IN In recent years, Christmas and Yuletide stories have become widespread. Not only collections of Christmastide stories written before 1917 are published, but their creative tradition has begun to revive. Of the recent - in the pre-New Year issue of the Afisha magazine (2006), 12 Christmastide stories were published by contemporary Russian writers.
However, the very history of the emergence and development of the genre form of the Christmastide story is no less fascinating than its masterpieces. An article by Elena Vladimirovna DUSHECHKINA, Doctor of Philology, Professor of St. Petersburg State University, is dedicated to her.
The Christmas story is absolutely required to be timed to coincide with the events of the Christmas evening - from Christmas to Epiphany, so that it is somehow fantastic, has some kind of moral, even like a refutation of a harmful prejudice, and finally - that it must end merrily ... the story, being in all its framework, can nevertheless be modified and present a curious variety, reflecting in itself both its time and mores.
N.S. Leskov
The history of the Christmastide story can be traced in Russian literature for three centuries - from the 18th century to the present, but its final formation and flourishing is observed in the last quarter of the 19th century - during the period of active growth and democratization of periodicals and the formation of the so-called "small" press.
It is the periodical press, due to its timed to a certain date, that becomes the main supplier of calendar "literary products", including the Christmas story.
Of particular interest are those texts in which there is a connection with oral folk Christmastide stories, because they clearly demonstrate the methods of assimilating oral tradition in literature and "oliteraturizing" folklore plots, meaningfully related to the semantics of folk Christmastide and the Christian holiday of Christmas.
But the essential difference between the literary Christmastide story and the folklore story lies in the nature of the depiction and interpretation of the culminating Christmastide episode.
The attitude to the truth of the incident and the reality of the characters are an indispensable feature of such stories. Supernatural collisions are not characteristic of the Russian literary Christmas story. A plot like Gogol's “Christmas Nights” is quite rare. And yet it is the supernatural - main topic such stories. However, what may seem supernatural, fantastic to the heroes, most often gets a very real explanation.
The conflict is not built on the collision of a person with the otherworldly evil world, but on that shift in consciousness that occurs in a person who, due to certain circumstances, doubted his disbelief in the other world.
In humorous Christmastide stories, so characteristic of the "thin" magazines of the second half of the 19th century, the motive of a meeting with evil spirits is often developed, the image of which appears in a person's mind under the influence of alcohol (cf. the expression "get drunk to hell"). In such stories, fantastic elements are used unrestrainedly and, one might even say, uncontrollably, since their realistic motivation justifies any phantasmagoria.
But here it should be borne in mind that literature is enriched by a genre, the nature and existence of which give it a deliberately anomalous character.
As a phenomenon of calendar literature, the Christmastide story is strongly associated with their holidays, their cultural life and ideological issuesthat prevents changes in him, his development, as required by the literary norms of the new time.
The author, who wants or - more often - who has received an order from the editors to write a Christmas-tide story for the holiday, has a certain “warehouse” of characters and a given set of plot moves, which he uses more or less masterly, depending on his combinatorial abilities.
Literary genre Christmas story lives according to the laws of folklore and ritual "aesthetics of identity", focusing on the canon and the stamp - a stable complex of stylistic, plot and thematic elements, the transition of which from text to text not only does not irritate the reader, but, on the contrary, gives him pleasure.
It must be admitted that for the most part literary Christmas-tide stories do not have high artistic merit. In the development of the plot, they use long-established techniques, their problems are limited to a narrow circle of life problems, which, as a rule, come down to clarifying the role of chance in a person's life. Their language, although it often claims to reproduce lively colloquial speech, is often poor and monotonous. However, the study of such stories is necessary.
First, they directly and visibly, in view of the nakedness of the techniques, demonstrate the ways of assimilation of folklore subjects by literature. Already being literature, but at the same time continuing to perform the function of folklore, consisting in influencing the reader with the entire atmosphere of his artistic worldbased on mythological concepts, such stories occupy an intermediate position between oral and written traditions.
Secondly, such stories and thousands of others like them make up the literary array that is called mass fiction. They served as the main and constant "reading matter" of the ordinary Russian reader, who was brought up on them and formed his artistic taste. Ignoring such literary production, one cannot understand the psychology of perception and the artistic needs of a literate but still uneducated Russian reader. We know quite well "big" literature - the works of great writers, classics of the 19th century - but our knowledge about it will remain incomplete until we can imagine the background on which big literature existed and on the basis of which it often grew ...
And finally, thirdly, Christmas stories are samples of almost completely unexplored calendar literature - a special kind of texts, the consumption of which is timed to coincide with a certain calendar time, when only their therapeutic effect on the reader is possible, so to speak.
For qualified readers, the stamping and stereotyping of the Christmastide story was a drawback, which was reflected in the criticism of the Christmastide production, in the declarations about the crisis of the genre and even its end. Such an attitude to the Christmastide story accompanies it almost throughout its literary history, testifying to the specificity of the genre, whose right to a literary existence was proved only by the creative efforts of major Russian writers of the 19th century.
Those writers who could give an original and unexpected interpretation of a "supernatural" event, "evil spirits", "Christmas miracles" and other components fundamental to Christmastide literature were able to go beyond the usual cycle of Christmastide plots. These are Leskov's "Christmastide" masterpieces - "Selected Grain", "Little Mistake", "Darnter" - about the specifics of the "Russian miracle". Such are the stories of Chekhov - "Vanka", "On the Way", "Woman's Kingdom" - about a possible, but never happened, meeting on Christmas.
Their achievements in the genre of the Yuletide story were supported and developed by Kuprin, Bunin, Andreev, Remizov, Sologub and many other writers who turned to him in order to remind the general reader about the holidays once again, but from their own point of view, in a manner characteristic of each of them. highlighting the meaning of human existence.
And yet, the mass Christmas-tree products of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, supplied to the reader at Christmas by periodicals, are limited by worn-out methods - stamps and templates. Therefore, it is not surprising that already at the end of the 19th century, parodies began to appear both on the genre of the Christmastide story, and on its literary life - writers writing Christmastide stories and readers reading them.
The upheavals of the beginning of the 20th century - the Russo-Japanese War, the Troubles of 1905–1907, and later - the First World War - unexpectedly gave a new breath to the Christmastide story.
One of the consequences of the social upheavals of those years was an even more intensive growth of the press than it was in the 1870s and 1880s. This time he had not so much educational as political reasons: parties are being created that need their publications. "Christmas editions", as well as "Easter" ones, play an essential role in them. The main ideas of the holiday - love for one's neighbor, compassion, mercy (depending on the political attitude of the authors and editors) - are combined with a variety of party slogans: either with calls for political freedom and transformation of society, or with demands for the restoration of "order" and pacification of "troubles ".
The Christmas numbers of newspapers and magazines from 1905 to 1908 give a fairly complete picture of the balance of power in the political arena and reflect the nature of changes in public opinion. So, over time, the Christmas tales become darker, and by Christmas 1907, the old optimism disappears from the pages of the "Christmas issues".
The processes that took place within literature itself also contributed to the renewal and raising of the prestige of the Yuletide story during this period. Modernism (in all its ramifications) was accompanied by the growing interest of the intelligentsia in Orthodoxy and in the spiritual sphere in general. Numerous articles on various religions of the world and literary works based on a wide variety of religious and mythological traditions appear in magazines.
In this atmosphere of gravitation towards the spiritual, which gripped the intellectual and artistic elite of St. Petersburg and Moscow, Christmastide and Christmas stories turned out to be an extremely convenient genre for artistic treatment. Under the pen of modernists, the Christmastide story is modified, sometimes significantly moving away from its traditional forms.
Sometimes, as, for example, in the story of V.Ya. Bryusov "The Child and the Madman", it provides an opportunity for depicting mentally extreme situations... Here, the search for the baby Jesus is conducted by “marginal” heroes - a child and a mentally ill - who perceive the Bethlehem miracle not as an abstract idea, but as an unconditional reality.
In other cases, Christmastide works are based on medieval (often apocryphal) texts, in which religious moods and feelings are reproduced, which is especially characteristic of A.M. Remizov.
Sometimes, due to the recreation of the historical setting, a special flavor is given to the Christmastide plot, as, for example, in the story of S.A. Auslander "Christmastide in Old Petersburg".
The First World War gave Christmastide literature a new and very characteristic turn. The writers who were patriotic at the beginning of the war transfer the action of traditional subjects to the front, tying together the military-patriotic and Christmas-tree themes.
Thus, during the three years of wartime Christmas issues, many stories have appeared about Christmas in the trenches, about the "wonderful intercessors" of Russian soldiers, about the experiences of a soldier striving home for Christmas. A mocking play on the "Christmas tree in the trenches" in the story of A.S. Bukhov is quite consistent with the state of affairs in the Yuletide literature of this period. Sometimes special editions of newspapers and "thin" magazines are published for Christmas, such as the humorous "Christmastide in Positions", published by Christmas 1915.
The Christmas-tide tradition finds its own application in the era of the events of 1917 and the Civil War. In the newspapers and magazines that have not yet been closed after October, many works have appeared sharply directed against the Bolsheviks, which was reflected, for example, in the first issue of the magazine "Satyricon" in 1918.
Later on, in the territories occupied by the troops of the White movement, works using Christmastide motives in the fight against the Bolsheviks are encountered quite regularly. In publications published in cities controlled by the Soviet government, where attempts to preserve an independent press at least to some extent have ceased since the end of 1918, the Christmastide tradition almost dies out, occasionally reminding itself of itself in the New Year's issues of humorous weeklies. At the same time, the texts published in them play up some, the most superficial motives of Christmastide literature, leaving aside the Christmas theme.
In the literature of the Russian diaspora, the fate of Christmastime literature turned out to be different. An unprecedented in the history of Russia, the flow of people outside its borders - to the Baltic states, to Germany, to France and more distant places - carried away both journalists and writers. Thanks to their efforts since the beginning of the 1920s. in many emigration centers, magazines and newspapers are being created, which in the new conditions continue the traditions of the old magazine practice.
Opening issues of such publications as "Smoke" and "Rul" (Berlin), " Last news"(Paris)," Zarya "(Harbin) and others, you can find numerous works of both the largest writers (Bunin, Kuprin, Remizov, Merezhkovsky), and young writers who appeared mainly abroad, such as, for example, V.V. ... Nabokov, who created several Christmastide stories in his youth.
The Christmas stories of the first wave of Russian emigration represent an attempt to infuse into the “small” traditional form of experience of Russian people who tried in a foreign language environment and in difficult economic conditions of the 1920s – 1930s. preserve their cultural traditions. The environment in which these people found themselves, in itself contributed to the conversion of writers to the Yuletide genre. The expatriate writers may well have avoided inventing sentimental plots as they encountered them in their daily lives. In addition, the very orientation of the emigration of the first wave towards tradition (preservation of language, faith, rituals, literature) corresponded to the orientation of Christmas and Yuletide texts towards the idealized past, towards memories, towards the cult of the hearth. In emigrant Christmastide texts, this tradition was also supported by an interest in ethnography, Russian life, and Russian history.
But in the end, the Yuletide tradition in émigré literature, as in Soviet Russia, fell victim to political events. With the victory of Nazism, Russian publishing in Germany was gradually eliminated. The Second World War brought with it similar consequences in other countries. The largest newspaper of the emigration "Latest News" already in 1939 stopped publishing Christmas stories. The editors were apparently prompted to abandon the traditional "Christmas issue" by a sense of the inevitability of an impending catastrophe, even more terrible than the trials caused by previous conflicts on a global scale. After a while, the newspaper itself, as well as the more right-wing Renaissance, which printed calendar works even in 1940, were closed.
In Soviet Russia, a complete fading of the tradition of the calendar story did not happen, although, of course, the number of Yuletide and Christmas works that arose at the turn of the century did not exist. This tradition was to a certain extent supported by New Year's essays (prose and poetry), published in newspapers and fine magazines, especially children's (newspaper Pioneer truth", Magazines" Pioneer "," Leader "," Murzilka "and others). Of course, in these materials, the Christmas theme was absent or was presented in a highly deformed form. At first glance it may seem strange, but it is precisely with the Christmas tradition that the Christmas tree in Sokolniki, which is so memorable for many generations of Soviet children, is connected with the essay of V.D. Bonch-Bruevich “Three attempts on V.I. Lenin ”, first published in 1930.
Here Lenin, who came to a village school in 1919 for a Christmas tree, with his kindness and affection clearly resembles the traditional Santa Claus, who always brought children so much joy and fun.
One of the best Soviet idylls, the story of A. Gaidar "Chuk and Gek", seems to be connected with the tradition of the Christmas story. Written in the tragic era of the late thirties, with the unexpected sentimentality and kindness so characteristic of a traditional Christmas story, it recalls the highest human values \u200b\u200b- children, family happiness, the comfort of the hearth, echoing in this Dickens' Christmas story "Cricket on the Stove."
The Christmastide motifs and, in particular, the Christmastide motif inherited from the national Christmastide by Soviet mass culture, and above all by children's educational institutions, merged more organically with the Soviet New Year holiday. It is on this tradition that, for example, the films "Carnival Night" and "The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath" by E.A. Ryazanov, a director, of course, endowed with sharp genre thinking and always perfectly sensing the viewer's needs for festive experiences.
Another soil on which calendar literature grew was the Soviet calendar, which was regularly enriched with new Soviet holidays, starting from the anniversaries of the so-called revolutionary events and ending especially in the 1970s – 1980s. professional holidays. It is enough to turn to the periodicals of that time, to newspapers and thin magazines - "Ogonyok", "Rabotnitsa" - to be convinced of how widespread the texts associated with the Soviet state calendar were.
Texts with the subtitles "Christmas" and "Christmas" stories practically fell out of use in Soviet times. But they were not forgotten. In the press, these terms were encountered from time to time: the authors of various articles, memoirs and works of fiction often used them to characterize sentimental or far from reality events and texts.
This term is especially often found in ironic headlines such as "Ecology - not Christmas stories", "Not a Christmas story", etc. The memory of the genre was also kept by the intelligentsia of the old generation, who were brought up on it, reading the issues of "Heartfelt Word" in childhood, sorting through the files of "Niva" and other pre-revolutionary magazines.
And now the time has come when calendar literature - Christmastide and Christmas stories - again began to return to the pages of modern newspapers and magazines. This process has become especially noticeable since the late 1980s.
How can this phenomenon be explained? There are several factors to note. In all areas modern life there is a desire to restore the broken connection of times: to return to those customs and forms of life that were forcibly interrupted as a result of the October Revolution. Perhaps the key moment in this process is an attempt to revive the feeling of “calendar” in modern man. The need to live in the rhythm of time, within the framework of a conscious annual cycle, is inherent in man. The fight against "religious prejudices" in the 1920s and a new "production calendar" (five days), introduced in 1929 at the 16th party conference, canceled the Christmas holiday, which was quite consistent with the idea of \u200b\u200bdestroying the old world "to the ground" and building a new one. The consequence of this was the destruction of tradition - a naturally formed mechanism for the transmission of the foundations of the way of life from generation to generation. Much of what has been lost is returning today, including the old calendar rituals, and with it, the “Christmastide” literature.
LITERATURE
Research
E.V. DushechkinaRussian Christmas story: the formation of the genre. - SPb .: Publishing house of SPbSU, 1995.
E.V. DushechkinaRussian Christmas tree: History, mythology, literature. - SPb .: Norint, 2002.
Baran Henrik.Pre-revolutionary holiday literature and Russian modernism / Authorized translation from English by E.R. Squires // Poetics of Russian Literature of the Early 20th Century. - M., 1993.
Texts
Christmas stories: Stories and poems by Russian writers [about Christmas and Christmas]. Compilation and notes by S.F. Dmitrenko. - M .: Russian book, 1992.
Petersburg Christmas story. Compilation, introductory article, notes by E.V. Dushechkina. - L .: Petropol, 1991.
The Miracle of Christmas Eve: Christmas Tales. Compilation, introductory article, notes by E.V. Dushechkina and H. Baran. - SPb .: Fiction, 1993.
The Star of Bethlehem: Christmas and Easter in Poetry and Prose. Compilation and introduction by M. Pismenny. - M .: Children's literature, 1993.
Christmas stories. Preface, composition, notes and dictionary by M. Kucherskaya. - M .: Children's literature, 1996.
Yolka: A book for young children. - M .: Horizon; Minsk: Aurika, 1994. (Reissue of the book in 1917).
The Yule and Christmas story in Russian literature of the 18th-21st centuries.
Wonderful winter holidayshave long included and probably still include, and old folk Christmastide (pagan in origin), and ecclesiastical feast of the Nativity of Christ, and worldly new Years holiday... Literature has always been a reflection of the life of the people and society, and even the mysterious christmas theme - just a storehouse of fantastic plots that convey the world of the wonderful and otherworldly, always bewitching and attracting the average reader.
Christmastide, in the capacious expression of A. Shakhovsky, - "Evenings of folk fun": fun, laughter, mischief are explained by the desire of a person to influence the future (in accordance with the proverb “as you began, and ended” or with the modern - “as you meet New Year, so you will spend it "). It was believed that the more cheerful a person spends the beginning of the year, the happier the year will be ...
However, where there is excessive ridiculousness, fun, fervor, there is always restless and even somehow alarming ... It is here that an intriguing plot begins to develop: detective, fantastic or simply romantic ... A plot always timed to the holy days – time from Christmas to Epiphany.
In Russian literature, the Christmas theme begins to develop from the middle XVIII century.: in the beginning they were anonymous comedies about merrymaking, Christmas tales and stories... Their characteristic feature has become the long-standing idea that it is during the Christmastide period that "evil spirits" become most active - devils, goblin, kikimors, banniks, etc. This emphasizes the hostility and danger of Christmastide ...
Fortune-telling, and caroling of mummers, and podvodny songs became widespread among the people. Meanwhile, orthodox Churchlong ago condemned such behavior as sinful. In the decree of Patriarch Joachim of 1684, prohibiting Christmas "demonic possessions", it is said that they lead a person into "soul-destroying sin." Christmas games, fortune-telling and dressing up (“masquerade”, putting on “beast-like mugs”) have always been condemned by the Church.
Subsequently, there was a need for folk Christmas-time stories and literary processing of stories. These began to be dealt with by writers, poets, ethnographers and folklorists, in particular M.D. Chulkov, who published the humorous magazine "And that, and sio" during 1769, and F.D. Nefedov, from the end of the XIX century. published magazines with a Christmastide theme, and, of course, V. A. Zhukovsky, who created the most popular Russian ballad "Svetlana", which is based on a folk story about a heroine fortune-telling at Christmas time ... Many poets also turned to the Christmas theme XIX century.: A. Pushkin("Fortune telling and Tatiana's dream" (excerpt from the novel "Eugene Onegin), A. Pleshcheev("The Legend of Christ the Child"), Ya.Polonsky ("Yolka"),A. Fet ("Divination") and etc.
Gradually, during the development of romanticism, the Christmas story attracts the whole world of the miraculous. At the heart of many stories - bethlehem miracle, and this is the transformation of a simple Christmas story into a Christmas story ... Christmas storyin Russian literature, in contrast to Western, appeared only by the 40s. XIX century. this is due to the different from Europe, the special role of the holiday. Nativity of Christ - a great Christian holiday, the second most important after Easter. For a long time, Christmastide was celebrated in Russia in the world, and only the Church celebrated the Nativity of Christ.
In the West, however, the Christian tradition was much earlier and more closely intertwined with the pagan, in particular, this happened with the custom of decorating and lighting a Christmas tree for Christmas. The ancient pagan rite of worshiping the tree has become a Christian custom. Christmas tree became the symbol of the Divine Child. The Christmas tree entered Russia late and took root slowly, like any Western innovation.
From the middle of the XIX century. the appearance of the first stories with a Christmas theme is also associated. Earlier texts such as "Christmas Eve"N.V. Gogol, not indicative, firstly, in Gogol's story, Christmastide in Ukraine is depicted, where the celebration and experience of Christmas was closer to the Western, and secondly, in Gogol's pagan element ("devilry") prevails over the Christian one.
Another thing "Night on Christmas Day" Moscow writer and actor K. Baranovapublished in 1834. This is really a Christmas story: in it the motive of mercy and sympathy for the child is the leading motive - a typical motive of the Christmas story. The massive appearance of such texts is observed after they were translated into Russian christmas stories C. Dickens early 1840s - " A Christmas Carol "," Bells "," Cricket on the Stove "and later others. These stories were a huge success with the Russian reader and gave rise to many imitations and variations. One of the first writers to turn to the Dicken tradition was D.V. Grigorovich, who published the story in 1853 "Winter evening".
An important role in the emergence of Russian Christmas prose was played by "Lord of the fleas" and "Nutcracker"Hoffmann and some fairy tales Andersenespecially "Yolka" and "Girl with matches"... The plot of the last tale used F.M.Dostoevsky in the story "The boy at Christ's on the tree"And later V. Nemirovich-Danchenko in the story "Silly Fedka".
The death of a child on Christmas night is an element of phantasmagoria and a too terrible event, emphasizing the crime of all mankind against children ... But from a Christian point of view, little heroes acquire true happiness not on earth, but in Heaven: they become angels and end up on the Christmas tree of Christ Himself. Actually, a miracle is taking place: the miracle of Bethlehem repeatedly affects the fate of people ...
Later Christmas and Yuletide stories wrote almost all major prose writers to.XIX - n. XX centuries. Yule and Christmas stories could be funny and sad, funny and scary, they could end with a wedding or the death of heroes, reconciliation or a quarrel. But with all the variety of their plots, they all had something in common - something that was in harmony with the festive mood of the reader, then sentimental, then unrestrainedly cheerful, invariably evoking a response in the hearts.
At the heart of each such story lay "A small event that has a very Christmastide character"(N.S. Leskov), which made it possible to give them a general subtitle. The terms "Christmas story" and "Christmas story", for the most part, were used synonymously: in the texts under the heading "Christmas story", motives related to the Christmas holiday could prevail, and the subtitle "Christmas story" did not imply the absence of folk motives in the text. Christmas time ...
The best examples of the genre are created N.S. Leskov. In 1886, the writer wrote a whole cycle "Christmas stories".
In the story "Pearl necklace" he reflects on the genre: “From the Christmastide story it is imperative that it be timed to coincide with the events of the Christmastide evening - from Christmas to Epiphany, so that it is somehow fantastic, had any morality... and finally - so that it must end without fail fun... There are few such events in life, and therefore the author does not allow himself to invent and compose a storyline that fits the program. " A kind of Christmastide stories are also "Vanka"and "On Christmas time" A.P. Chekhov.
In n. XX century., with the development of modernism in literature, parodies of the Christmastide genre and humorous recommendations on how to write Christmastide stories began to appear. So, for example, in the newspaper Rech in 1909 O.L.D "op (I. Orsher) provides the following guide for young writers:
“Anyone who has hands, two cents on paper, pen and ink and has no talent can write a Christmas story.
You just need to adhere to a well-known system and firmly remember the following rules:
1) A Christmas story is not valid without a pig, a goose, a tree and a good person.
2) The words "manger", "star" and "love" should be repeated at least ten, but no more than two or three thousand times.
3) Bell ringing, tenderness and remorse should be at the end of the story, and not at the beginning.
All the rest is unimportant".
Parodies testified that the Christmastide genre had exhausted its possibilities. Of course, one cannot fail to note the interest in the spiritual sphere among the intelligentsia of that time.
But the Yuletide story is moving away from its traditional norms. Sometimes, as, for example, in a story V. Brusov "The child and the madman", it makes it possible to depict mentally extreme situations: the Bethlehem miracle as an unconditional reality in the story is perceived only by a child and the mentally ill Semyon. In other cases, Christmastide works are based on medieval and apocryphal texts, in which religious moods and feelings are especially intensively reproduced (here the contribution A.M. Remizova).
Sometimes, due to the reproduction of the historical situation, a special flavor is given to the Christmastide plot (as, for example, in the story S. Auslander "Christmastide in old Petersburg"), sometimes the story gravitates towards an action-packed psychological novel.
He especially honored the traditions of the Yuletide story A. Kuprincreating fine examples of the genre - stories about faith, kindness and mercy "Poor Prince" and "The wonderful doctor", As well as writers from the Russian diaspora I. A. Bunin ("Epiphany night" and etc.), I.S.Shmelev ("Christmas" and others) and V. Nikiforov-Volgin ("Silver Blizzard" and etc.).
In many Christmastide stories childhood theme - main. A statesman and Christian thinker develops this theme. K. Pobedonostsev in his essay "Christmas": “The Nativity of Christ and Holy Easter are predominantly children's holidays, and it seems that the power of Christ's words is fulfilled in them: If you are not like children, you don’t have to instill in the kingdom of God. Other holidays are not so accessible to children's understanding ... "
“A quiet night over the Palestinian fields, a secluded nativity scene, a nursery. Surrounded by those domestic animals that are familiar to the child from the first impressions of memory - in the manger a twisted Infant and above Him a meek, loving Mother with a pensive look and a clear smile of maternal happiness - three magnificent kings following the star to the wretched den with gifts - and in the distance on the field are shepherds in the middle of their flock, listening to the joyful news of the Angel and the mysterious chorus of the Forces of Heaven. Then the villain Herod, pursuing an innocent Child; the beating of infants in Bethlehem, then the journey of the holy family to Egypt - so much life and action in all this, so much interest for a child! "
And not only for a child ... Holy days are such an amazing time when everyone becomes children: simple, sincere, open, kind and loving everyone. 
Later, and unsurprisingly, the Christmastide story was "revolutionary" transformed into New Year... The New Year as a holiday supplants Christmas, the kind Grandfather Frost comes to replace Christ the Infant ... But the state of awe and the expectation of a miracle is also present in the “new” stories. "Christmas tree in Sokolniki", "Three attempts on Vladimir Lenin" V. D. Bonch-Bruevich,"Chuk and Gek" A. Gaidar- some of the best Soviet idylls. The orientation towards this tradition of films is also undoubted. E. Ryazanova "Carnival Night" and "Irony of Fate or Enjoy Your Bath"…
Yule and Christmas stories return to the pages of modern newspapers and magazines. Several factors play a special role here. First, the desire to restore the broken connection of times, and in particular, the Orthodox worldview. Secondly, to return to many customs and forms of cultural life that were so violently interrupted. The traditions of Christmas tales are continued by modern children's writers S. Serova, E. Chudinova, Y. Voznesenskaya, E. Sanin (mon. Barnava) and etc.
The Yule Reading has always been a special reading, because it is about the sublime and not vain. Holy days are a time of silence and a time for such pleasant reading. After all, after such a great holiday - the Nativity of Christ - the reader simply cannot afford anything that would distract him from lofty thoughts about God, about goodness, mercy, compassion and love ... Let's take advantage of this precious time!
Prepared by L.V. Shishlova
Used Books:
- Miracle of Christmas night: Christmas stories / Comp., Entry. Art., note. E. Dushechkina, H. Barana. - SPb .: Art. Lit., 1993.
- Star of Bethlehem. Christmas and Easter in poetry and prose: Collection / Comp. and entered. M. Written, - M .: Det. lit., - 1993.
- Star of Christmas: Christmas stories and poems / Comp. E. Trostnikova. - M .: Bustard, 2003
- Leskov N.S. Coll. Op. in 11 volumes. M., 1958.t.7.
The Yule and Christmas story in Russian literature of the 18th-21st centuries.
Wonderful winter holidays have long included and probably still include ancient folk Christmastide (pagan in origin), the church holiday of the Nativity of Christ, and the worldly holiday of the New Year.
Literature has always been a reflection of the life of the people and society, and even the mysterious Christmastide theme is just a storehouse of fantastic stories that convey the world of the wonderful and otherworldly, always bewitching and attracting the average reader.
Christmastide, according to the capacious expression of A. Shakhovsky, is "evenings of folk fun": fun, laughter, mischief are explained by a person's desire to influence the future (in accordance with the proverb "as he began, he finished" or with the modern one - "how will you meet the New Year so you will spend it ").
It was believed that the more cheerful a person spends the beginning of the year, the happier the year will be ...
Artist A. Emelyanov "Christmastide"
However, where there is excessive ridiculousness, fun, fervor, it is always restless and even somehow alarming ... It is here that an intriguing plot begins to develop: detective, fantastic or simply romantic ... The plot, always timed to coincide with Holy days - from Christmas to Epiphany ...
In Russian literature, the Christmastide theme begins to develop from the middle of the 18th century: at first it was anonymous comedies about merrymaking, Christmastide stories and stories. Their characteristic feature has become the long-standing idea that it is during the Christmastide period that "evil spirits" become most active - devils, goblin, kikimors, banniks, etc. This emphasizes the hostility and danger of Christmastide ...
Fortune-telling, and caroling of mummers, and podvodny songs became widespread among the people. Meanwhile, the Orthodox Church has long condemned such behavior as sinful. In the decree of Patriarch Joachim of 1684, prohibiting Christmas "demonic possessions", it is said that they lead a person into "soul-destroying sin." Christmas games, fortune-telling and dressing up (“masquerade”, putting on “beast-like mugs”) have always been condemned by the Church.
Subsequently, there was a need for folk Christmas-time stories and literary processing of stories. These became the work of writers, poets, ethnographers and folklorists, in particular M.D. Chulkov, who published the humorous magazine "And that, and sio" throughout 1769, and F.D. Nefedov, from the end of the 19th century. published magazines with a Christmastide theme, and, of course, V.A. Zhukovsky, who created the most popular Russian ballad "Svetlana", which is based on a folk story about a heroine guessing at Christmastide ...
Many poets of the 19th century also addressed the Yuletide theme: A. Pushkin ("Fortune-telling and Tatiana's Dream" (an excerpt from the novel "Eugene Onegin), A. Pleshcheev (" The Legend of Christ the Child "), Y. Polonsky (" Yolka " ), A. Fet ("Fortune-telling"), etc.
Gradually, during the development of romanticism, the Christmas story attracts the whole world of the miraculous. Many stories are based on the miracle of Bethlehem, and this is already the transformation of a simple Christmastide story into a Christmas story ...
The Christmas story in Russian literature, in contrast to Western literature, appeared only in the 40s. XIX century. this is due to the different from Europe, the special role of the holiday.
The Day of the Nativity of Christ is a great Christian holiday, the second most important after Easter.
For a long time, Christmastide was celebrated in Russia in the world, and only the Church celebrated the Nativity of Christ.
In the West, the Christian tradition was much earlier and more closely intertwined with the pagan one, in particular, this happened with the custom of decorating and lighting a Christmas tree for Christmas. The ancient pagan rite of worshiping the tree has become a Christian custom. The Christmas tree has become the symbol of the Divine Child. The Christmas tree entered Russia late and took root slowly, like any Western innovation.
From the middle of the XIX century. the appearance of the first stories with a Christmas theme is also associated. Earlier texts, such as "The Night Before Christmas" by N.V. Gogol, are not indicative, firstly, in the Gogol story, Christmastide is depicted in Ukraine, where the celebration and experience of Christmas was closer to the West, and secondly, Gogol's pagan element ("devilry") prevails over the Christian.
Another thing is "Night on Christmas Day" by the Moscow writer and actor K. Baranov, published in 1834. This is really a Christmas story: in it the motive of mercy and sympathy for the child turns out to be leading - a typical motive of the Christmas story.
The massive appearance of such texts is observed after the Christmas stories of Charles Dickens were translated into Russian in the early 1840s. - "A Christmas Carol", "Bells", "Cricket on the Stove", and later others.
These stories were a huge success with the Russian reader and gave rise to many imitations and variations. One of the first writers who turned to the Dicken tradition was D.V. Grigorovich, who published the story "Winter Evening" in 1853.
In the emergence of Russian Christmas prose, an important role was played by "Lord of the Fleas" and "Nutcracker" by Hoffmann and some of Andersen's fairy tales, especially "Yolka" and "Girl with matches".
The plot of the last fairy tale was used by FM Dostoevsky in the story "The Boy at Christ's at the Christmas Tree", and later by V. Nemirovich-Danchenko in the story "The Foolish Fedka".
The death of a child on Christmas night is an element of phantasmagoria and a too terrible event, emphasizing the crime of all mankind against children ...
But from a Christian point of view, little heroes acquire true happiness not on earth, but in Heaven: they become angels and end up on the Christmas tree of Christ Himself. Actually, a miracle is taking place: the miracle of Bethlehem repeatedly affects the fate of people ...
Later, Christmas and Yuletide stories were written by almost all major prose writers of the late 19th - early 19th century. XX centuries. Yule and Christmas stories could be funny and sad, funny and scary, they could end with a wedding or the death of heroes, reconciliation or a quarrel.
But with all the variety of their plots, they all had something in common - something that was in harmony with the festive mood of the reader, then sentimental, then unrestrainedly cheerful, invariably evoking a response in the hearts.
At the heart of each such story was "a small event that has a completely Christmastide character" (NS Leskov), which made it possible to give them a general subtitle. The terms "Christmas story" and "Christmas story", for the most part, were used synonymously: in the texts under the heading "Christmas story", motives related to the Christmas holiday could prevail, and the subtitle "Christmas story" did not imply the absence of folk motives in the text. Christmas time ...
The best examples of the genre were created by N.S. Leskov. In 1886, the writer wrote a whole cycle of "Christmas stories".
In the story “Pearl Necklace”, he reflects on the genre: “From the Christmastide story it is imperative that it be timed to coincide with the events of the Christmastide evening - from Christmas to Epiphany, so that it is somehow fantastic, has some kind of morality ... and, finally - so that it certainly ends with fun.
There are few such events in life, and therefore the author does not allow himself to invent and compose a storyline that fits the program. "
Both "Roly" and "On Christmastide" by A.P. Chekhov are original Christmastide stories.
In n. XX century, with the development of modernism in literature, parodies of the Christmastide genre and humorous recommendations on how to write Christmastide stories began to appear.
So, for example, in the newspaper Rech in 1909, O.L.D ”or (I. Orsher) publishes the following guide for young writers:
“Anyone who has hands, two cents on paper, pen and ink and has no talent can write a Christmas story.
You just need to adhere to a well-known system and firmly remember the following rules:
1) A Christmas story is not valid without a pig, a goose, a tree and a good person.
2) The words "manger", "star" and "love" should be repeated at least ten, but no more than two or three thousand times.
3) Bell ringing, tenderness and remorse should be at the end of the story, and not at the beginning.
All the rest is unimportant".
Parodies testified that the Christmastide genre had exhausted its possibilities. Of course, one cannot fail to note the interest in the spiritual sphere among the intelligentsia of that time.
But the Yuletide story is moving away from its traditional norms. Sometimes, as, for example, in the story "The Child and the Madman" by V. Brusov, it provides an opportunity for depicting mentally extreme situations: the Bethlehem miracle as an unconditional reality in the story is perceived only by the child and the mentally ill Semyon.
In other cases, Christmastide works are based on medieval and apocryphal texts, in which religious moods and feelings are especially intensively reproduced (here the contribution of A.M. Remizov is important).
Sometimes, due to the reproduction of the historical situation, a special flavor is given to the Christmastide plot (as, for example, in the story of S. Auslander "Christmastide in Old Petersburg"), sometimes the story tends to be a top-down psychological novella.
A. Kuprin especially honored the traditions of the Christmastide story, creating excellent examples of the genre - stories about faith, kindness and mercy "The Poor Prince" and "The Wonderful Doctor", as well as the writers of the Russian diaspora IABunin ("Epiphany Night", etc.) , IS Shmelev ("Christmas" and others) and V. Nikiforov-Volgin ("Silver Blizzard" and others).
In many Christmastide stories, the theme of childhood is the main one. This theme is developed by the statesman and Christian thinker K. Pobedonostsev in his essay "Christmas": "The Nativity of Christ and Holy Easter are predominantly children's holidays, and the power of Christ's words seems to be fulfilled in them:
Unless you are like children, you cannot bring them into the kingdom of God. Other holidays are not so accessible to children's understanding ... "
“A quiet night over the Palestinian fields, a secluded nativity scene, a nursery. Surrounded by those domestic animals that are familiar to the child from the first impressions of memory - in the manger a twisted Infant and above Him a meek, loving Mother with a pensive look and a clear smile of maternal happiness - three magnificent kings following the star to the wretched den with gifts - and in the distance on the field are shepherds in the middle of their flock, listening to the joyful news of the Angel and the mysterious chorus of the Forces of Heaven.
Then the villain Herod, pursuing an innocent Child; the beating of infants in Bethlehem, then the journey of the holy family to Egypt - so much life and action in all this, so much interest for a child! "
And not only for a child ... Holy days are such an amazing time when everyone becomes children: simple, sincere, open, kind and loving everyone.
Later, and unsurprisingly, the Christmastide story was "revolutionary" transformed into a New Year story. The New Year as a holiday supplants Christmas, the good Grandfather Frost comes to replace Christ the Child ...
But the state of awe and expectation of a miracle is also present in the “new” stories. "Yolka in Sokolniki", "Three attempts on Lenin's life" by VD Bonch-Bruevich, "Chuk and Gek" by A. Gaidar are some of the best Soviet idylls. The orientation towards this tradition of E. Ryazanov's films "Carnival Night" and "The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath" is also undoubted ...
During the days of Christmas, the whole world, childishly freezing in anticipation of a miracle, looks into the winter sky with hope and trepidation: when will the same Star appear? For the closest and loved ones, friends and acquaintances, we prepare Christmas gifts. Nicaea also prepared a wonderful present for its friends - a series of Christmas books.
Several years have passed since the release of the first book in the series, but every year its popularity is only growing. Who doesn't know these cute little Christmas pattern books that have become an attribute of every Christmas? It's always current classics.
Topelius, Kuprin, Andersen
Nicaea: a Christmas gift
Odoevsky, Zagoskin, Shakhovskoy
Nicaea: a Christmas gift
Leskov, Kuprin, Chekhov
Nicaea: a Christmas gift
It would seem, what could be interesting? All works are united by one theme, but as soon as you start reading, you immediately understand that each new story is new story, not like everyone else. Exciting celebration of the holiday, many destinies and experiences, sometimes difficult life trials and unchanging faith in goodness and justice - these are the basis of the works of Christmas collections.
We can safely say that this series set a new direction in book publishing, rediscovered an almost forgotten literary genre.
Tatiana Strygina, compiler of Christmas collections The idea belongs to Nikolai Breev, general director of the Nikaia publishing house - He is the inspirer of the wonderful Easter News campaign: on the eve of Easter there is a distribution of books ... And in 2013 I wanted to make a special gift for readers - collections of classics for spiritual reading , for the soul. And then came "Easter stories of Russian writers" and "Easter verses of Russian poets". The readers immediately liked them so much that it was decided to release Christmas compilations as well.
Then the first Christmas collections were born - Christmas stories by Russians and foreign writers and Christmas poems. This is how the series "Christmas Gift" turned out, so familiar and beloved. From year to year, the books were reprinted, delighting those who did not have time to read everything last Christmas or wanted to buy as a gift. And then Nicaea prepared another surprise for its readers - Christmas collections for children.
We began to receive letters from readers asking them to publish more books on this topic, shops and churches were expecting new products from us, people wanted something new. We simply could not disappoint our reader, especially since there were still many unpublished stories. This is how the children's series was born first, and then the Christmas tales, ”recalls Tatiana Strygina.
Old magazines, libraries, funds, card indexes - the editorial office of Nikaia works all year round to present its readers with a gift at Christmas - a new collection of the Christmas series. All authors are classics, their names are well-known, but there are also not so famous authors who lived in the era of recognized geniuses and were published with them in the same magazines. This is something that has been tested by time and has its own "quality guarantee".
Reading, searching, reading and reading again, - Tatiana laughs. - When in a novel you read a story about how New Year and Christmas are celebrated, it often does not seem to be the main point in the plot, so you do not focus on this, and when you plunge into the topic and start purposefully search, these descriptions, one might say, go by themselves. in hand. Well, in our Orthodox heart, the story about Christmas immediately resonates, immediately engraved in the memory. "
Another special, almost forgotten genre in Russian literature is Christmas tales. They were published in magazines, publishers specially commissioned stories from famous authors. Christmastide is the period between Christmas and Epiphany. In Christmastide stories, there is traditionally a miracle, and the heroes happily do the difficult and wonderful work of love, overcoming obstacles, and often the intrigues of "evil spirits".
According to Tatyana Strygina, in the Christmas literature one comes across stories about fortune-telling, and about ghosts, and incredible afterlife stories ...
These stories are very interesting, but it seemed that they did not fit the festive, spiritual theme of Christmas, they did not fit with other stories, so they had to simply be put aside. And then we nevertheless decided to publish such an unusual collection - "Scary Christmastide stories."
This collection includes Christmas "horror stories" of Russian writers, including little-known ones. The stories are united by the theme of Christmastide - mysterious winter days, when miracles seem possible, and the heroes, having endured fear and crying to all that is holy, dispel the obsession and become a little better, kinder and bolder.
The theme of the scary story is very important from a psychological point of view. Children tell each other horror stories, sometimes adults like to watch a horror movie. Every person experiences fear, and it is better to experience it with a literary hero than to get into a similar situation himself. Scary stories are believed to compensate for the natural feeling of fear, help overcome anxiety and feel more confident and calm, ”Tatiana emphasizes.
I would like to note that an exclusively Russian theme is a harsh winter, long way on a sleigh, which often becomes deadly, swept roads, blizzards, snowstorms, Epiphany frosts. The tests of the harsh northern winter gave vivid plots to Russian literature.
The idea of \u200b\u200bthe collection "New Year and Other Winter Stories" was born out of Pushkin's "Snowstorm", - says Tatiana. - This is such a poignant story that only a Russian person can feel. In general, Pushkin's "Snowstorm" left a huge mark on our literature. Sollogub wrote his "Snowstorm" with an allusion to Pushkin's; Leo Tolstoy was haunted by this story, and he also wrote his "Snowstorm". The collection began with these three "Blizzards", because it interesting topic in the history of literature ... But only the story of Vladimir Sollogub remained in the final composition. The long Russian winter with Epiphany frosts, snowstorms and blizzards, and the holidays - New Year, Christmas, Christmastide, which fall at this time, inspired writers. And we really wanted to show this feature of Russian literature ”.
“There are holidays that have their own smell. On Easter, Trinity and Christmas, the air smells like something special. Even non-believers love these holidays. For example, my brother interprets that there is no God, but on Easter he is the first to run to Matins "(A. Chekhov, story" On the Way ").
Orthodox Christmas is on the doorstep! Many interesting traditions are associated with the celebration of this bright day (and even several - Christmastide). In Russia, it was customary to devote this period to serving one's neighbor, deeds of mercy. Everyone knows the tradition of caroling - singing hymns in honor of the born Christ. The winter holidays have inspired many writers to create magical Christmas pieces.
There is even a special genre of Christmas tales. The plots in it are very close to each other: often the heroes of Christmas works find themselves in a state of spiritual or material crisis, the resolution of which requires a miracle. Christmas stories are imbued with light, hope, and only a few of them have a sad ending. Especially often Christmas stories are dedicated to the triumph of mercy, compassion and love.
Especially for you, dear readers, we have prepared a selection of the best Christmas stories by both Russian and foreign writers. Read on and enjoy, let the festive mood last longer!
"Gifts of the Magi", O. Henry
A story known to many about sacrificial love, which will give the last for the happiness of its neighbor. A story about quivering feelings that cannot but surprise and delight. In the finale, the author ironically remarks: "And here I told you an unremarkable story about two stupid children from an eight-dollar apartment, who in the most unwise way sacrificed their greatest treasures for each other." But the author does not make excuses, he only confirms that the gifts of his heroes were more important than the gifts of the Magi: “But let it be said for the edification of the wise men of our days that of all the donors, these two were the wisest. Of all those who offer and receive gifts, only those like them are truly wise. Everywhere and everywhere. They are the Magi. " As Joseph Brodsky said, "at Christmas, everyone is a little magician."
"Nikolka", Evgeny Poselyanin
The plot of this Christmas story is very simple. At Christmas, the stepmother acted very meanly with her stepson, he had to die. At the Christmas service, a woman experiences belated remorse. But on a bright festive night, a miracle occurs ...
By the way, Evgeny Poselyanin has wonderful memories of his childhood experience of Christmas - “Yule days”. You read - and you are immersed in the pre-revolutionary atmosphere of noble estates, childhood and joy.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Dickens's work is the story of a true spiritual rebirth of man. The main character, Scrooge, was a curmudgeon, became a merciful benefactor, from a lone wolf turned into a sociable and friendly person. And this change was helped by the spirits that flew to him and showed his possible future. Observing different situations from his past and future, the hero felt remorse for his wrongly lived life.
"A boy at Christ's on the tree", F. M. Dostoevsky
A touching story with a sad (and joyful at the same time) ending. I doubt whether it is worth reading it to children, especially sensitive ones. But for adults - perhaps worth it. What for? I would answer with the words of Chekhov: “It is necessary that at the door of every contented, happy person there should be someone with a hammer and would constantly remind with a knock that there are unhappy people, that, no matter how happy he is, life will sooner or later show him its claws , disaster strikes - illness, poverty, losses, and no one will see or hear him, just as now he does not see and hear others. "
Dostoevsky included it in the "Diary of a Writer" and himself wondered how this story came out from under his pen. And his writer's intuition tells the author that this could very well have happened in reality. The main sad storyteller of all times G. H. Andersen has a similar tragic story - "The Girl with the Matches".
The Gifts of the Christ Child by George Macdonald
The story of one young family going through difficult times in relationships, difficulties with a nanny, alienation from her daughter. The latter is a subtly feeling lonely girl Sophie (or Fosi). It was through her that joy and light returned to the house. The story emphasizes: the main gifts of Christ are not gifts under the tree, but love, peace and mutual understanding.
"Christmas letter", Ivan Ilyin
I would call this short work, composed of two letters to mother and son, a real hymn of love. It is she, unconditional love, that runs like a red thread through the entire work and is its main theme. It is this state that confronts and overcomes loneliness.
“Whoever loves, his heart blooms and smells sweet; and he gives his love just like a flower scent. But then he is not alone, because his heart is with the one he loves: he thinks about him, cares about him, rejoices in his joy and suffers from his sufferings. He doesn't even have time to feel lonely or to wonder if he is alone or not. In love, a person forgets himself; he lives with others, he lives in others. And this is happiness. "
Christmas is after all a holiday of overcoming loneliness and alienation, this is the day of the manifestation of Love ...
God in the Cave by Gilbert Chesterton
We used to think of Chesterton primarily as the author of detective stories about Father Brown. But he wrote in different genres: he penned several hundred poems, 200 stories, 4,000 essays, a number of plays, novels "The Man Who Was Thursday", "Ball and Cross", "Migratory tavern" and much more. Also, Chesterton was an excellent publicist and deep thinker. In particular, his essay "God in the Cave" is an attempt to comprehend the events of two thousand years ago. I recommend it to people with a philosophical mindset.
"Silver Blizzard", Vasily Nikiforov-Volgin
Nikiforov-Volgin in his work surprisingly subtly shows the world of children's faith. His stories are thoroughly permeated with a festive atmosphere. So, in the story "The Silver Blizzard" he shows with trepidation and love the boy with his zeal for piety, on the one hand, and with mischief and pranks on the other. What is one apt phrase of the story: “These days I don't want anything earthly, and especially school”!
"Holy Night", Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Lagerlöf's story continues the theme of childhood.
Grandmother tells her granddaughter an interesting legend about Christmas. It is not canonical in the strict sense, but it reflects the immediacy of the popular faith. This is an amazing story about mercy and how "a pure heart opens the eyes with which a person can enjoy seeing the beauty of heaven."
"Christ is visiting a peasant", "Irreparable ruble", "Offended by Christmas", Nikolay Leskov
These three stories struck me to the core, so it was difficult to choose the best one. I discovered Leskov from some unexpected side. These works of the author have common features. This is both a fascinating plot and general ideas of mercy, forgiveness and doing good deeds. Examples of heroes from these works are surprising, arouse admiration and a desire to imitate.
"Reader! be affectionate: intervene in our history too, remember what today's Newborn taught you: punish or pardon? .. But you’ll sort it out, please, do it well today: think about who you choose to be with: whether with the lawyers of the verbal law or with To the One Who gave you the “verbs of eternal life” ... Think! This is very worth your thought, and the choice is not difficult for you ... Do not be afraid to seem ridiculous and stupid if you follow the rule of the One Who told you: “Forgive the offender and get yourself your brother in him” (N. S. Leskov, “Under Christmas was offended ”).
In many novels there are chapters dedicated to Christmas, for example, in "The inextinguishable lamp" by B. Shiryaev, "Conduit and Schvambrania" by L. Kassil, "In the first circle" by A. Solzhenitsyn, "Summer of the Lord" by IS Shmelev.
The Christmas story, with all its seeming naivety, fabulousness and unusualness, has been loved by adults at all times. Maybe because Christmas stories are primarily about good, about belief in a miracle and the possibility of a person's spiritual rebirth?
Christmas is really a holiday of children's faith in miracles ... Many Christmastide stories are dedicated to the description of this pure joy of childhood. I will cite wonderful words from one of them: “The great holiday of Christmas, surrounded by spiritual poetry, is especially understandable and close to a child ... A Divine Child was born, and to Him be praise, glory and honor of the world. Everyone was jubilant and happy. And in memory of the Holy Child in these days of bright memories, all children should have fun and rejoice. This is their day, a holiday of innocent, pure childhood ... ”(Klavdiya Lukashevich,“ Christmas Holiday ”).
P.S. In preparing this collection, I read a lot of Christmastide stories, but, of course, not all that are in the world. I chose the ones that seemed the most fascinating, artistically expressive to my taste. Preference was given to little-known works, therefore, for example, the list does not include N. Gogol's "Night before Christmas" or Hoffman's "The Nutcracker".
What are your favorite Christmas pieces, dear matrons?