What holiday is celebrated on December 31: all about New Year's Eve

December 31 is the last day of the year. Due to the transition to the New Julian calendar, this day is celebrated as the Generous Evening or Malanka's holiday. The whole family gathers at the festive table, where traditionally there should be kutia. In the evening, the girls go out to give, and at midnight they begin the rite of sowing. Melania, Petra, and Mykhailo celebrate their name days on December 31.

The world celebrates New Year's Eve, the World Peace Hour, Champagne Day, and Decision Day. OBOZ.UA tells about the holidays and significant events of this day.

What holidays are celebrated on December 31

For most Ukrainians, December 31 is not just a New Year's Eve, but also a special holiday - Malanka. This is an ancient Ukrainian custom that combines pagan rituals and Christian traditions. The name of the holiday comes from the name of St. Melania. She is believed to be the patron saint of marriage, family and home. Therefore, the rituals associated with Malanka were intended to ensure well-being and harmony in the family for the whole next year.

One of the most common rituals is the driving of a goat. A group of young people dressed up as a goat, bear, gypsy and other characters. They would go from house to house singing carols, wishing the owners health, prosperity and happiness. On Malanka, a special dinner was prepared - kutia. It symbolized prosperity and fertility.

December 31 is often perceived as the Day of Final Decisions. The last day of the year is a natural time to summarize the results. It's time to analyze achievements and failures, determine what brought joy and what brought disappointment, and start planning goals for the next 12 months. This day encourages you to stop hesitating, make a choice, and leave doubts behind. It is a great opportunity to make important decisions in various areas of life.

December 31 is celebrated as Champagne Day. Champagne has become a symbol of the New Year. It is almost a ritual to have a glass of this drink while the chimes are ringing in. The exact origin of this custom is difficult to establish, but it is believed that the tradition of drinking champagne on New Year's Eve originated in France. Champagne producers have been actively popularizing this drink as an ideal option for celebrations.

Many countries around the world celebrate December 31:

• Cinderella Day in Japan;
• The Day of Solidarity of Azerbaijanis around the world;
• Yemangi Day in Brazil (an umbanda tradition that combines Catholicism, spiritualism and Afro-Brazilian traditions).

Notable historical events on December 31

• 1695 - a tax on windows was introduced in the Kingdom of England (to avoid paying it, some residents simply bricked them up).
• 1808 - French scientist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac formulated one of his gas laws.
• 1857 - Ottawa is proclaimed the capital of Canada by the decree of Queen Victoria.
• 1869 - British amateur archaeologist John Wood discovered the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, considered one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, at a depth of 7 meters south of Izmir.
• 1904 - The first mass celebration of the New Year was held in Times Square (then Longacre) in New York City.

• 1938 - a device for determining the alcohol content in the blood of drivers by analyzing the air they exhale was first presented in Indianapolis.
• 1942 - "Battle of the Barents Sea" or "New Year's Day Battle" between the British ships of the Arctic convoy JW-51B and German raiders. The weaker British forces (2 cruisers, 5 destroyers, and several lightly armed vessels) drove off the German squadron (1 battleship, 1 heavy cruiser, 6 destroyers).
• 1968 - the world's first flight of a supersonic passenger airplane, the Tu-144.
• 1992 - Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. On January 1, 1993, two new sovereign republics emerged in Europe - the Czech and Slovak Republics.
• 1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigned from the presidency.
• 2009 - Lithuania shut down the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, which had been operating since 1983.

Who was born on December 31

• 1596 - Petro Mohyla, Ukrainian political, church and educational figure, saint.
• 1747 - Gottfried August Burger, German poet.
• 1805 - Marie d'Agou (pseudonym Daniel Stern), French writer. Wife of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, mother-in-law of German composer Richard Wagner.
• 1869 - Henri Matisse, French painter.
• 1880 - George Marshall, American general, head of the Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff during World War II, US Secretary of State; developed a program for the economic revival of postwar Europe (the Marshall Plan).
• 1892 - Mykhailo Semenko, Ukrainian poet, founder of Ukrainian futurism (panfuturism).
• 1937 - Anthony Hopkins, British and American actor, winner of the Oscar and BAFTA awards.
• 1948 - Donna Summer, one of the most famous American singers of the 1970s, winner of 5 Grammy Awards.

• 1984 - Katherine Britt, Australian country singer.
• 1995 - Gabby Douglas, American gymnast, Olympic champion.

Died on this day:

• 1679 - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist, physicist, astronomer and mathematician.
• 1877 - Gustave Courbet, French painter, sculptor, graphic artist.
• 1917 - Federico Zandomenegui, Italian painter, representative of Impressionism.
• 1931 - Ieronymiy Yasynsky, writer, translator, literary critic of Ukrainian origin.
• 1993 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, writer, scientist, dissident, first President of Georgia (1991-1992).
• 2004 - Oleh Prykhodniuk, Ukrainian archaeologist, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Laureate of the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology.
• 2016 - Maria Kharchenko, Ukrainian singer and theater actress, People's Artist of Ukraine.
• 2022 - Benedict XVI, 265th Pope of Rome.

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