New Year's holidays are always accompanied by certain traditions. Choosing gifts, decorating the Christmas tree, tangerines, Olivier and champagne - all this is invariably associated with the New Year. Exactly at midnight, it is customary to open a bottle of sparkling wine and raise glasses for the onset of the holiday. Where did this tradition come from?
It is known that Peter the Great ordered to celebrate the New Year and arrange grand balls on the night of January 1 in the 19th century. Until the middle of the 19th century, Christmas was always celebrated in Russia, and it was on this holiday that tables were laid on which there were countless dishes and drinks. Gradually, this tradition migrated to the New Year festivities. Today, most people who do not observe fasting put on the festive table all the most delicious and in large quantities.
Returning to Peter the Great and to the bygone era, it should be said that in those days on the New Year there were always magnificent and solemn balls, at which practically nothing was eaten or drunk. Feasts were organized exclusively at home.
At the turn of the 20th century, many different drinks were drunk on New Year's holidays. These were mainly fortified wines, beer, vodka, homemade liqueurs and liqueurs. In the same period, sparkling wines produced in the Don began to appear, which very much resembled champagne.
The tradition of raising glasses of champagne for the New Year came to us from the nobility. It was the nobles who believed that the only exquisite and noble drink was champagne. Gradually, sparkling wine has become an integral part of all secular parties. Most often, they began to serve it on the holidays and, of course, on the New Year.
During the reign of Alexander II, a fashion was formed to clink glasses with crystal glasses and make festive toasts. Alexander directly introduced this tradition in Russia. At the same time, ice cream, cognac and various fruit chilled drinks began to appear on the tables.
After the revolution, New Year's holidays were banned. Only at the very beginning of the 60s, champagne again became a traditional New Year's drink. It was then that, by decision of the government, it was necessary to provide each family with a bottle of Soviet champagne.
