The Old New Year is traditionally celebrated on the night of January 13-14. This holiday arose when it turned out that the Julian calendar was inaccurate, and Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new calendar (which was later called the Gregorian). Then the New Year began to begin on January 1, and the previous date of this holiday, January 14, was called the Old New Year🌲🌲🌲.
Over time, the Gregorian calendar was adopted by the whole world, including Ukraine (this was done in 1918 under the UNR), but the Orthodox Church did not agree to changes so as not to violate traditions. The discrepancy between the Julian and Gregorian calendar is 13 days.
The Old New Year is also a holiday between two major church holidays: January 13 is the Day of Remembrance of St. Melania (among the people of Malanka), and January 14 is the Circumcision of the Lord and the Day of Remembrance of Basil the Great (among the people, the holiday of Basil, or Vasil's Day). The holiday of Malanka and Vasily are of great importance for people, many traditions and signs are associated with them. The main tradition is to celebrate the Generous Evening on January 13 at Malanki, on the eve of St. Basil.
On the Generous Evening on January 13, traditionally, the whole family gathered at the table. The Christmas fast has already ended, so dinner is prepared generously. It should contain many meat dishes, in particular pork, as a symbol of fertility and prosperity. But it is not customary to cook dishes from poultry and fish for the Old New Year, since it is believed that with them wealth will float away or fly away from home.
The main dish of the Generous Evening is generous kutya. You can already add butter and even a little cognac to it, because you no longer need to fast.
Another folk tradition on the eve of Basil's Day is generosity. Most often, children and young people gather in groups on the evening of January 13 and go from house to house to be generous. For a good performance of generosity, guests receive money or some kind of gifts from the owners, but the main goal of generosity is different. Shchedrovki for the Old New Year usually wish health and prosperity, and if they were generous in the house on the Generous evening, the year will be successful✨💥.