Tatiana B. Smirnova
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7533-5364
E-mail: smirnovatb@omsu.ru
28, Andrianov str., Omsk, 644077, Russian Federation
DSc in History, Senior Researcher, Siberian Branch, Likhachev Russian Research Institute for the Cultural and Natural Heritage
Tel.: +7 (3812) 67-05-15
55а, Mira аv., Omsk, 644077, Russian Federation
Professor, Department of World History, Dostoevsky Omsk State University
Christmas is considered the main event of the holiday calendar of Russian Germans. This article is devoted to the customs and rituals of Advent — the period that precedes Christmas. Its source is research on folk studies and field ethnographic materials collected by the author in expeditions to Siberia and the Volga region. According to the Gregorian calendar Christmas is celebrated on December 25; the period of Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas (between November 27 and December 3) and ends on Christmas Eve, December 24. The article describes customs related to the Advent wreath, the Advent calendar, the setting up of the Christmas tree, and the gifting of St. Nicholas to children. These actions are rooted in German folk culture; for example, the image of Santa Claus was created by the German-born artist Thomas Nast based on childhood memories. Today, Advent traditions have become part of global popular culture and are heavily commercialized. Germans living in Russia for several centuries have retained many traditional customs that are no longer found in Germany. There are about two hundred thousand Germans in Russia; German villages have been preserved in Siberia, German national districts have been created in the Omsk region and Altai Krai, and Russian-German houses have been established in seven cities. Currently, it is in these places — national-cultural centers — that work is being done to preserve the traditional culture of Russian Germans
Nemetskoe Rozhdestvo: traditsionnye komponenty, predmety i simvoly v kollektsiyakh i arkhivnykh materialakh MAEH [German Christmas: Traditional Components, Objects and Symbols in the Collections and Archival Materials of the MAE]. In: Sbornik MAEH. LVII. Kul’turnoe nasledie narodov Evropy [Collection of MAE. LVII. The Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Europe]. St. Petersburg: Nauka. Pp. 8–93. In Russian. Rossiiskie nemcy [Russian Germans] (2021). Moscow: Nauka. (Narody i kul’tury [Peoples and Cultures]). In Russian.
Rublevskaya S. A. (2000) Kalendarnaya obryadnost’ nemtsev Zapadnoi Sibiri kontsa XIX–XX vv. [Calendar Rituals of the Germans of Western Siberia in the Late Nineteenth — Early Twentieth Century]. M.: Gotika. In Russian.
Smirnova T. B. (2009) Obychai ryazheniya v kalendarnykh prazdnikakh nemtsev Sibiri [Customs of Dressing Up in the Calendar Holidays of the Germans of Siberia]. Arkheologiya, ehtnografiya i antropologiya Evrazii [Archeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia]. 2009. No. 3 (39). Pp. 128–134. In Russian.
Smirnova T. B. (2016) Etnografiya rossiiskikh nemtsev [The Ethnography of Russian Germans]. Moscow: RusDoichMedia. In Russian.
Smirnova T. B. (2024) Etnicheskaya samoorganizatsiya na postsovetskom prostranstve: razvitie, struktura i funktsii [Ethnic SelfOrganization in Post-Soviet Space: Its Development, Structure and Functions]. Etnografiya [Ethnography]. 2024. No. 1 (23). Pp. 210–236. In Russian.
Smirnova T. B., Kisser T. S. (2017) Mnogoobrazie nemtsev Rossii [The Diversity of Germans in Russia]. Ural’skii istoricheskii vestnik [Ural Historical Bulletin]. 2017. No. 2 (55). Pp. 44–53. In Russian.
Vajman D. I. (2017) Kalendarnye prazdniki i obryady nemtsev Urala v kontse XIX — nachale XXI v. [Calendar Holidays and Rituals of the Ural Germans in the Late Nineteenth — Early Twentieth Centuries]. St. Petersburg: Mamatov. In Russian.
Smirnova T. B. Waiting for Christmas: Advent Traditions in Russian German Families. Traditional Culture. 2025. Vol. 26. No. 1. Pp. 121–132. In Russian.