In short, the old-style New Year appeared owing to a gap between Julian calendar or the old-style calendar and the Gregorian calendar which is used in almost all countries in the world. The old Julian calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.
The old-style New Year is a rare phenomenon and additional holiday which was received owing to the adoption of the new calendar. Owing to the gap between the two calendars, Russia celebrates the New Year two times. This means anybody can again celebrate the New Year from the midnight of January 13. In fact, the old-style New Year is very significant for the Orthodox Christian faithful because they can whole heartedly celebrate it after ending the Christmas fast. The Orthodox faithful celebrate their Christmas on January 7.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, besides Russia, the residents of several former Soviet republics continue to celebrate the old-style New Year. The Slavic people in FYROM*, Montenegro and Serbia traditionally celebrate the old-style New Year because Serbian Orthodox Church like the Russian Orthodox Church continues to use the Julian calendar. The Serbs describe the holiday as the Serbian New Year.
The old-style New Year is celebrated at a time when Christmas fortune telling is on its peak. In an attempt to guess who will be the future husbands, girls are engaged in cartomancy, lecanomancy and making wild guesses. In fact, this custom exists in some rural areas even today. Visiting houses to congratulate neighbours is very popular nowadays. In old times, children and young people visited homes wishing their residents in these days and in response, they received tasty food. They gathered everything offered by kind hearted hosts in a basket and ate them after their tour. There are superstitious beliefs linked to this date. If the sky is clear and starry, this means that there will be a big harvest of soft fruits. The gardeners are recommended to shake fruit trees so that the garden is protected from worms and pests.
In 1980, The Old-Style New Year film was screened in the Soviet Union and has been repeated every year on television. In fact, the popularity of the old-style New Year is growing every year in Russia. More people consider it an independent holiday that extends the charm of the New Year or helps to feel this charm for the first time. The reason here is that it is a calm holiday and has no unusual fuss linked to the New Year of January 1.
http://indian.ruvr.ru/2014_01_14/Russia-celebrates-old-style-New-Year-6072/
14/1/14
*(After the necessary correction with the name "FYROM". GREECE recognised this country with the name "FYROM") --
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