Soviet Writers on Christmas: Between Prohibition, Memory, and New Year The theme of Christmas in Soviet literature represents a complex phenomenon of cultural palimpsest, where the religious holiday was sequentially erased, replaced, but preserved in the subtext, nostalgic memories, and in the form of secular codes. After the October Revolution of 1917, Christmas as a religious holiday was prohibited, and the holiday was canceled in 1929. Cultural policy struggled against "popish relics," replacing it with atheist propaganda and a new Soviet holiday — New Year (since 1935). Literature reflected all stages of this transformation: from satirical exposure to nostalgic memory and complete absorption into the New Year mythology. First stage (1920s – early 1930s): Exposure and Satire In early Soviet literature, Christmas was depicted as a harmful, bourgeois, and superstitious relic, a symbol of darkness and social inequality of the old world. Vladimir Mayakovsky, poem "Well!" (1927). In the famous excerpt "Who to Be?", there are lines directly attacking the Christmas myth: "And you won't see / Santa Claus with a bag / of gifts / and a Christmas tree / in his hands…". For Mayakovsky, Christmas is part of the world of the bourgeoisie and deception, which should be swept away by the revolution. Mikhail Zoshenko, short stories. In his typical style, he mocked the banal, hypocritical attitude towards the holiday. In stories about NEP, Christmas rituals appear as empty formalities, hiding greed, drunkenness, and family squabbles. The religious meaning is completely ignored or treated as absurdity. Second stage (mid-1930s – 1950s): Transmission and Replacement. Birth of the Soviet New Year Since the mid-1930s, after the rehabilitation of the Christmas tree as "New Year's," an active construction of a secular Soviet holiday began. Writers became participants in this process, creating a new mythology. Samuel Marshak, "Twelve Months" (1943). Although the play-sa ... Read more