How the first Moscow Kremlin New Year’s tree was staged (PHOTOS)

"Let's organize a nice New Year's tree for the children!" With this proposal from Pavel Postyshev, a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the tradition of winter holiday performances in the Soviet Union began. In 1935, an article was published in the ‘Pravda’ newspaper, in which he discussed how wonderful it would be to organize such celebrations for children. After all, it was a good tradition and had nothing to do with bourgeois relics. The idea was well received and, within a few days, preparations began across the country.

A New Year Tree with Red Army Soldiers

A year later, the first Moscow Kremlin New Year tree was held. True, it wasn't on Christmas Day (which, in Russia, is on January 7), but at the end of the year and not in the ancient fortress, but nearby, in the Moscow House of Unions. Excellent students were invited to the carnival ball. They were greeted in the hall by a giant New Year tree, adorned with dangling decorations in the shapes of airships, cars and Young Pioneers and topped with a red glass star. And it wasn't St. Nicholas who wished them a Happy New Year, but the kind winter wizard ‘Ded Moroz’ (‘Grandfather Frost’).

The new tradition was universally appreciated, although the scripts for these celebrations were noticeably more serious than today's. The script always included stories about the storming of the Winter Palace, the battles of the Civil War, the Papaninites and Chelyuskinites and was generously saturated with quotes from the works of prominent communists. And the famous: "One-two-three, New Year’s tree, light up!" was accompanied by the firing of cannons on the toy cruiser ‘Aurora’.

However, the program, of course, wasn't limited to this: For example, by the 1945 New Year's tree, children were treated to a "hare" orchestra, whose musicians played with carrots, real carousels, various rides and even a Ferris wheel.

Moving to the Kremlin

The New Year's tree moved to the Moscow Kremlin only after Stalin's death in 1954. Incidentally, the production script was written by Sergei Mikhalkov, the author of the USSR anthem, and writer Lev Kassil. It certainly featured fairy tale characters, but they were also, again, accompanied by Red Army soldiers and leading industrial workers.

The program began in the Great Hall of the Kremlin Palace and a festively decorated tree would greet the children in the Georgievsky Palace. There was also a performance featuring dancers from the Igor Moiseyev Ballet and Ensemble. After ‘Ded Moroz’ wished the children a Happy New Year, it was time for fun games and contests, as well as circus acts. There was also a special program for parents: they could go on a tour of the Moscow Kremlin cathedrals and the Armory Chamber. The celebration concluded with the distribution of sweet gifts.

A Very New New Year

Everything changed in the mid-1960s, when the plots of New Year's programs ceased to resemble progress reports. Writer Eduard Uspensky, who was working on the production script for the Kremlin New Year’s tree at the time, recalled how he and his co-author were criticized for their lack of seriousness. After all, it wasn't long ago that New Year’s trees celebrated the achievements of big chemistry and the cultivation of corn. However, a love of fairy tales proved stronger: for over half a century, a spirit of magic has reigned around the Kremlin New Year’s trees.