On the night of January 13th to 14th, our entire country, together with many other Orthodox countries, celebrates a completely unique day, a holiday, the name of which will easily confuse any foreigner, the Old New Year. This holiday is good for everyone, combining both the worldly traditions of celebrating the New Year and the Orthodox Christmastide, special days on which, according to legend, Heaven opens and all higher powers become closer than ever to people. The Old New Year is celebrated with pleasure by strict adherents of Orthodox traditions, who deny themselves treats on the secular New Year, which coincides in time with the Nativity Fast, and even by those who are far from these traditions, but are happy about the good and bright holiday. And, of course, all housewives, without exception, try to please their family and friends with the most delicious dishes, lovingly prepared for the festive table. And we will try to help you in this matter and advise you on what to cook for the Old New Year.

For many centuries, Russia celebrated the New Year according to the Julian calendar, and it is this holiday, which today we call the Old New Year, that carries our true ancient traditions. On this night, generous festivities began, when children and adults, dressed in their best clothes, walked through villages and villages with songs and dances, visiting their neighbors and friends, sharing their joy with them and receiving in return delicious treats. The main dish that night was considered the richest kutia that the hostess could prepare. To prepare such kutia, they did not spare any ingredients. The best nuts, dried and candied fruits, honey and poppy seeds, sweet cream and baked milk foam were used. But the matter, of course, was not limited to one kutya. A pig, whole baked with porridge and seasonings, occupied its important place on the festive table. It was believed that this pig would provide happiness and prosperity to the house for the entire coming year, because according to ancient legends, it was on a pig that the ancient pagan god Ovsen rode to earth on this day. In addition to the pig, they prepared a hare, which guarantees you agility and speed in achieving any goals, and roasted roosters, which bestowed strength and birdlike lightness and agility. This day was not complete without all sorts of sweets, which the children were generously treated to. Well, the adults delighted themselves with sweet berry and fruit liqueurs, wines and liqueurs that were ripe by that time, not forgetting to amuse themselves with a glass of homemade vodka or polugara. Well, why talk about the traditions of celebrating the New Year only in the past tense? After all, even today we can easily pamper ourselves, our family and friends with all these and many other delicious dishes, celebrating the Old New Year with light and joy.

Today “Culinary Eden” has carefully collected for you the most important and interesting New Year’s recipes, which will easily tell even inexperienced housewives what to cook for the Old New Year.

1. One of the richest and most desirable types of kutia among our ancestors was considered to be kutia made from rare Saracen millet, which today we call rice. Let's try to prepare a simple rice kutya for our holiday table. Wash one cup of rice thoroughly, place in a saucepan and pour 1 ½ cups of boiling water. Bring to the boil and simmer, covered, for three minutes over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for another six minutes, then simmer for another three minutes over low heat. Remove the rice from the heat and let it sit covered for another fifteen minutes. Separately grind 100 gr. poppy seeds until you obtain a homogeneous paste, mix it with 3 tbsp. spoons of honey and add to rice. At the end of cooking, add 100 grams to your kutia. crushed walnuts, 100 gr. steamed raisins and 100 ml. cream, tightly whipped with powdered sugar. Mix everything thoroughly and let it brew for 10 - 15 minutes. Your holiday kutia is ready!

2. For an appetizer, serve chicken breast salad with croutons to your holiday table. Cut 400 grams into small cubes. chilled boiled chicken breasts. Cut 300 grams into the same cubes. your favorite hard cheese. Grind 200 gr. walnuts. Peel three slices of fresh white bread, cut into cubes and fry in butter until golden brown. Refrigerate. Mix chicken, cheese and walnuts, season with mayonnaise or sour cream, add salt and pepper to taste, mix thoroughly. Place in a salad bowl and garnish with fresh herbs. Just before serving, sprinkle the salad with croutons.

3. Or you can surprise your guests with a more traditional appetizer of jellied pig. Rinse thoroughly and cut into portions a small pig weighing up to 2.5 kilograms. Place the pieces in a deep saucepan, fill with cold water so that the water completely covers the meat, add the onion, carrots, parsley and celery root, bring everything to a boil and simmer over low heat for two hours. Remove from heat, remove meat from broth, cool and remove bones. Carefully strain the broth through cheesecloth. Dissolve 30 grams in one cup of broth. gelatin and strain, and then mix with the remaining broth. Pour the broth into a large aspic in a layer of about ½ centimeter, place pieces of boiled eggs, slices of boiled carrots and green peas on top. Let the first layer harden, then lay out the pig meat, pour in the remaining broth and put it in the refrigerator overnight. Before serving, place the pan with the aspic in hot water for one minute, then invert the aspic onto a large platter. Serve with fresh vegetables, herbs and horseradish.

4. It’s not at all difficult to prepare the traditional Old New Year’s pig with porridge, you just have to want it. Clean one piglet weighing up to one and a half kilograms, rinse thoroughly and soak in cold water with one teaspoon of vinegar for two hours. Meanwhile, prepare the stuffing for your pig. To do this, cook crumbly porridge from one glass of buckwheat and three glasses of water. Separately, boil until tender and finely chop the liver and kidneys of the pig. In a deep frying pan, heat 3 tbsp. spoons of olive oil, add one chopped onion and fry until golden brown. Then add boiled kidneys and liver, two hard-boiled and finely chopped eggs, buckwheat porridge, salt and black pepper to taste. Mix everything thoroughly and heat under the lid for a couple of minutes. Remove the pig from the water, dry thoroughly with a paper towel, brush with melted lard inside and out, salt, stuff with porridge, sew up or wrap with twine, place on a baking sheet greased with lard, and place in an oven preheated to 200⁰. Bake until done for 1.5 hours, periodically brushing the pig with melted lard.

5. It’s a little easier to prepare a baked suckling pig. Carefully scrape one pig weighing about three kilograms, rinse and cover with cold water acidified with vinegar, leave for three hours. Then remove the pig from the water, rinse again and dry with a paper towel. Score the skin of the pig into a lattice pattern and then rub with a mixture of salt, black pepper and ground cumin. Peel and quarter a few cloves of garlic lengthwise. Stuff the pig with garlic. Then generously coat the pig with olive oil and leave in a cool place for a couple of hours. Place the pig on a baking sheet greased with oil or lard, cover the baking sheet with the pig with foil and bake in an oven preheated to 180⁰ for two hours. Then remove the foil and pour 200 gr. light beer, increase the temperature to 200⁰ and bake the pig until golden brown, periodically basting it with the released juice. Serve on a wide platter, surrounding the pig with fresh and boiled vegetables and fresh herbs. Separately, serve the sauce from one glass of sour cream mixed with two tablespoons of horseradish.

6. If cooking a whole pig seems too expensive to you, prepare traditional pork with wheat porridge for the holiday table. After giving a kilogram of pork, rinse thoroughly and cut into portions. Heat three tablespoons of lard in a deep frying pan and fry the pieces of meat on both sides over high heat until golden brown. From one glass of crushed wheat and three glasses of water, cook wheat porridge until half cooked. In a cast iron cauldron, mix porridge and meat, add a handful of frozen cranberries and a few slices of soaked apple. Add salt and pepper to taste, mix everything thoroughly and cover with a few leaves of cabbage on top. Close the cast iron pot tightly with a lid and place in an oven preheated to 150⁰. Simmer for an hour. Serve with pickles and pickles.

7. A hare or rabbit in sour cream sauce is also perfect for the holiday table. Clean the carcass of a hare or rabbit from films and soak in milk for a day. Then rinse thoroughly, stuff with pieces of smoked lard, rub with salt and black pepper. Grease a baking tray with oil and line the surface with carrot slices. Generously grease the hare carcass with butter, place on top of the carrots and bake in an oven preheated to 220⁰ for 30 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 180⁰ degrees and bake the hare until cooked for 40 - 60 minutes, periodically basting it with the released juice and fat. Prepare the sauce separately. To do this, place 1 ½ cups of sour cream in a saucepan, add one teaspoon of flour and stir thoroughly. Then add three to four tablespoons of juice from the hare roasting in the oven, salt and pepper to taste, stir, bring to a boil and remove the sauce from the heat. Serve the finished hare in portions, garnish with baked potatoes and top with sour cream sauce.

8. Your guests will not be indifferent to the deliciously delicious fried rooster with mushrooms and cream. Rinse thoroughly and chop a capon carcass weighing about two kilograms into portions. In a deep cast iron skillet, melt 4 tbsp. spoons of butter and quickly fry the capon pieces over high heat until golden brown. Remove the pan from the heat, pour a glass of cognac over the capon and set it on fire. As soon as the fire goes out, salt and pepper the rooster to taste, cover the pan with a lid and place on the lowest heat for 40 minutes. Make sure that the rooster does not burn, turning the pieces often. Meanwhile, melt 2 tbsp in a saucepan. spoons of butter, add 250 gr. finely chopped champignons and fry over high heat for 5 minutes. Place the mushrooms in the frying pan with the capon, pour in half a glass of lightly whipped cream in a thin stream, remove the frying pan from the heat, cover with a lid and let stand for five minutes. Serve with boiled potatoes and fresh vegetables.

9. Don't forget to treat your children to sweets! Try making traditional makovnik. In a deep bowl, mix 200 gr. sugar, 150 gr. ground poppy seeds, a teaspoon of grated lemon zest and vanilla on the tip of a knife. Then add one egg, 1 ½ cups of milk, 300 gr. flour and ½ teaspoon of baking powder. Knead the dough thoroughly and place it in a greased baking dish. Bake until done for 30 - 40 minutes in an oven preheated to 180⁰. Cool the finished makovnik slightly, remove from the mold, cut lengthwise into two halves, generously brush with apple jam and connect the halves again. Sprinkle the top of the poppy seed with powdered sugar and lightly fried poppy seeds.

10. Well, adults can be treated to a delicious homemade berry tincture. Preparing such a tincture is not at all difficult. Pour one glass of any frozen berries (cranberries, black currants, raspberries, etc.) and one glass of sugar into a glass liter jar. Leave in a warm place until the juice releases and the sugar dissolves. Then pour half a liter of good vodka over the berries and syrup, close the jar tightly with a lid and put it in a dark place. On the first day, shake the jar every two hours; on the second day, shake the jar four to five times. Then shake your tincture twice a day. The best result is a tincture that has stood for two weeks. This tincture will delight you with a bright berry aroma and a very mild taste. Those who are in a hurry can try their tincture in just three to four days. The finished tincture must be carefully filtered through gauze folded in several layers and cooled.

And on the pages of the site you can always find proven New Year’s recipes for traditional and modern dishes, which will definitely tell you what to cook for the Old New Year.

The name Generous Evening speaks for itself - a day when it is customary to put a variety of dishes on the table, and the more, the better. And since, according to beliefs, Saint Basil the Great protected pig farmers, pork dishes are considered to be the main and obligatory dishes on Basil. This evening the hosts warmly welcome and treat any guest. In addition to pork, there should be pies, pancakes, dumplings on the table with which it is customary to treat sowers and generous people. According to legend, the more generous the table and the more guests, the more successful the coming year will be.

In 2018, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Old New Year on the night from Saturday to Sunday, that is, from January 13 to 14. In general, the Old New Year is not a continuation of the New Year (as most believe), it is the same holiday only according to the old calendar. This is because the Julian and Gregorian calendars differed in the length of the year. In the Julian calendar, the solar year was 11 minutes longer, and therefore the dates of the holidays differ by about two weeks. And although the Julian calendar has not been used among Orthodox Christians for more than 600 years, the tradition of celebrating the New Year twice is firmly entrenched. Moreover, the Old New Year and Vasily’s Day coincide in the date of celebration.

What to cook for Old New Year

The holiday menu is very extensive and amazes with its variety and calorie content. On this day, you can prepare both traditional dishes and familiar dishes that are prepared on major holidays.

Those who adhere to Orthodox norms, as a rule, prepare pork dishes for the Old New Year.

The main dish of the day is, of course, roast suckling pig. There are many different recipes for its preparation, but what remains unchanged is that the pig must be whole.

Roasted pig with buckwheat

To prepare this dish, you need to prepare a gutted pig, but the head and legs must be intact. Wash the pig carcass thoroughly, leave it for a while to dry, rub with salt, mustard and pepper. Leave it to soak for about one hour. After that, put it on a baking sheet with the hooves up, be sure to pour it with vegetable oil and put it in a well-heated oven. Once you see that it is slightly browned, reduce the heat. Now you can start cooking the buckwheat, season it with boiled egg and onion, and add it to the pig. You can decorate the dish as desired: with herbs or baked apples.

Folk culinary traditions of celebrating Vasily's Day can be easily implemented today, and the addition of new ingredients will add a unique taste to the dishes. Of course, we must not forget that on the Generous Evening there should be real kutya on the table.

Just like at Christmas, kutia is an obligatory element of the festive table, but it is prepared with butter. All other products are exactly the same as in the Christmas Kutya. If you want to surprise your guests with the unusual taste of kutia, you can add a little cognac to it. To prepare this dish you need to prepare:

• rice or wheat 400 grams;
• poppy 200 grams;
• nuts (can be walnuts or hazelnuts) 100 grams;
• honey 100 grams;
• cognac 1 tablespoon.

Cooking method:

An hour before cooking, soak the wheat, which needs to be boiled for about 60 minutes until tender. The ratio of water to grain is 2.5 to 1. Pour boiling water over poppy seeds for fifteen minutes, then grind. Finely cut nuts and dried fruits (you can take any: raisins, prunes, figs and dried apricots) into cubes. Pre-dissolve honey in warm water or compote. Mix cereals, poppy seeds, nuts and dried fruits thoroughly and add honey water or honey compote, but you don’t need to pour everything out, otherwise it will turn out too liquid. Mix thoroughly. After this, add cognac to the kutya and mix again. All kutia is ready to be served on the festive table.

Kutya, of course, is good, so is the pig. But what about originality? Moreover, considering that Vasily’s Day is a unique opportunity for fortune telling, you can bake a lucky cake that all guests will appreciate. The recipe for this pie is very popular and is prepared by housewives with great pleasure. It will turn out very tasty if you use puff pastry, which you can either prepare yourself or buy ready-made.

So, for a happy pie you need to prepare:

• puff pastry – 500 grams;
• half a kilogram of beef or mixed minced meat (in general, at your discretion);
• one onion;
• two eggs;
• two tablespoons of vegetable oil;
• salt and pepper.

The dough is divided into seven equal parts, each one is rolled out with a rolling pin. Salt and pepper the minced meat, add finely chopped onion and mix thoroughly. Place minced meat on each strip of dough, carefully adjusting the length of a tablespoon of minced meat. Then fold the strip in half and glue the edges. Make a pattern around the edges with a fork and roll it up like a rose. In total you need to make seven roses; in one of them you need to put a coin of any denomination. You can cut out leaves from the rest of the dough; place the roses and leaves on a pre-greased mold, forming something like a cow. Brush the pie with egg and place in the oven for baking (baking time - 1 hour, at 180 degrees).

Where there is a pig, there should be a variety of meat dishes. We offer monastic-style cutlets.

So, prepare:

• one kilogram of pork;
• three eggs;
• three onions;
• starch (three tablespoons) and mayonnaise;
• seasoning.

The meat must be cut into small cubes and mixed with finely chopped onion in a separate bowl. Mix thoroughly. Beat the eggs into the mixture, add mayonnaise, eggs, starch and seasonings. Mix thoroughly and place the mixture in the refrigerator to marinate. After an hour, place the mixture in a frying pan like pancakes and fry on both sides. Decorate the finished cutlets as desired.

It would not be out of place on the festive table monastery hub. This dish comes from Poland and is easy to prepare. In other words, shab is baked loin with cabbage.

To prepare you will need:

• one kilogram of cabbage;
• one and a half kilograms of lean pork;
• two hundred grams of water and salt.

Chop the pork finely, add salt and place in layers in a pan. A layer of meat, a layer of cabbage and so on until the end. Cover with water and simmer until done. Adding onions will make the dish more tender.

The table should include: boiled pork, meatballs, krucheniki, homemade sausage and roast. Probably from that time the saying “A pig and a pig for Vasiliev’s day” came to us. Potatoes or some kind of cooked cereal can serve as an addition to meat dishes. For a successful, lucky and generous year, porridge and potatoes are cooked in rich meat broth.

Pancakes must be on the table, and once upon a time housewives, when preparing them, would say: “So that everything grows well this year, like the dough rises with yeast, so that the sun warms hot, as the fire bakes pancakes.”

In addition to the lucky pie, you can also make lucky dumplings, which in the old days girls used to tell fortunes about. To do this, each dumpling is filled with a different “magic” filling:

• coin – symbolizes money;
• bay leaf - a promotion is coming;
• dried apricots - for a joyful year;
• ring - an unmarried girl will get married within a year, and the married girl will do well in her marriage;
• caramel - those who receive it will meet true love;
• grain to the monetary year;
• and a cherry for good luck.

Our usual pickles are very good, but the table can be diversified with new items. We offer a selection of unique dishes for the holiday table.

Tuna tartare

An easy to prepare appetizer, but divinely delicious, and it takes a little time and effort to prepare. Remember that the tuna in this appetizer is served raw, so its freshness plays an important role. In addition, you will also need soy sauce, preferably a good dark sauce. Wonton dough can be purchased at Asian food stores.

Yields 4 servings.

Prepare:

• 300 grams of fresh tuna (be sure to trim the skin and cut it into cubes);
• eight squares of wonton dough (cut diagonally to make 18 triangular pieces);
• two onions, chopped into thin half rings;
• ready-made paste with garlic and chili (the paste can also be cooked);
• two tablespoons of sour cream and two tablespoons of soy sauce;
• one tablespoon of sesame oil;
• frying oil;
• one tablespoon of sesame seeds.

How to cook:

Combine soy sauce and paste, add sesame oil. Drizzle the tuna with the dressing, cover with cling film and refrigerate for one hour.

Now start preparing the chips. Place pieces of dough into a preheated deep fryer filled with oil.

The dough should be fried for no more than two minutes, until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel.

Now you can put tuna on the chips, which should be poured with sour cream and sprinkled with onions and sesame seeds. Finally, drizzle with sesame oil. The dish is ready.

Kohlrabi salad

A very tasty and healthy dish, a good addition to meat dishes. The number of components is enough for eight people.

So, prepare:

• kohlrabi – 1 pc. (cut, peel and cut into strips);
• celery – 1 stalk (cut and chopped into strips);
• carrots – 1 piece (peeled and cut into strips);
• red onion – 1 piece (peeled and finely chopped);
• natural yogurt (can be replaced with cheese) approximately 150 grams;
• grain mustard - 1 tablespoon;
• cream should be very fat - 50ml;
• any greens (to taste, you can do without them), lemon zest (one lemon), sea salt.

How to cook:

Mix yogurt, mustard, cream in a large bowl. Add kohlrabi, celery, carrots, herbs and onions, mix everything again. If the dressing is very thick, you can add two tablespoons of cold water. Salt and add zest. Salad ready.

In addition to preparing dishes and the diversity of the menu, I would like to draw attention to another interesting tradition that came to us from antiquity: table setting.

How to set a table on a holiday

The tablecloth should be bright and painted. The dishes should also be different; it would be ideal if they were selected from different sets; this is necessary for a variety of colors on the festive table. A variety of ceramic vases will also look good on the holiday table.

There is another folk custom: large fava beans. In the old days, large fava beans were boiled (their quantity was equal to the number of those present). Everyone had to eat one bean for a good year ahead. And the most important thing that should be at the festive table is a great mood and joy. Happy New Year.

Take care of the teeth and stomachs of those gathered at the table - warn them if there are hard and inedible surprises in the dumplings!

Fortune telling for the future for the old New Year

If you are going to celebrate the New Year according to the old style in the company of friends, invite them to look (jokingly or seriously) into the near future with the help of fortune telling on the night of January 13-14, 2020:

For upcoming events

For fortune telling, take several identical glasses. A little salt is poured into one, sugar into the other, a ring is placed into the third, and the fourth is left empty. The girl closes her eyes or turns away. The friends swap the glasses, point at them one by one and ask: “This one or the other?” until the young lady makes up her mind.

Based on the contents in the selected glass, they determine what awaits her next year:

• sugar - happiness and success
• salt - tears and disappointment
• ring - marriage
• emptiness - absence of significant events

Modern girls also use other objects in such fortune-telling: a pacifier (pregnancy and the birth of a baby), a pen or pencil (admission to a university, studying at a course), keys (buying real estate or a car), and so on.

On the character of the future husband

The girl approaches the neighbors' windows and tries to eavesdrop on what is happening in the house:

• laughter and cheerful conversations are heard - the husband will be a joker and joker
• household members quarrel and swear - a brawler and brawler will come across
• drink - the spouse will abuse alcohol

In the name of the future husband

An unmarried girl leaves the house and asks the first man she meets what his name is - this will be the name of her future husband.

For a possible marriage

Unmarried girls go outside the gates of the house (in modern conditions - into the courtyard of a high-rise building). They take turns blindfolding themselves and turning around themselves several times. The direction chosen after such a “carousel” indicates whether the young lady will get married this year: she goes to the house - she will remain “in the girls”, in the opposite direction - she can prepare for the crown.

Whatever way you choose to celebrate the old New Year, may the coming 2020 pass you under the sign of happiness, health and family well-being!

The most favorite holiday of Russians is New Year! Everyone is waiting for his arrival. As a rule, it is celebrated cheerfully and fervently. But did you know that this fun can happen again in a couple of weeks? If yes, then you are probably familiar with such a holiday as the Old New Year. Celebrating the Old New Year began in the last century. Previously, there were also interesting traditions that, in some understanding, have survived to this day. In this article we will talk about when the Old New Year is celebrated and what traditions exist.

What history does the holiday have?

The Old New Year appeared due to the fact that Russia switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1918. Currently, the Old New Year is celebrated on the night of January 14th. However, over time this date will be postponed.

Celebrations in the Orthodox Church are held on the same dates that were previously established. But with the adoption of the new calendar in our country, everything got mixed up. Therefore, residents of our country should be reminded of the dates of holidays and the customs that accompany them.

The Old New Year is celebrated today from January 13 to 14. At the same time, two more church holidays overlapped this holiday. So, these are: the Feast of the Veneration of Basil the Great and the Day of Memory of Melania. In some Orthodox families, this night is called the meeting of Vasily with Melania.

Which countries celebrate the Old New Year?

Other countries also celebrate the Old New Year. For example it could be:

• Tunisia and Algeria,
• Romania and Greece,
• Montenegro and Serbia,
• Morocco and Switzerland.

Each country has special rules according to which this holiday is celebrated. For example, quarreling and raising your voice are prohibited on this day in Greece. You should also not break dishes on this day. As a result, fragile items in the kitchen are treated with great care. And if someone is invited to celebrate this holiday, they recommend taking with them a stone that will symbolize wealth for the owners of the house.

The festive table in Romania must have pies. However, housewives bake them, adding interesting fillings.

In Switzerland, the Old New Year is dedicated to the veneration of St. Sylvester. This looks like a lot of fun. Residents of the town wear funny costumes in the shape of houses or botanical gardens. As a rule, they jokingly call themselves Sylvester Klaus.

In Montenegro, this holiday cannot be imagined without the national dish - parenitsa. To prepare the food, corn dough is used.

The customs of celebrating the Old New Year in Russia are similar to the customs of Ukraine and Belarus. As a result, they are generally considered to be general.

Russian customs of the Old New Year

So, what traditions does the Old New Year have? How to celebrate it correctly? If you are interested in this topic, then you should carefully read the following information. Previously, in Rus', the New Year's table on January 1 was simply bursting with all kinds of dishes. The Old New Year was no exception. Housewives prepared many different dishes including:

• Roasted young pig.
• Delicious kutya, which meant the end of Lent.
• Varenki with interesting filling.
• Pies and pancakes were distributed to everyone who came with carols.

Previously, in Rus', the whole family participated in preparing dishes for the festive table. An interesting filling was used when making dumplings. Such a moment symbolized fortune-telling of what awaits a person in the coming year.

The most striking decoration of this holiday is carols. But they carol only until 12 at night. It was believed that after midnight a dark force walked around. There was another interesting tradition among young people. For example, a guy was dressed up in women's clothing. He was considered a symbol of Melanie. And other young girls and boys put on masks.

For the New Year's feast, kutia was cooked in the morning. But if unpleasant omens happened, then this food along with the pot was thrown directly into the hole. Another interesting tradition of this holiday is the burning of “Didukha”. To accomplish this, the following manipulations were performed:

A sheaf of lard was prepared in advance.

On the Old New Year, at about 12 at night, when the carols ended, people went out to the crossroads with this sheaf and simply burned it.

And when the flames of the fire diminished, all the people began to jump over the fire. This symbolized farewell to the dark force.

At the same time, this activity was accompanied by dancing, songs and ditties. People also played other games.

As you can see, the Old New Year is a lot of traditions. And another beautiful tradition that exists in Rus' has survived to this day. In particular, early in the morning, village residents went to the houses of their relatives and wished them happiness, health and prosperity. At the same time, they “sowed” the grain. Today there are no sources where this custom comes from. But despite this, it has some rules.

• Only men, boys and boys can sow. In general, all persons are male. In Rus' they believed that the female sex does not bring happiness.
• First of all, they went to the houses of the godparents.
• And the grains that people sowed were collected and stored until spring, mixed with spring grains.

On this day they cooked a special porridge. And the old woman poured the cereal for cooking. The oldest man in the family brought water from the well. At two o'clock in the morning it was necessary to deliver the cereal from the barn. In order not to change your future, the cereal could not be touched. First they light the stove, and then they just start working on the cereal. All family members sat around the table where the porridge was being prepared. The woman who stirred the cereal had to say special words. After that, the porridge was sent to the oven and they waited for what would happen next. For example:

If the porridge came out of the pot, it meant that trouble would soon befall this house. As a result, it was impossible to eat such a dish.

• If the pot burst, then no one dared to eat the porridge. This sign promised illness to the family.
• Porridge that had foam on top meant unnecessary troubles that were useless.
• And when the porridge turned out rich and tasty, it promised happiness for the whole family.

Late in the evening the whole family sat down at the table. And such a dinner was impossible to miss. This holiday fell on the time when Christmastide was going on. Therefore, old New Year's fortune telling was popular. Mostly girls did the guessing. Traditions could differ significantly from the place of residence and from the veneration of saints. In particular, some villages especially revered their saints. They were the ones who received extra attention.

How to celebrate the Old New Year today

In our country, the Old New Year is celebrated on a grand scale. Many people believe that on the Old New Year it is necessary to do what was not possible to do on New Year's Eve on January 1st. In particular, you should do the following:

It’s worth making a wish and writing it on a napkin afterwards. It is then burned, and the ashes themselves are thrown into champagne.

During the Old New Year, it’s worth watching all the concerts and entertaining TV shows that you couldn’t watch on the night of January 1st.

On the Old New Year, it is customary to congratulate relatives and friends again. At the same time, they should wish them happiness and health again.

It’s also worth putting gifts under the New Year’s tree for those people you forgot about for some reason on January 1st.

In Russia, people who live in the southern regions prepare dishes from pork meat. It is believed that in this case you can attract good news to yourself in the New Year. Today, in some villages, carols are also held, but in a different format. Unfortunately, people have lost their true meaning.

Signs for January 14

So you found out with the help of our article what traditions and customs the Old New Year has. And finally, it’s worth mentioning some signs that had to be taken very carefully.

If there was frost on the trees in the morning, then the year will be rich in harvest.

In order not to cry in the New Year, you should not count money on Vasily’s Day. Also on this day you cannot borrow or lend. And if there was a snowstorm or blizzard at night, then this sign indicated that the year would not be calm.

Having heard an unusual ringing in the morning, one could think that a monetary replenishment would soon come.

On the Old New Year, appeasing livestock was considered an obligatory event. If this is done, then the year for animals will be prolific and calm.

Finally

The New Year's mood can be easily improved by returning to our reality those traditions and customs that existed before. Agree - it will be wonderful.

The Old New Year 2020 is celebrated on the night of January 13-14. The evening on the eve of the Old New Year is called generous, therefore the festive table should be rich, satisfying and tasty.

In Ukraine, the tradition of celebrating is associated not only with the change in chronology, but also with church holidays. So, on January 13, the Melanka holiday is celebrated, and January 14 is Vasily’s Day. In addition, the modern New Year falls on the Nativity fast, and the Old New Year no longer exists, so this “new year” can be celebrated with all your heart.

The evening on the eve of the Old New Year - Generous Evening or Vasiliev, as it is also called - coincides with the Ukrainian folk holiday Malanka. Kutya is the main ritual food this evening. For Vasily, the kutya was prepared generously, fatty, seasoned with lard or cream. Hence the name of the evening - Generous.

It is customary for the whole family to sit down at the New Year's table, just like at Christmas. In our material you will find recipes for dishes for the Old New Year according to folk traditions to attract good luck and prosperity, as well as original modern recipes for festive treats.

What dishes should you prepare for the Old New Year?

In addition to kutia, it is customary to prepare many dishes for the Old New Year: it is appreciated if they are varied and satisfying, because the more dishes on the table, the more generous the next year will be. Mandatory treats on the table are dumplings, pancakes, and various sausages.

Also on the table must be pork dishes. This animal has traditionally been considered a symbol of fertility and prosperity.

Dishes for Old New Year 2020: pork ribs

According to folk customs, pork entrails are prepared for the Old New Year, jellied meat is cooked from pork legs so that people’s legs don’t hurt, kishka (blood milk), liver sausages, vereshchaka (an ancient Ukrainian dish of pork ribs) are prepared. fry and smoke lard Potaptsy (small sandwiches) are prepared with lard, stuffing a whole young pig, cook borscht and the like.

But cooking poultry and fish that evening was a bad omen, since it was believed that happiness would “fly away” or “swim away” from the house.

Dishes for Old New Year 2020: homemade sausage

The hosts covered the festive tables with towels and decorated them with spikelets, placed kutya in the center of the table and lit a candle to honor the memory of their ancestors. It is with kutya that the meal begins this evening.

Recipes for Old New Year

Generous kutia

The basic principle of preparing generous kutia is a combination of boiled cereals, poppy seeds, dried fruits and honey. Generous kutia - unlike lean kutia, is prepared with butter, milk, cream or animal fat.

Ingredients:
wheat or rice – 400 g;
poppy seed – 200 gr;
walnuts or hazelnuts – 100 g;
dried fruits – 100 g;
honey – 100 g;
cognac – 1 tbsp. l. (Optional);
butter – 2-3 tbsp. l.

Recipe for generous kutia for the Old New Year

Generous kutia recipe:

1. Wheat needs to be soaked for 1-2 hours, then boiled until tender. The proportions of grain and water are 1:2.5.

2. Pour boiling water over poppy seeds for 15 minutes, then grind in a mortar. Finely cut nuts and your favorite dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, prunes, figs) into cubes. Mix all ingredients.

3. Dissolve honey in a glass of warm water or uzvar and pour into porridge. Kutya should not be liquid, so you may not need all the honey water.

4. At the very end, add cognac and a spoonful of butter to the kutya if desired. Mix all ingredients well before serving.

Vereshchaka (pork ribs)

Ingredients:
400 g pork ribs;
200 g white bread,
50 g lard
2 medium onions;
salt, ground black pepper and other spices to taste;
beet kvass.

Ingredients for Vereshchaki for the Old New Year

Ingredients for beet kvass:
0.5 kg of peeled beets;
1 liter of chilled boiled water.

Vereshchaki (pork ribs) recipe:

1. You need to prepare beet kvass in advance. To do this, finely chop the beets and fill them with water. The mixture should be placed in a warm place for 4-5 days until a sour taste appears.

2. To prepare vereshchaki, take pork ribs, salt and pepper them. You can add other spices if you wish. Fry them in a deep frying pan until crusty. Add 500 grams of beet kvass to the frying pan and place in the oven for 30 minutes.

3. Cut the bread into small cubes, place it in the frying pan where the meat is stewed, and leave in the oven for another five minutes. At the end, add chopped and fried onions and lard to the vereshchaka. Remove the finished dish from the oven before serving and sprinkle with herbs. Vereshchaka is served in portions in deep bowls.

Recipe for Vereshchaki (pork ribs) for the Old New Year

Appetizer with lard

Ingredients:
lard without meat layer;
black bread;
salt, pepper to taste;
a few cloves of garlic.

Recipe for a snack of lard and garlic for the Old New Year

Lard snack recipe:

1. Freshly cooled, even slightly frozen lard without a meat layer, twist through a meat grinder, add salt and pepper to taste, add a few chopped garlic cloves and mix well. You can add ground nutmeg or curry.

2. Let the mixture sit for several hours so that the spices and garlic release their aroma. Spread on black bread; when serving, you can sprinkle with herbs. This appetizer is perfect with borscht or main meat courses.

Dumplings with potatoes and cracklings

Ingredients for the dough:
0.5 kg flour;
250 ml water;
2 tbsp. spoons of butter;
1-2 eggs;
salt to taste.

Ingredients for filling and cracklings:
potatoes 500 gr;
lard 200 gr;
2 onions;
salt and pepper to taste;
butter as desired.

Dumplings with potatoes and cracklings for the Old New Year

Recipe for dumplings with potatoes and cracklings:

1. Sift the flour. Add warm water, eggs, oil and salt. Mix the stiff, homogeneous dough. Cover the dough with cling film and leave it for half an hour in a warm place.

2. While the dough is resting, boil the potatoes. Make a puree and add cream or warm milk (optional). Also add salt to the filling, but keep in mind that the dough is also salty.

3. Roll out the dough and cut out small circles. This can be done using a regular glass. Place a spoonful of filling on each circle and form dumplings. The amount of filling depends on the size of the dumpling.

If desired, dumplings can be served not with cracklings, but with sour cream

4. Place the finished dumplings in boiling salted water. Cook for 6-7 minutes after surfacing.

5. Fry finely chopped lard and onion in a frying pan. When serving, sprinkle the dumplings with cracklings; if desired, you can pour over the melted fat that will appear during frying.

Homemade sausage

Homemade sausage is a very filling and tasty food. This sausage is perfectly preserved, especially if the finished sausage is placed in a ceramic pot and filled with melted lard. For the holiday, sausage should be prepared the day before, and it should be fried before serving - this way it will be tastier.

Homemade sausage recipe for Old New Year

Ingredients:
2-2.5 kg pork (neck, shoulder, back)
500-700 g of lard without meat streaks;
1 head of garlic;
pork small intestines;
salt, ground black pepper, dry herbs (basil, thyme, oregano), ground coriander.

Homemade sausage recipe:

1. Pork small intestines must be rinsed very thoroughly. Turn the intestines inside out and rinse again. It would not be superfluous to scrape out the intestines with the back of a knife and remove the mucus from the intestines.

Pork intestines need to be washed thoroughly

2. Pork meat can be used from any part of the carcass. Considering that homemade sausage is made with the addition of lard, the fat content of the meat does not matter. The neck, shoulder blade, back part are perfect. Thoroughly clean the meat from bones and cartilage. If you wish, you can mince the meat or cut it into small pieces. But sausage with chopped meat and lard turns out tastier.

3. Peel the lard. Set aside 100 grams of lard. Cut the rest into the same pieces as the meat. The ratio of meat and lard is approximately 1:6. If the meat is fatty, then less lard is needed and vice versa.

Minced meat for homemade sausage

4. In a large bowl, combine the chopped meat and lard. Season with salt and pepper. Add dry aromatic herbs: basil, oregano and definitely thyme. Add ground coriander to taste. Mix the meat very thoroughly. Add a chopped head of garlic to the minced meat to make the sausage more flavorful.

5. Prepared intestines need to be stuffed with ready-made minced meat. For this purpose, meat grinders have a special tube-shaped attachment. The intestine must be put on the nozzle, and the tip must be tied with a cotton thread. There is no need to fill the intestine very tightly so that it does not burst during cooking or frying. If there is a hole in the intestine, then it needs to be divided into smaller sausages.

How to stuff homemade sausage

6. The stuffed sausage should stand in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours, or better yet, overnight. After this, roll the sausage into rings, this makes it easier to cook and fry. Pierce the sausage in several places with a toothpick to release excess air. Boil the sausage for 5-7 minutes in boiling water. For this it is better to take a large saucepan. Let the sausage cool.

Roll homemade sausage

7. Fry 100 grams of lard that you set aside. All you need is the fat, which needs to be cooled. Grease a baking sheet, place the sausage there and place in the oven. If desired, the sausage can be fried. The sausage is baked for about an hour, and it needs to be turned over periodically.

Homemade sausage goes better with mustard or horseradish

8. You can eat the sausage right away. But homemade sausage stores well in the refrigerator and is reheated as needed. Serve sausage with sauce - homemade mustard or horseradish.

Krovyanka with buckwheat

Ingredients:
200 g buckwheat;
1 liter of blood
350 g lard
100 g meat;
3 onions;
200 g milk
1 bay leaf;
2 peas of allspice;
salt to taste;
pepper to taste;
3 small intestines, cleaned.

Recipe for bloodwort with buckwheat

Recipe for bloodwort with buckwheat:

1. Boil buckwheat in salted water until tender. Boil lard with bay leaf and allspice, cool and chop finely.

2. If clots occur in the blood, it must be passed through a meat grinder. Finely chop the onion and fry in oil. Combine all ingredients and mix well to obtain a homogeneous mass.

3. The intestines are stuffed in the same way as in homemade sausage. But do not forget to rinse and clean the intestines well. Place the stuffed intestines in boiling water, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. During the cooking process, pierce the blood in several places with a needle or toothpick.

4. Bake the boiled blood in an oven preheated to 250°C for 20-30 minutes.

Homemade roast pork

Ingredients:
500 g lean pork;
2 onions;
7-8 large potatoes;
2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
salt and pepper to taste;
fresh greens.

Roast pork recipe for Old New Year

Pork roast recipe:

1. Cut the meat into small cubes. Peel the onion and cut into half rings. Peel the potatoes and cut into slices (about 2 cm).

2. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry the meat until golden brown. Add the onion to the meat and fry until it becomes transparent. Add chopped potatoes, salt and pepper and mix well.

3. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer over low heat until done. If desired, the roast can be cooked in portions in clay pots in the oven.

Jellied meat made from two types of meat

Ingredients:
beef shin and another 500 g of beef.;
pork – 500 g
1 carrot;
1 onion;
dill – 3-4 sprigs;
parsley - 3-4 sprigs;
bay leaf – 2 pcs;
garlic – 3-4 cloves;
black pepper (peas)
salt to taste.

Jellied meat recipe for Old New Year

Recipe for jellied meat for the Old New Year:

1. Pour cold water over the beef shin, bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for another 5 hours. Don't forget to skim off the foam. Add the remaining meat (beef and pork) and cook for another hour and a half.

2. Wash, peel and coarsely chop the carrots and onions. Add to broth. Also put in a bunch of herbs tied with a thread, bay leaf and pepper and cook for another half hour. Salt the broth and strain.

3. Remove the meat from the bones and chop fairly finely. Squeeze the peeled garlic cloves onto the meat.

4. Arrange the meat among the molds. Pour in the broth until the meat is just under the surface (about two fingers deep). Leave to cool at room temperature and then place the ramekins in the refrigerator until the jellied meat is set.

Pork and mushroom tortillas

Pork krucheniki can be prepared with a wide variety of fillings - from potatoes and vegetables to nuts and pineapples. We chose a simple option - with mushroom filling. But you can choose the filling to your taste!

Ingredients:
500 g pork (fillet)
400 g champignons (or dried mushrooms)
1 onion;
3 tbsp. l. flour;
oil;
spices to taste (basil, oregano, coriander, marjoram, thyme, pepper)
salt to taste.

Recipe for pork krucheniki for the Old New Year

Recipe for pork krucheniki with mushroom filling:

1. Cut the meat across the grain into pieces approximately 1 centimeter thick, beat well with a hammer, add salt and pepper.

2. Fry onions, mushrooms and spices in a frying pan. It is necessary that all liquid evaporates from the mixture. Set aside 2-3 tbsp. spoons of prepared mushrooms with filling for stewing krucheniki.

3. Place mushroom filling in each piece of meat and roll it up, carefully pressing the edges so that the filling does not fall out, and secure with toothpicks.

4. Each roll should be rolled in flour and fried in oil on both sides until golden brown. Place the krucheniki in a saucepan, layering them with the remaining mushrooms and filling, add water (or broth) so that it slightly covers the krucheniki, and add salt. Simmer the tortillas under the lid over low heat for 40-50 minutes until fully cooked.

5. Pork rolls are good served with a side dish: mashed potatoes, vegetables, etc.

Pancakes with minced meat

Ingredients for pancakes for 3 servings:
milk (300 ml)
2 eggs;
flour (200-250 g);
1 tbsp. spoon of butter;
salt and pepper.

Pancake recipe for Old New Year

Filling ingredients:
400 g boiled meat (pork, beef)
1 onion;
a bunch of greenery;
3 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil;
spices for meat;
salt to taste.

Recipe for pancakes with minced meat:

1. Beat the eggs until fluffy. Add salt and pepper to the eggs and beat again.

2. Add warm milk to the beaten eggs and stir. Add flour in small portions and stir constantly until all the “lumps” disappear.

3. Fry the pancakes over medium heat for 1-2 minutes on both sides until they are browned.

4. For the filling, pass the boiled meat through a meat grinder. Finely chop the onion and greens (you can use frozen ones).

5. In a preheated frying pan, fry the onion in vegetable oil, then add meat, spices, salt and fry, stirring, for 10 minutes. Add herbs and stir.

6. Place the prepared filling in the center of the pancake, form a bag and secure its edges with green onions. Or just form envelopes if you don’t have green onions.

Compote with raisins and cherries

Uzvar is a traditional Ukrainian drink that is prepared for various holidays. In particular, on Christmas Eve and Old New Year.

Ingredients:
dried apples 100 g
dried pears 100 g
prunes 100 g
dried apricots 100 g
raisins 100 g
dried cherries 100 g
sugar 100 g

Compote recipe for Old New Year

Recipe for compote for the Old New Year:

1. Pour dried fruits (traditional composition - dried pears, apples, raisins and prunes) with water and rinse them thoroughly.

2. Pour water (2-3 liters) into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Place all the dried fruits in water and bring to a boil. After this, reduce the heat and cook for another 15-20 minutes under the lid. 5 minutes before cooking, add sugar to the pan.

4. After this, remove the compote from the heat and let it brew for 12 hours. Before serving, the compote should be strained.

Have a delicious celebration! Share photos of your dishes for the Old New Year in the comments!