Memoirs of Galina. Galina Kuchina
were pleased to be allowed to participate and to listen in to the adult conversation.
The finished pelmeni were frozen and poured into bags. Enough were made to last until Theophany, the period known as sviatki. Even without freezers, in China as in Russia itself, pelmeni were kept frozen in the larder. Our storeroom had a large tub lined with a linen bag into which the pelmeni were poured. We used to go down with a large scoop or a deep dish and scoop up the pelmeni to be boiled and enjoyed.
Now, 40-50 years later, living in Australia, we continue to enjoy pelmeni and have introduced them to our Australian friends for whom this simple dish has become a delicacy. Meat and poultry was bought. Various delicacies were prepared – sausages, jellied meats and pates.
Closer to the day, tortes and cakes were baked. Houses were cleaned and decorated. Curtains were taken down and together with tablecloths and napkins were laundered. Given the freezing weather during that time of the year, this was no easy task. Everything was hung out on ropes in the courtyard. All the laundry froze and was brought into the house for the night as it could be stolen. Our home felt cosy, filled with the fresh fragrance of the fir (Christmas) tree.
On Christmas Eve, while I was in a deep sleep, the decorated Christmas tree appeared. For a long time I was sure that it was brought by Grandfather Frost, yet even when I was certain that a loving Mama and Papa did all, I preferred to cling to the illusion – still trying to continue the fairytale, still wanting to believe in Grandfather Frost.
Early Christmas morning, young children, usually boys, came to sing carols. The night before, Mama prepared small coins, lollies, nuts and other treats and these gifts were distributed to the various groups of children who came throughout the morning.
From morning, the table was set with festive food – a smorgasbord of savoury delicacies, wines, cakes and sweets. Viziteri (visitors comprising husbands and male friends) started arriving around midday. The tradition of entertaining viziteri was in all families – rich and poor.
The lady of the house prepared a feast according to her means, but each table reflected the joy of the occasion. The men went from house to house and visited the ladies. The ladies welcomed them and accepted their congratulations on the Feast. The men stayed long enough to toast the special day with a drink followed by a little to eat and would then hurry off to repeat the same at the house of the next lady. By evening there was quite a competition between the ladies as each counted up how many viziteri she had throughout the day.
On the first day of Christmas or Pascha (Easter), the priest and members of the choir would usually visit each home and conduct a short service culminating in a particularly joyous singing of the Troparion (festive hymn). These wonderful moments will never be forgotten and will continue to warm my heart. I will forever admire how carefully my parents preserved and passed on these traditions.
In the evening on Christmas Day, new, this time older, carol singers came carrying a large paper star of different colours. In the star there burned a candle before a picture of Christ in the manger and the children of the house joined the carollers in the singing of festive hymns and carols. They were also given money and treats.
The second day was the day when ladies made visits to each other. However, these would often end up in one house as many found it difficult to curtail their conversations once they got together over tea. In the evening the ladies were joined by their husbands and the table was set for dinner.
Christmas was celebrated up to the Feast of Theophany (the Baptism of Christ) and Easter up to the Feast of the Ascension, or in some places to Pentecost, also known as Trinity Sunday. So, from the second or third day of Christmas, the children’s parties began.
In each house, rich or poor, there was always a Christmas tree and someone dressed as Grandfather Frost. There were party games and each child received an individual bag from Grandfather Frost. Each bag mostly contained a mandarin, an apple, nuts, lollies and biscuits. Each child had to say a poem before receiving the gift and I remember clearly with what trepidation I approached Grandfather Frost.
The children were dressed in their best clothes and always wore party hats made by the loving hands of their mothers. These Christmas parties were an everyday event right through to Theophany because each mother organised a party for her own child.
As it was winter, apples and mandarins were bought earlier and were kept in the cellar till they were needed. The bags often contained a toy, crackers and sparklers. At sundown each mother would come to collect her child. With Theophany, the partying concluded and normal life began, and for the children – school.
The celebration of the Feast of Our Lord’s Theophany (the Baptism of Jesus at the river Jordan by St John the Baptist) was very special.
There were two churches in Hailar. After the Divine Liturgy, there was a procession from these churches to the ice filled river where a cross and an altar table were sculpted out of ice. A festive service in celebration of the Baptism of Christ was served.
During the singing of the Troparion, doves were released. Young boys would hold the homing pigeons and wait for the words, ‘And the Spirit in the form of a dove confirmed the certainty of the Word’, to let them go. In his book, ‘White Harbin’, G.B. Melihov writes, ‘From 1921, the blessing of the waters was done on the Sungari river which became for the faithful the river Jordan.
After Divine Liturgy, the clergy and parishioners from all the Harbin churches would go in procession to the river. A font was cut out of the ice and many young bravehearts bathed in the icy baptismal waters.
Many years later, when I lived in Harbin, I always went to the blessing of the waters at the river Sungari. It was very joyful. The procession from the Iversky Church, Sts Peter and Paul Church made its way to the St. Sofia Cathedral.
There, the two groups were joined together into one large procession and made their way to the Blagoveshenski Church (The Church of the Annunciation) where they were joined in turn by the parishioners from the Church of the Prophet Elijah. Here, they met the people from the St. Nicholas Church with banners, singing, the ringing of bells and golden clad icons. The atmosphere was amazing. The reflected sun’s rays from the snow and the eight-sided ice cross-created a phenomenal picture.
The sight of such a great mass of people moving along the Chinese streets towards the bank of the river Sungari is impossible to forget. The big joyous flow of people approaches the ice altar.
Even now, Harbin is noted for its magnificent Ice Festival. Its ice sculptures include an enormous cross, Royal Doors shaped in the form of an arch and decorated with two doves, a candle stand, and a pool-font in the shape of a cross for the believer bathers.
The sacred moment arrives when, singing the Troparion hymn:
When Thou was baptized in the Jordan, O Lord, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest; for the voice of the Father bore witness to Thee, calling Thee His beloved Son. And the Spirit in the form of a dove confirmed the certainty of the word. O Christ our God, Who has appeared and has enlightened the world, glory to Thee.
The priest lowers a cross into the font and blesses the water. The thin layer of ice separating the pool-font is broken and water gushes in. At that moment doves circle the Sungari/Jordan river. Many, including me, bathed in the icy water. Straw was laid around the pool to prevent the wet feet from freezing to the ice. Making the sign of the cross, one lowered oneself into the water three times. There were always people to help bathers emerge from the pool to avoid slipping.
Naturally, one dressed appropriately for this. A towelling robe covered the still wet swimsuit. One needed to somehow take off the swimsuit whilst keeping ones dignity in front of all the people. Then there was the shawl, fur coat and home on a rickshaw. Churches away from the Sungari river also constructed special ‘Jordans’, making a small font and erecting an ice cross for the blessing of the waters. Many years later, in 1988, the Lord granted me the opportunity to immerse myself into the river Jordan in the Holy Land.
The flow of people from the Theophany procession interfered with the normal flow of traffic. Because of this, the