Table of Contents
The Kamendrovsky Family
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Click here for the family tree of Mikhail and Paraskeva Kamendrovsky.
The most important people in Nizhny Lomov
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Christmas in Russia before Communism
Christmas traditions in Russia are relatively recent and were introduced by the tsars. Before Peter the Great’s reforms, the New Year began on September 1, following the Byzantine calendar and era. In 1700, Peter the Great brought Western customs to the Russian court and established January 1 as the start of the New Year. His great-great-granddaughter-in-law, Grand Duchess Alexandra Fedorovna, decorated the very first Christmas tree in the Moscow Kremlin in 1817.
When her husband ascended the Russian throne as Nicholas I, the Christmas tree became an integral part of the holiday season in the Winter Palace. A century later, on the eve of the Revolution, the tradition of the Christmas tree was widespread among Russia’s upper and middle classes. Peasants celebrated Christmas with feasts, joyful troika rides, carolling, and more.
The tradition of celebrating Christmas at home – with a Christmas tree and gifts – was started at the Russian court in the first half of the 19th century during the reign of Nicholas I by his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, née Princess Charlotte, who was reminded of her native Prussia by such family celebrations.
The Christmas party would be held on Christmas Eve, on Dec. 24, immediately after the Christmas service. With the Imperial family, each member of the family had their own decorated Christmas tree, near which stood a table covered with a white tablecloth, on which gifts lay.
Christmas became prohibited under the Soviet regime and returned to Russia in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Children bought gifts for their parents with their own pocket money, or made something with their own hands. The Kamendrovsky children also made their own presents.
Even in the Imperial family, it was a tradition to make presents. Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna recalled her presents to Alexander III:
“The gift that I always gave to Papa was the product of my own hands – it was soft red shoes embroidered with white crosses. I was so pleased to see him wearing them!”
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna
Even in captivity, the Tsar’s family made their own Christmas presents – for each other and for their guards – before they were all murdered.
The Magic Lantern
The magic lantern (also known as lanterna magica) is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source.
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Panduri – Georgian lute
Troika
A Russian vehicle (usually a sleigh) pulled by a team of three horses abreast.
With gratitude
With special gratitude to Marina Gewlitch Chatsky – Maria Kamendrovsky’s daughter – for sharing her family memories in her small apartment in Queens, New York, some twenty years ago. You can find them in my sources.