Soviet New Year Trees

The exhibit I intended to see at the Museum of Russian Art last weekend was about New Year trees during the Soviet era. Essentially, Christmas was outlawed after the revolution, but culture is not so easy to change, so the Soviets tried to bend it instead, reshaping traditional celebrations of Christmas to focus on the New Year instead.

At first, the Soviet government instituted what it called Komsomol Christmas, "a fight for the liberation of the workers' consciousness from the fog of superstition."

This 1925 script described how to put on an anti-religious, anti-Christmas celebration. "The event...ridiculed religious belief, while drawing on the rich pageantry of a Russian orthodox service [including] burning of the effigies of Orthodox priests..." 

Celebration of New Year at first wasn't banned, but by the late 1920s its proximity to Christmas was also seen as anti-Soviet, though small trees were still decorated with old or homemade ornaments.

By 1935, though, the Communist Party retreated from the hard-line stance it had been taking, calling it "wrongful condemnation of the tree." Children's New Year trees should now be everywhere! New Year trees were part of strengthening the socialist family!

"New Year Celebration for Children at the House of the Unions," 1937
From the first official Soviet New Year celebration for Moscow school kids, which featured games, dancing, and circus performances. Each child got a present.

"Beautiful Stars Shine on the Tree" poster, 1936, Leningrad
Artist: Galina Shubina
The image includes multinational children and the tree ornaments incorporate Soviet features like parachutes, airplanes, tanks, and dirigibles. 

Paper flag garland (with hand-drawn CCCP and hammer/sickle embellishments) and ornaments: little houses, cat's house, Baba Yaga's house on chicken legs, mouse:

Celluloid flag garland, 1950s, and handmade ornaments, 1950s–60s

Children made ornaments from paper, cardboard, wool, potato starch, and any other material at hand. Kids' magazines printed designs that could be cut out and folded, or patterns that could be traced and glued. In the exhibit, there were many more ornaments and cut-out paper masks, garlands and various decorations. These few give a flavor.

Paper tissue "bell" decorations are a familiar idea in the U.S. as well, but the Russian take on these was fun to see, including a parachuting astronaut and (Ukrainian?) peasant girl:

This 1956 poster made me laugh, with its grim, admonishing soldier in front of the celebratory tree. The title is "Observe the Rules of Fire Safety When Installing a Holiday Tree!"

The last photo I took was of a hand-painted New Year party poster from the 1960s:

This poster snuck Father Christmas back into the scene.

Throughout the exhibit, there were many animal ornaments, both domesticated and wild. As expected, there was a marked absence of religious representation. I think that one red-suited figure in the hand-painted sign may have been the only Santa-like presence.

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Here's the unexpected exhibit I saw while I was at TMORA.