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“My family is Russian, and every year and New Year’s we write a wish on a small piece of paper burn it with a candle. Drop the ashes into a glass of champagne and drink it while the clock strikes midnight. This has always been a tradition but I had not started doing it until I turned 18”

Context

My informant comes from a Russian family who has performed this New Year’s ritual every year for as long as she can remember. The whole family takes part. Each person writes their own wish on a small piece of paper, burns it with a candle, drops the ashes into their glass of champagne, and drinks it as the clock strikes midnight. She says it’s something everyone in Russia does, and her family has continued the practice in the U.S.

Analysis

This is aa example of Russian New Year’s folklore, and similarly to a lot of calendar customs, it compresses a symbolic action into a very short window of time. The ritual has to happen exactly at midnight and that precision is part of what gives it power. The transition from one year to the next is a liminal moment, a brief threshold when folk belief across many cultures imagines the boundary between worlds. The chimes of the clock essentially open a window, and the ritual has to be completed while that window is open.