair, and decides to sell it in order to give her husband a chain for his family watch.

The husband who saw his wife in the evening seemed very upset. But he was sad not because his wife began to look like a ten-year-old boy, but because he sold his gold watch to give the most beautiful combs, which she had been eyeing for several months.

It seems Christmas has failed. But these two cried not from sadness, but from love for each other.

2. Sven Nordqvist “Christmas Porridge”

Dwarves get along well with people, help them run their households, and take care of animals. And they don’t ask much from people - to bring them a special Christmas porridge for Christmas. But bad luck, people completely forgot about the gnomes. And Dwarf Dad will be terribly angry if he finds out that there will be no treats this year. How can you enjoy porridge without getting noticed by the owners of the house?

3. Sven Nordqvist “Christmas at Pettson’s House”

This is a wonderful work about friendship and support in difficult times. Petson and his kitten Findus live together and are already starting to prepare for Christmas. But then something bad happened - Petson accidentally injured his leg and will no longer be able to finish all his work. And as luck would have it, the house ran out of food and wood for the stove, and they didn’t even have time to put up a Christmas tree. Who will help friends not to remain hungry and lonely at Christmas?

4. Gianni Rodari “Planet of Christmas Trees”

Little Marcus turned nine years old. He dreamed of receiving a real spaceship from his grandfather as a gift, but for some reason his grandfather gave him a toy horse. Why is he a baby to play with such toys? But curiosity took its toll, and in the evening Marcus sat on the horse, which turned out to be... spaceship.

Marcus ended up on a distant planet, where New Year trees grew everywhere, the inhabitants lived according to a special New Year’s calendar, the sidewalks themselves moved, the cafes served delicious bricks and wire, and for children they came up with a special “Hit-Break” palace, where they were allowed to destroy everything.
Everything would be fine, but how to get back home?..

5. Hans Christian Andersen “The Little Match Girl”

Unfortunately, not all fairy tales end happily. And this one is impossible to read without tears. How can it be that a child wanders the streets on New Year's Eve in the hope of selling at least one match? She warmed her little fingers, and the shadows from the tiny fire outlined scenes of a happy life that she could see through other people's windows.

We don’t even know the baby’s name - for us she will always be the little match girl who, due to the greed and indifference of adults, flew to heaven.

6. Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol"

This work has become a favorite for more than one generation. We know his film adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

This is the story of the greedy Ebenezer Scrooge, for whom nothing is more important than money. Compassion, mercy, joy, love are alien to him. But everything is about to change on Christmas Eve...

There is a little Scrooge in each of us, and it is so important not to miss the moment, to open the doors to love and mercy, so that this curmudgeon does not completely take possession of us.

7. Catherine Holabert "Angelina Meets Christmas"

Little mouse Angelina is looking forward to Christmas. She had already planned what she would do at home, but she noticed a lonely, sad Mr. Bell in the window, who had no one to celebrate the holiday with. Sweet Angelina decides to help Mr. Bell, but she doesn’t even suspect that thanks to her good heart will find the real Santa Claus!

8. Susan Wojciechowski "Mr. Toomey's Christmas Miracle"

Mr Toomey makes his living as a wood carver. Once upon a time he smiled and was happy. But after the loss of his wife and son, he became gloomy and was nicknamed Mr. Gloomy by the neighborhood children. One Christmas Eve, a widow with her little son came knocking and asked him to make them Christmas figurines, since they had lost theirs after moving. It would seem that there is nothing wrong with an ordinary order, but gradually this work changes Mr. Toomey...

9. Nikolai Gogol “The Night Before Christmas”

A long-loved work for both adults and children. Amazing story about evenings on a farm near Dikanka, which formed the basis for films, musicals and cartoons. But if your child does not yet know the story of Vakula, Oksana, Solokha, Chub and other heroes, and also has not heard that the devil can steal the moon, and what other miracles happen on the night before Christmas, it is worth devoting several evenings to this fascinating story .

10. Fyodor Dostoevsky “The Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree”

This is a difficult work; without pathos or decoration, the author truthfully depicts the life of the poor. Parents will have to explain a lot, because, thank God, our children do not know such hardships as the main character.

The little boy is frozen from the cold and exhausted from hunger. His mother died in some dark basement, and he is looking for a piece of bread on Christmas Eve. The boy probably sees someone else for the first time in his life, happy life. Only she is there, outside the windows of wealthy people. The boy was able to get to the Christmas tree to see Christ, but after he froze outside...

11. Marco Cheremshina “Tear”

This short story will not leave either adults or children indifferent. A whole life fit on one page poor family. Marusya's mother became seriously ill. To prevent her mother from dying, a little girl goes to the city to get medicine. But the Christmas frost does not spare the child, and snow pours into his holey boots as if out of spite.

Marusya is exhausted and quietly dies in the snow. Her only hope is the last child's tear, which miraculously fell on the cheek of the Christmas angel...

12. Mikhail Kotsyubinsky “Christmas tree”

A deep, dramatic, insightful work. It will not leave any reader indifferent, and the intrigue will not let you relax until the very end.
Once upon a time, little Vasyl’s father gave him a Christmas tree; it grew in the garden and made the boy happy. And today, on Christmas Eve, my father sold the tree because the family really, really needed money. When they cut down the tree, it seemed to Vasyl that she was about to cry, and the boy himself seemed to have lost a dear person.

But Vasylko also had to take the tree to the city. The road went through the forest, the Christmas frost crackled, the snow covered all the tracks, and, as luck would have it, the sleigh also broke down. It is not surprising that Vasylko got lost in the forest. Will the boy be able to find his way home, and will Christmas be a joyful holiday for his family?

13. Lydia Podvysotskaya “The Tale of a Christmas Angel”

The Christmas angel looked into one of the rooms and saw little boy, who was in a fever and breathing hoarsely, and above him, bent over, sat a slightly older girl. The angel realized that the children were orphans. It is very difficult and scary for them to live without their mother. But that’s why he’s a Christmas angel, to help and protect good children...

14. Maria Shkurina “A star as a gift for mom”

Little Anya’s mother has been sick for a long time, and the doctor just looks away and sadly shakes his head. And tomorrow is Christmas. Last year they had so much fun with the whole family, but now mom can’t even get out of bed. A little girl remembers that wishes come true at Christmas and asks the star in the sky for health for her mother. Will a distant star hear a child’s prayer?

Christmas is the period when magic comes into its own. Teach your children to believe in miracles, in the power of love and faith, and to do good themselves. And these wonderful stories they will help you with this.

IN last years Christmas and Yuletide stories became widespread. Not only are collections of Christmas stories written before 1917 published, but their creative tradition has begun to be revived. More recently, in the pre-New Year's issue of the magazine "Afisha" (2006), 12 Christmastide stories by modern Russian writers were published.

However, the very history of the emergence and development genre form Christmas story is no less fascinating than his masterpieces. An article by Elena Vladimirovna DUSHECHKINA, Doctor of Philology, Professor at St. Petersburg State University, is dedicated to her.

From a Yuletide story it is absolutely required that it be timed to coincide with the events of the Yuletide evening - from Christmas to Epiphany, that it be somewhat fantastic, that it have some kind of moral, at least like a refutation of a harmful prejudice, and finally - that it certainly ends cheerfully... Yuletide a story, being within all its frameworks, can still change and present an interesting variety, reflecting its time and customs.

N.S. Leskov

The history of the Christmas story can be traced in Russian literature over three centuries - from the 18th century to the present day, but its final formation and flourishing was observed in the last quarter of the 19th century - during the period of active growth and democratization of the periodical press and the formation of the so-called “small” press.

It is the periodical press, due to its timing to a specific date, that becomes the main supplier of calendar “literary products”, including Christmas stories.

Of particular interest are those texts in which there is a connection with oral folk Yuletide stories, because they clearly demonstrate the methods of assimilation by literature of the oral tradition and the “literariness” of folklore stories that are meaningfully related to the semantics of folk Christmastide and the Christian holiday of Christmas.

But the significant difference between a literary Yuletide story and a folklore one lies in the nature of the image and the interpretation of the climactic Yuletide episode.

The focus on the truth of the incident and the reality of the characters is an indispensable feature of such stories. Supernatural collisions are not typical of Russian literary Yuletide stories. A plot like Gogol’s “The Night Before Christmas” is quite rare. Meanwhile, the supernatural is the main theme of such stories. However, what may seem supernatural and fantastic to the heroes most often receives a very real explanation.

The conflict is not based on a person’s collision with the otherworldly evil world, but on the shift in consciousness that occurs in a person who, due to certain circumstances, doubts his lack of faith in the otherworld.

In the humorous Christmas stories, so characteristic of the “thin” magazines of the second half of the 19th century c., a motive for meeting with evil spirits is often developed, the image of which appears in a person’s mind under the influence of alcohol (cf. the expression “getting drunk as hell”). In such stories, fantastic elements are used unrestrainedly and, one might even say, uncontrollably, since their realistic motivation justifies any phantasmagoria.

But here it should be taken into account that literature is enriched by a genre, the nature and existence of which gives it a deliberately anomalous character.

Being a phenomenon of calendar literature, the Yuletide story is tightly connected with its holidays, their cultural life and ideological issues, which prevents changes in it, its development, as required by the literary norms of modern times.

An author who wants or, more often, has received an order from the editor to write a Christmas story for the holiday, has a certain “warehouse” of characters and a given set of plot devices, which he uses more or less masterfully, depending on his combinatorial abilities.

The literary genre of the Christmas story lives according to the laws of folklore and ritual “aesthetics of identity”, focusing on the canon and cliche - a stable complex of stylistic, plot and thematic elements, the transition of which from text to text not only does not cause irritation to the reader, but, on the contrary, gives him pleasure.

It must be admitted that most literary Christmas stories do not have high artistic merit. In developing the plot, they use long-established techniques; their problems are limited to a narrow circle life problems which, as a rule, boil down to clarifying the role of chance in a person’s life. Their language, although it often pretends to reproduce living colloquial speech, often wretched and monotonous. However, the study of such stories is necessary.

Firstly, they directly and visibly, due to the nakedness of the techniques, demonstrate the ways in which literature assimilates folklore subjects. Already being literature, but at the same time continuing to perform the function of folklore, which consists in influencing the reader with the entire atmosphere of its art world, built on mythological ideas, such stories occupy an intermediate position between the oral and written traditions.

Secondly, such stories and thousands of others like them constitute the literary body called mass fiction. They served as the main and constant “reading material” for the Russian ordinary reader, who was brought up on them and formed his artistic taste. By ignoring such literary products, it is impossible to understand the psychology of perception and the artistic needs of a literate, but still uneducated Russian reader. We know “great” literature quite well - the works of major writers, classics of the 19th century - but our knowledge about it will remain incomplete until we can imagine the background against which great literature existed and on the basis of which it often grew .

And finally, thirdly, Christmas stories are examples of almost completely unstudied calendar literature - a special kind of texts, the consumption of which is timed to a certain calendar time, when only their, so to speak, therapeutic effect on the reader is possible.

For qualified readers, the clichéd and stereotypical nature of the Yuletide story was a disadvantage, which was reflected in the criticism of Yuletide production, in declarations about the crisis of the genre and even its end. This attitude towards the Christmas story accompanies him almost throughout his entire life. literary history, testifying to the specificity of the genre, whose right to literary existence was proven only by the creative efforts of major Russian writers of the 19th century.

Those writers who could give an original and unexpected interpretation of the “supernatural” event, “evil spirits,” “Christmas miracle” and other components fundamental to Yuletide literature were able to go beyond the usual cycle of Yuletide plots. These are Leskov’s “Yuletide” masterpieces - “Selected Grain”, “Little Mistake”, “The Darner” - about the specifics of the “Russian miracle”.

Such are Chekhov’s stories - “Vanka”, “On the Way”, “Woman’s Kingdom” - about a possible, but never-fulfilled meeting at Christmas.

And yet, the mass Christmas production of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, supplied to the reader at Christmas by periodicals, turns out to be limited by worn-out techniques - cliches and templates. Therefore, it is not surprising that already in late XIX centuries, parodies began to appear both on the genre of the Christmas story and on its literary life - writers writing Christmas stories and readers reading them.

The upheavals of the early 20th century unexpectedly gave a new breath to the Christmas story - Russo-Japanese War, Troubles 1905–1907, later - First World War.

One of the consequences of the social upheavals of those years was an even more intense growth of the press than was the case in the 1870s and 1880s. This time he had not so much educational as political reasons: parties were being created that needed their publications. “Christmas episodes,” as well as “Easter” ones, play a significant role in them. The main ideas of the holiday - love for one's neighbor, compassion, mercy (depending on the political attitude of the authors and editors) - are combined with a variety of party slogans: either with calls for political freedom and the transformation of society, or with demands for the restoration of "order" and the pacification of "turmoil" "

Christmas numbers of newspapers and magazines from 1905 to 1908 provide enough full picture balance of power in the political arena and reflect the nature of change public opinion. So, over time, Christmas stories become darker, and by Christmas 1907, the previous optimism disappeared from the pages of the “Christmas Issues”.

The renewal and raising of the prestige of the Christmas story during this period was also facilitated by the processes taking place within literature itself. Modernism (in all its ramifications) was accompanied by a growing interest among the intelligentsia in Orthodoxy and in the spiritual sphere in general. Numerous articles devoted to various religions of the world appear in magazines, and literary works, based on a wide variety of religious and mythological traditions.

In this atmosphere of attraction to the spiritual, which gripped the intellectual and artistic elite of St. Petersburg and Moscow, Yuletide and Christmas stories found themselves in highest degree a convenient genre for artistic processing. Under the pen of modernists, the Christmas story is modified, sometimes moving significantly away from its traditional forms.

Sometimes, as, for example, in the story by V.Ya. Bryusov’s “The Child and the Madman”, it provides an opportunity to depict psychologically extreme situations. Here the search for the baby Jesus is carried out by “marginal” heroes - a child and a mentally ill person - who perceive the miracle of Bethlehem not as an abstract idea, but as an unconditional reality.

In other cases, Christmas works are based on medieval (often apocryphal) texts, which reproduce religious sentiments and feelings, which is especially characteristic of A.M. Remizova.

Sometimes, by recreating the historical setting, the Christmas story is given a special flavor, as, for example, in the story by S.A. Ausländer "Christmastide in Old Petersburg".

The First World War gave Yuletide literature a new and very characteristic turn.

Patriotic-minded writers at the beginning of the war transfer the action of traditional plots to the front, tying military-patriotic and Christmas themes into one knot.

Thus, over the three years of wartime Christmas issues, many stories appeared about Christmas in the trenches, about the “wonderful intercessors” of Russian soldiers, about the experiences of a soldier trying to go home for Christmas. A mocking play on the “Christmas tree in the trenches” in the story by A.S. Bukhova is quite consistent with the state of affairs in the Christmas literature of this period. Sometimes special issues of newspapers and “thin” magazines are published for Christmas, such as the humorous “Christmastide on Positions”, published for Christmas 1915. The Yuletide tradition finds its unique application in the era of the events of 1917 and Civil War

. In newspapers and magazines that were not yet closed after October, many works sharply directed against the Bolsheviks appeared, which was reflected, for example, in the first issue of the magazine Satyricon for 1918. Subsequently, in the territories occupied by the troops of the White movement, works using Christmas motifs in the fight against the Bolsheviks are found quite regularly. In publications published in cities controlled

In the literature of Russian diaspora, the fate of Yuletide literature turned out to be different.

An unprecedented flow of people beyond its borders in the history of Russia - to the Baltic states, to Germany, to France and more distant places - carried away both journalists and writers. Thanks to their efforts, since the beginning of the 1920s. In many emigration centers, magazines and newspapers are being created, which in new conditions continue the traditions of old magazine practice. Opening issues of such publications as “Smoke” and “Rul” (Berlin), “ Last news

"(Paris), "Dawn" (Harbin) and others, you can find numerous works by major writers (Bunin, Kuprin, Remizov, Merezhkovsky), and young writers who appeared mainly abroad, such as, for example, V.V. . Nabokov, who created several Christmas stories in his youth. The Yuletide stories of the first wave of Russian emigration represent an attempt to pour into the “small” traditional form the experiences of Russian people who were tortured in a foreign-language environment and in difficult economic conditions of the 1920s–1930s. save yours

cultural traditions

. The situation in which these people found themselves contributed to the writers' turn to the Yuletide genre. Emigrant writers may well not have invented sentimental stories, since they encountered them in their everyday lives. In addition, the very focus of the first wave of emigration on tradition (preservation of language, faith, ritual, literature) corresponded to the orientation of Christmas and Yuletide texts on an idealized past, on memories, on the cult of the hearth. In emigrant Christmas texts, this tradition was also supported by interest in ethnography, Russian life, and Russian history. But in the end, the Yule tradition, both in emigrant literature and in Soviet Russia, fell victim to political events. With the victory of Nazism, Russian publishing activity in Germany was gradually eliminated. A complete extinction of the tradition of the calendar story still did not occur, although, of course, there was not the number of Christmas and Christmas works that arose at the turn of the century. This tradition was, to a certain extent, supported by New Year's works (prose and poetry), published in newspapers and thin magazines, especially for children (the newspaper "Pionerskaya Pravda", the magazines "Pioneer", "Counselor", "Murzilka" and others). Of course, in these materials the Christmas theme was absent or was presented in a very distorted form. At first glance it may seem strange, but it is precisely with the Christmas tradition that the “Christmas Tree in Sokolniki”, so memorable for many generations of Soviet children, is connected, “spun off” from the essay by V.D. Bonch-Bruevich “Three attempts on V.I. Lenin", first published in 1930.

Here Lenin, who came to the village school in 1919 for the Christmas tree, with his kindness and affection clearly resembles the traditional Santa Claus, who always brought so much joy and fun to children.

One of the best Soviet idylls, A. Gaidar’s story “Chuk and Gek,” also seems to be connected with the tradition of the Christmas story. Written in the tragic era of the late thirties, it, with unexpected sentimentality and kindness, so characteristic of a traditional Christmas story, recalls the highest human values ​​- children, family happiness, the comfort of home, echoing Dickens' Christmas story "The Cricket on the Stove."

Yuletide motifs and, in particular, the motif of Yuletide mummering, inherited from the folk Christmastide of the Soviet Union, merged more organically with the Soviet New Year holiday. popular culture, and above all, children's educational institutions. It is this tradition that, for example, focuses on the films “Carnival Night” and “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath” by E.A. Ryazanov, a director, of course, endowed with sharp genre thinking and always perfectly aware of the viewer’s needs for festive experiences.

Another soil on which calendar literature grew was the Soviet calendar, which was regularly enriched with new Soviet holidays, starting from the anniversaries of the so-called revolutionary events and ending with especially prolific ones in the 1970–1980s.

professional holidays. It is enough to turn to the periodicals of that time, to newspapers and thin magazines - “Ogonyok”, “Rabotnitsa” - to be convinced of how widespread texts related to the Soviet state calendar were. Texts with subtitles “Yuletide” and “Christmas” story in Soviet time are practically out of use. But they were not forgotten. These terms were encountered from time to time in the press: authors of various articles, memoirs and works of art

They were often used to characterize events and texts that were sentimental or far from reality.

This term is especially common in ironic headlines such as “Ecology is not a Christmas story”, “Not a Christmas story”, etc. The memory of the genre was also preserved by the intellectuals of the old generation, who were brought up on it, reading issues of Sincere Word in childhood, sorting through the files of Niva and other pre-revolutionary magazines.

And now the time has come when calendar literature - Christmastide and Christmas stories - again began to return to the pages of modern newspapers and magazines. This process has become especially noticeable since the late 1980s. How can this phenomenon be explained? Let's note several factors. In all areas of modern life, there is a desire to restore the broken connection of times: to return to those customs and forms of life that were forcibly interrupted as a result of the October Revolution. Perhaps the key point in this process is the attempt to revive the sense of “calendar” in modern man. Humans have a natural need to live in the rhythm of time, within the framework of a conscious annual cycle. The fight against “religious prejudices” in the 20s and the new “ production calendar"(five-day week), introduced in 1929 at the XVI Party Conference, canceled the Christmas holiday, which was quite consistent with the idea of ​​​​destroying the old world "to the ground" and building a new one. The consequence of this was the destruction of tradition - a naturally formed mechanism for transmitting the fundamentals

way of life

from generation to generation. Nowadays, much of what was lost is returning, including the old calendar rituals, and with it the “Yuletide” literature.

LITERATURE Research

LITERATURE Dushechkina E.V.

Ram Henrik. Pre-revolutionary holiday literature and Russian modernism / Authorized translation from English by E.R.

Squires // Poetics of Russian literature of the early twentieth century. - M., 1993.

Lyrics

Yuletide stories: Stories and poems by Russian writers [about Christmas and Yuletide]. Compilation and notes by S.F. Dmitrenko. - M.: Russian book, 1992. Petersburg Christmas story.

Compilation,

introductory article

, notes E.V. Dushechkina. - L.: Petropol, 1991.

The Miracle of Christmas Night: Yuletide Stories. Compilation, introductory article, notes by E.V. Dushechkina and H. Baran. - St. Petersburg: Fiction, 1993.