New Year Holiday in Russia

Dates and legal status

Article 112 of Russia’s Labor Code designates January 1–6 and 8 as New Year holidays and January 7 as Christmas. For workers whose schedules observe these non-working public holidays, the dates are days off; the law does not mean every service or workplace closes. The Code also says that when a regular day off coincides with a holiday, it is generally moved to the next working day, with special rules for the January holidays. The government may move two overlapping weekend days to other dates in the next calendar year, so the resulting break can vary.[1]

The statutory holiday period is January 1–8. January 1 remains part of the New Year holiday period under the Labor Code.[1]

How January 1 became New Year’s Day

The Russian Ethnographic Museum traces the country’s calendar traditions through several changes: the year once began on March 1, and in the late fifteenth century the New Year observance moved to September 1. In December 1699, Peter I decreed that January 1, 1700 would follow December 31, 7208 in the former year count. The museum identifies this as the beginning of the Russian custom of welcoming the New Year on the first January night.[2]

Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1918, according to the museum. The January holiday also sits alongside Orthodox Christmas on January 7, which has its own designation in the Labor Code.[1][2]

Customs and seasonal symbols

The museum describes the New Year as a time for meeting family and friends, exchanging good wishes, inviting guests, and putting generous food on the table. It also notes customs of decorating the home and wearing festive clothes, associated with hopes for good fortune in the year ahead. The account presents these as broad traditions, rather than practices followed by every household.[2]

Gifts and Ded Moroz, or Grandfather Frost, have a prominent place in the museum’s description of New Year customs. It says that the decorated evergreen tree, which came to Russia from Germany, gradually took a special place in the celebration as some Christmas customs shifted to New Year. The museum also describes regional and historical variation: decorated trees first appeared in capital cities, while village Christmas traditions included church services, visiting homes, caroling, and ritual porridge made with honey and whole grains.[2]

Work, travel and services

For visitors, the clearest practical point is the statutory holiday status: many workers have public holidays during this period, and annual paid leave does not count non-working public holidays that fall within it as leave days.[1][3] The law does not establish a uniform closure schedule for shops, banks, restaurants, or transport. Opening hours and service timetables can therefore differ by provider and location; check directly before making plans.