Because the Russian Orthodox Church sticks to the ancient and inaccurate Julian calendar which is currently 13 days behind, Russian Christmas is celebrated on January 7 (which is December 25 according to the Julian calendar).
Planning a Russian Christmas Meal? Cook it Yourself or Order Russian Christmas Foods Online
The Russian word for Christmas is Rozhdestvo (razh-dist-VOH). The holiday ends the 40-day Christmas Fast when the Orthodox believers have eaten, with rare exceptions, only vegan food, like porridge and vegetable soups and stews. Christmas Eve is the strictest day of the fast when Russian Orthodox Christians aren't supposed to eat or drink anything at all until the first star appears in the sky. The Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve meal is also vegan, followed by the festive midnight church service.
But in kitchens and pantries, preparations have already began for the Christmas Day feast. Luckily, these days you don't need to spend hours at frozen markets: most of the foods listed below you can order online in Russian grocery shops that accept orders on the Internet.
Russian Christmas Meal: the Main Course
The main dish on the Russian Christmas table is a roast. In the old days when households were large, often counting a few dozen people, the main course was usually a pig or a piglet, or alternatively, a stuffed goose or duck. The most popular choice of stuffing was apple-based: you can see some traditional Russian Christmas roast recipes here.
These days, a chicken or a duck is a more popular choice, or, for small households, even chicken drum sticks. Turkey has never been well-known or popular in Russia, mainly due to the fact that this fowl doesn't fare well in Russia's severe climate. Sometimes Russians would serve a second main course, usually fish.
But starters are the true kings of the Russian Christmas table. Russians are obsessed with them, and you can expect to see at least a dozen various salads and appetizers on the Christmas table. Now that the self-restricting Christmas fast is over, the starters are protein-based and rich: various sausages and cold cuts, mayonnaise-based salads, smoked and salted fish, cheese and caviar.
The most traditional of all Russian starters -- besides caviar which is hard to come by these days -- are smoked fish as well as savory jellies which are made with cooked fish or meat covered with the jellified stock they were cooked in, with the addition of various spices and herbs, then set in a nice-looking mold or bowl. The Russian for a savory jelly is stooden (literally, "chilled-down").
Traditional Russian Christmas Foods: from Pirogi to Salad Olivier
The most popular of all Russian salads is Olivier. Every Russian household has its own variation of the traditional recipe that was invented by a 1860s Moscow chef Lucien Olivier. Since then, this mayonnaise-based salad has suffered numerous changes and adaptations, and its current version can be found here. You are welcome to experiment with the ingredients, especially the meat, which can be anything: diced cooked beef or chicken, sausage, or even bologna as in the recipe above. Other obligatory ingredients in today's Olivier are boiled eggs, sweet peas, mayo, diced potatoes, diced gherkins (fresh or in brine), fresh tomatoes for decoration, and chopped dill -- the Russian herb they add to most savory dishes.
The Russian Christmas dinner usually opens with starters and drinks. Traditionally, women choose wine over strong spirits that are generally men's domain. Starters are followed by the main course, followed by dessert.
Sometimes, soup can be served before the main course. Traditional Russian soups are borsch (beet soup), schee (cabbage soup), solyanka (potluck) and ukhah (fish soup). You are supposed to eat them with black Russian bread or, on big occasions, with savory sour-dough pies -- the pirogi. Often, they contain layers of various fillings, like the kulebyaka pie or rasstegai.
Foods Russians Eat for Christmas: Russian Desserts and Drinks
Unlike the Russian Easter with its choice of ritual desserts like Paskha and Kulich, Russian Christmas doesn't call for any special foods or breads. Although some websites claim a certain pagach to be a Russian Christmas bread, it's a mistake on their part: pagach is Slovak, which is a totally different culture, and has nothing to do with Russian tradition whatsoever. Traditional Russian sweet breads include kalach (a rich sweet bread shaped as a B) and krendel (same), as well as gingerbread. But these days, of course, more often than not, Russians just grab a cream cake in the nearest supermarket.
The most traditional Russian winter hot drink is sbeaten: a mixture of honey, herbs and spices beaten together (hence the name) in boiling water. This non-alcoholic medieval Russian beverage had existed long before tea and coffee became known to the Russians. It was often sold to common folk in streets and squares so that coachmen and workers toiling in bitter cold could warm themselves up with a swig of piping-hot sbeaten.
There's no Boxing Day in Russia. In many households, the leftover food is just shared between the guests to take home.
Additional Reading:
Traditional Russian Christmas Food Recipes Russian Foods.com (last accessed Dec 8, 2010)
Salad Olivier Russian Foods.com (last accessed Dec 8, 2010)
Irene Woodhead - Irene Woodhead is a bilingual English/Russian freelance writer and translator. After years of working as a professional opera/jazz singer, ...
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