ChristmasIn celebration
christmas main
is the idea of ​​love
and mercy associated with
birth into the world
Christ the Savior
sanctified by Himself
humanity and all
nature, and
victorious
demonic power.

Christmas story

Charles Dickens

Christmas carol in prose

Ebenezer Scrooge

Spirit of Jacob Marley

Spirit of Jacob Marley

Christmas spirit of yesteryear

Christmas spirit of yesteryear

The spirit of the current Christmas time

Spirit of future Christmas time

N.S. Leskov is one of the main representatives of this genre in Russian literature

V.A. Nikiforov-Volgin

silver blizzard

Christmas stories

"Wonderful Doctor" A. I. Kuprin

Publications in the Literature section

How Christmas Came to Literature

Christmas as a symbol of anticipation, expectation and, finally, the accomplishment of a miracle is a familiar plot in literature of various genres. We decided to follow the evolution of this motif in Russian literature - and how it has been transformed over time.

folk traditions

Konstantin Trutovsky. Carols in Little Russia. 1864

Folklore customs and rites of celebration occupy a separate place in literature - partly due to the story "The Night Before Christmas" by Nikolai Gogol, who in Russia became one of the first authors who made the eve of the holy holiday the basis of a literary plot. The church did not particularly encourage folk traditions, primarily because they were based on pagan rites. Let us dwell separately on the most common of them - carols.

Apollo of Corinth in his work "People's Russia" wrote that the concept of "carol" had different meaning depending on the region.

"Kolyada" ("koleda") in the north is Christmas Eve, caroling is a ritual of going from house to house on Christmas with congratulations and songs. In the Novgorod province, the gifts that were received during these “walks” were called carols. In the southern and southwestern regions, as Korinfsky notes, the Christmas holiday itself and even all Christmas time are called carols. In Belarus, "caroling" means "praise Christ." But in the Smolensk lands, “caroling” will mean “begging”.

They caroled all over Russia. After the vigil or matins, the youth walked in a whole crowd, arranged "walking", or caroling. This was accompanied by all the songs:

On the blue sea
ship on the water,
In that ship
Three gates;
In the first gates
moon of lights,
In other gates
Sonechko descends,
In the third gate
The Lord Himself walks
accepting keys,
Paradise vomit…

According to an old tradition, as Corinthian writes, “On the eve of Christmas, at midnight, the gates of heaven are opened, and from the heights beyond the clouds the Son of God descends to earth. "Bright Paradise" during this solemn appearance opens to the eyes of righteous people all its invaluable treasures, all its secrets inexplicable. All the waters in the rivers of Paradise come to life and move; springs are turned into wine and endowed on this great night with miraculous healing power; in the gardens of Eden, flowers bloom on the trees and golden apples are poured. And from the heavenly limits, the sun dwelling in them sends its generous, rich gifts to the earth dressed in a snowy veil. If someone prays for something at midnight, asks for something, everything will come true, it will come true, as written, the people say ".

So, the custom of waiting for magical miracles at Christmas came out of folk customs and subsequently took root in literature as a powerful archetype. At the same time, a direct description of traditions is more often found in the plots of fairy tales.

Orthodox Christmas

Vasily Vereshchagin. Christmas (detail). Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow. 1875–1880

Another traditional image used in literature is Orthodox Christmas. Despite the vitality folk traditions It took the Orthodox Church only a few centuries for Christian rites to become equal - and subsequently dominant.

From the end of the 2nd to the 4th century, Christmas as an event was mentioned on the day of Theophany - January 6, Clement of Alexandria writes about this. Christmas as a separate holiday, which is celebrated on December 26, is mentioned in the middle of the 4th century. In the Roman Empire, on December 25, the pagan cult of the Invincible Sun was celebrated - the day of the winter solstice.

Most detailed story about the birth of Jesus Christ we will meet in the New Testament in Luke and Matthew (Gospel of Matthew, 1st chapter):

“In those days a command went out from Caesar Augustus to make a census of all the earth. This census was the first in the reign of Quirinius over Syria. Joseph also went from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, called Bethlehem, because he was from the house and family of David, to register with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth; And she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and swaddled Him, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in an inn” (Luke 2:1-7).

After the birth of Jesus, shepherds were the first to come to bow to him, who were informed of the birth of the Messiah by an angel, and a wonderful star appeared in the sky, which led the Magi to the baby Jesus. They presented gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh, not as a baby, but as a King (Matt. 2:1-3).

King Herod of Judea learned about the birth of the Messiah, the new king. He ordered the killing of all babies under the age of two in order to destroy him. An angel appeared to Joseph and told him to flee to Egypt with his family, where they lived until the death of Herod (Matthew 2:16).

This eventual outline subsequently becomes a plot for rethinking by many authors, but is most often found in poetic works of different years.

Christmas in secular literature

Alexander Semenov. On Christmas. 1975

Christmas motifs are so firmly rooted in the literature of that time that works with a Christmas story begin to be published in special Christmas collections and almanacs. Thus the genre of the Christmas story was born. The tradition of family oral retelling of the story of the birth of Christ on the eve of the holiday existed by that time for several centuries, therefore, with the development of printing, the Christmas story takes root with lightning speed and receives its own history of formation.

Christmas story

Leonid Solomatkin. Glorifiers (detail). 1868

In the name of the Christmas story genre, a reference to the concept of Christmas time is obvious. The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron gives the following definition:

“Christmas time, that is, holy days - twelve days after the feast of the Nativity of Christ, until the feast of the Epiphany. They are also called holy evenings, perhaps in remembrance of the events of the Nativity and the baptism of the Savior, which took place at night or in the evening. The church began to sanctify twelve days after the feast of the Nativity of Christ from ancient times ... "

Almost all major writers who worked in periodicals in the second half of the 19th century wrote Christmas stories: Nikolai Leskov, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Gleb Uspensky, Anton Chekhov, Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, Vladimir Korolenko, Pavel Zasodimsky, Leonid Andreev, Maxim Gorky . In the Christmas issues of the magazines "Igrushechka" and "Sincere Word" were published the stories "Christ visiting a peasant", "Fixed ruble", "Fool" by Nikolai Leskov. And Pavel Zasodimsky in 1883 published two volumes of children's Heartfelt Stories. Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak writes children's Christmas stories for the collection Zarnitsy. Second collection of short stories for seniors.

Often, Christmas stories were created not for entertainment, but for teaching children. The authors turned to Christian themes and created simple and understandable stories for children on their basis. The format of the Christmas story was convenient for learning - the themes of morality, holiness, kindness, self-sacrifice and honesty organically fit in here.

In the future, the genre of the Christmas story began to develop in two directions. By itself, the genre of the story became so massive that all writers, both professional and beginners, turned to it, so that Christmas stories turned into light sentimental reading without any special literary frills. At the same time, the Christmas story for many writers became a field for experimentation and a way to form a new literary trend.

The structure of a traditional Christmas story

Fedot Sychkov. Christoslavs (Children of the Old Village) (detail). 1935

Initially, the Christmas story was formed according to the principle of realism - there was no place for miracles, fantasies, mysticism, or the supernatural. If some kind of miracle was part of the plot, then at the end it was explained and turned out to be no miracle at all. Often, the authors explained this move by saying that the mystical flair of Christmas originates in folk beliefs and rituals that were popular at the dawn of Christianity. Such a construction of the plot was characterized by the “story within a story” structure - this was the most convenient way to separate the two realities of the story - the one in which the characters of the story exist, and the fantasy one in which miracles happen.

Another one feature the plot of the Christmas story - the path of the hero and the changes that happen to him during Christmas night. In this case, the miracle is the main engine of the plot - thanks to him, the hero looks back at his life and decides to change it. But this is a side story with an element of miracle, this story itself is told to us by the narrator.

In Nikolai Leskov's story "Christ Visiting a Man", the narrator is an old Siberian who believes in the veracity of everything that happened to his friend Timofey Osipovich. Natalia Starygina gives an example in her analytical article:

“Timothy was once reading the Gospel in the garden. “It was at this very moment that the beginning of the miracle happened, about which Timothy tells me this:
- I look, he says, around me and think: what abundance and contentment I have, and my Lord walked in such poverty ... And all my eyes were filled with tears and I can’t blink them away; and everything around me became rosy, even my very tears. So - in a kind of oblivion, or fainting, I exclaimed: Lord! If you had come to me, I would have given myself to you. And suddenly, in response, from somewhere, as if in a breeze, he breathed in pink:
- I'll come!

It happens that the miracle itself is an internal narrative of the narrator or a memory of the Christmas story. And the miracle is required condition this legend, then the reader will perceive it as something not related to the reality of the story. This leads to the fact that the reader himself is looking for a realistic explanation for the miracle. It also happens that the legend with the miracle appearing in it gives way to the hero’s dream, as happens in the stories “Fixed Ruble” by Nikolai Leskov, “Angel” by Leonid Andreev, “Makar’s Dream” by Vladimir Korolenko. A miracle can be presented as a sick or too rich imagination of a hero, for example, Leskov's "Scarecrow", Dostoevsky's "Christ's Boy at the Tree". And sometimes a miracle is a hoax, as in the story "The Artist and the Devil" by Anton Chekhov, and sometimes it's just a lucky coincidence, as, for example, in Leskov's stories "Pearl Necklace" and "Old Genius". Sometimes, instead of a miracle, the hero encounters people who are ready to help in difficult times, because Christmas is a time of kindness and compassion. A miracle may not be part of a Christmas story at all - writers turn to realism and prefer to show episodes from life - for example, the stories "In front of the stove", "Love Lovers", "On the High Road" by Pavel Zasodimsky.

With a star Reproduction from a painting by Mikhail Germashev. 1916

As a rule, in a Christmas story, all events unfold in one Christmas night, during which the characters change their lives and their principles. For example, this happens in the stories of Alexander Chekhov "Trishkin's Soul", "The Violator of the Law", "A Grave Sin", "Star", "Night Chime". Later, the authors became more inventive in the plot conventions of the Christmas story. For example, in the story "The Artist and the Devil" the action begins four days before Christmas.

In a Christmas story, we can meet characters who do not know each other, but it is on Christmas night that their stories intersect, as in Alexander Chekhov's story "Christmas Eve in a Snowdrift" and Nikolai Leskov's story "Choice Grain". Leskov's story "Deception" also begins with the following structure: “Just around Christmas time, we were driving south and, sitting in the carriage, we were talking…”

However, no matter how the structure of the Christmas story changes, no matter how the principles of plot construction change, one thing remains the main thing in the genre - the moral and instructive component. In the finale of the story, morality invariably follows - for the sake of which the heroes survived all the Christmas adventures, for the sake of which miracles were performed. For example, in the story "The Beast" by Leskov (1883), the priest's sermon melted the heart of a stern man, changed his attitude to life and to his loved ones. The story "Christ visiting a peasant" (1881) ends with the moral of the author:

“Thus the peasant was taught to arrange in his heart a manger for Christ born on earth. And every heart can also be such a manger, if it fulfills the commandment: "Love your enemies, do good to those who offended you," and Christ will come into his heart, as into a chosen chamber, and make himself an abode there.

By the beginning of the 20th century, along with socio-political changes in the country, the genre was in decline. The very tradition of Christmas is gradually abolished, and the emphasis in winter holidays shifts to New Year, which, as if by relay, takes on the custom of decorating a Christmas tree, giving gifts, believing in miracles - and, in turn, becomes the central plot for a number of magical, now New Year's, works.

Christmas as a symbol of anticipation, expectation and, in the end, the accomplishment of a miracle is a familiar plot in literature of various genres.

We decided to follow the evolution of this motif in Russian literature - and how it has been transformed over time.

FOLK TRADITIONS

Trutovsky Konstantin Alexandrovich.
"Carols in Little Russia" No later than 1864
Canvas, oil. 66 x 97 cm
State Russian Museum

Folklore customs and rites of celebration occupy a separate place in literature - partly due to the story "The Night Before Christmas" by Nikolai Gogol, who in Russia became one of the first authors who made the eve of the holy holiday the basis of a literary plot.

The church did not particularly encourage folk traditions, primarily because they were based on pagan rites. Let us dwell separately on the most common of them - carols.

Apollo of Corinth in his work "People's Russia" wrote that the concept of "kolyada" had a different meaning depending on the region.

"Kolyada" ("koleda") in the north is Christmas Eve, caroling is a ritual of going from house to house on Christmas with congratulations and songs. In the Novgorod province, the gifts that were received during these “walks” were called carols.

In the southern and southwestern regions, as Korinfsky notes, the Christmas holiday itself and even all Christmas time are called carols. In Belarus, "caroling" means "praise Christ." But in the Smolensk lands, “caroling” will mean “begging”.

They caroled all over Russia. After the vigil or matins, the youth walked in a whole crowd, arranged "walking", or caroling. This was accompanied by all the songs:

On the blue sea
ship on the water,
In that ship
Three gates;

In the first gates
moon of lights,
In other gates
Sonechko descends,

In the third gate
The Lord Himself walks
accepting keys,
Paradise vomit…

According to an old tradition, as Korinfsky writes, “on the eve of Christmas, at midnight, the heavenly gates open, and from the heights beyond the clouds the Son of God descends to earth.

"Bright Paradise" during this solemn appearance opens to the eyes of righteous people all its invaluable treasures, all its secrets inexplicable.

All the waters in the rivers of Paradise come to life and move; springs are turned into wine and endowed on this great night with miraculous healing power; in the gardens of Eden, flowers bloom on the trees and golden apples are poured.

And from the heavenly limits, the sun dwelling in them sends its generous, rich gifts to the earth dressed in a snowy veil. If someone prays for something at midnight, asks for something, everything will come true, it will come true, as written, the people say.

Thus, the custom of waiting for magical miracles around Christmas came out of folk customs and subsequently took root in literature as a powerful archetype. At the same time, a direct description of traditions is more often found in the plots of fairy tales.

ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS

Image Hosted by PiXS.ru
Vasily Vereshchagin. Christmas (detail).
Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow. 1875–1880

Another traditional image used in literature is Orthodox Christmas. Despite the vitality of folk traditions, it took the Orthodox Church only a few centuries for Christian rites to become equal - and subsequently dominant.

From the end of the 2nd to the 4th century, Christmas as an event was mentioned on the day of Theophany - January 6, Clement of Alexandria writes about this. Christmas as a separate holiday, which is celebrated on December 26, is mentioned in the middle of the 4th century. In the Roman Empire, on December 25, the pagan cult of the Invincible Sun was celebrated - the day of the winter solstice.

We will find the most detailed story about the birth of Jesus Christ in the New Testament in Luke and Matthew (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 1):

“In those days a command went out from Caesar Augustus to make a census of all the earth. This census was the first in the reign of Quirinius over Syria.

Joseph also went from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, called Bethlehem, because he was from the house and family of David, to register with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was pregnant.

While they were there, the time came for her to give birth; And she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and swaddled Him, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in an inn” (Luke 2:1-7).

After the birth of Jesus, shepherds were the first to come to bow to him, who were informed of the birth of the Messiah by an angel, and a wonderful star appeared in the sky, which led the Magi to the baby Jesus. They presented gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh, not as a baby, but as a King (Matt. 2:1-3).

King Herod of Judea learned about the birth of the Messiah, the new king. He ordered the killing of all babies under the age of two in order to destroy him. An angel appeared to Joseph and told him to flee to Egypt with his family, where they lived until the death of Herod (Matthew 2:16).

This eventual outline subsequently becomes a plot for rethinking by many authors, but is most often found in poetic works of different years.

CHRISTMAS IN SECULAR LITERATURE

Alexander Semyonov. "At Christmas", 1975

Along with fairy tales based on folk customs and Christmas stories with a canonical plot, an author's story is singled out, the tradition of which came to Russia from Europe - along with the traditions of a secular holiday as such.

In the first half of the 19th century, the authors still turned to the Russian Middle Ages, folklore and the theme of the fantastic and fabulous. For example, in Nikolai Polevoy's "Christmas Tales" ("Moscow Telegraph", 1826, No. 23, 24), the plot tells about events in Veliky Novgorod.

At that time, stories with a Christmas story had not yet gained mass popularity - only in the second half of the 19th century did the Christmas story take shape as a mass genre.

In this case, Charles Dickens and Hans Christian Andersen are considered to be the founders of the genre. The plot of the latter's tale - "The Girl with Matches" - is seen by Dostoevsky in the story "The Boy at Christ on the Christmas Tree", as well as in the story "Angel" by Leonid Andreev.

Christmas motifs are so firmly rooted in the literature of that time that works with a Christmas story begin to be published in special Christmas collections and almanacs.

Thus the genre of the Christmas story was born. The tradition of family oral retelling of the story of the birth of Christ on the eve of the holiday existed by that time for several centuries, therefore, with the development of printing, the Christmas story takes root with lightning speed and receives its own history of formation.

YUNTRY STORY

Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich "Glorifiers"

In the name of the Christmas story genre, a reference to the concept of Christmas time is obvious. The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron gives the following definition:

“Christmas time, that is, holy days - twelve days after the feast of the Nativity of Christ, until the feast of the Epiphany.

They are also called holy evenings, perhaps in remembrance of the events of the Nativity and the baptism of the Savior, which took place at night or in the evening.

The church began to sanctify twelve days after the feast of the Nativity of Christ from ancient times ... "

Almost all major writers who worked in periodicals in the second half of the 19th century wrote Christmas stories: Nikolai Leskov, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Gleb Uspensky, Anton Chekhov, Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, Vladimir Korolenko, Pavel Zasodimsky, Leonid Andreev, Maxim Gorky .

In the Christmas issues of the magazines "Igrushechka" and "Sincere Word" were published the stories "Christ visiting a peasant", "Fixed ruble", "Fool" by Nikolai Leskov.

And Pavel Zasodimsky in 1883 published two volumes of children's Heartfelt Stories. Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak writes children's Christmas stories for the collection Zarnitsy. Second collection of short stories for seniors.

Often, Christmas stories were created not for entertainment, but for teaching children. The authors turned to Christian themes and created simple and understandable stories for children on their basis.

The format of the Christmas story was convenient for learning - the themes of morality, holiness, kindness, self-sacrifice and honesty organically fit in here.

In the future, the genre of the Christmas story began to develop in two directions. By itself, the genre of the story became so massive that all writers, both professional and beginners, turned to it, so that Christmas stories turned into light sentimental reading without any special literary frills.

At the same time, the Christmas story for many writers became a field for experimentation and a way to form a new literary trend.

THE STRUCTURE OF A TRADITIONAL YUNTRY STORY

Fedot Sychkov. Christoslavs (Children of the Old Village) (detail). 1935

Initially, the Christmas story was formed according to the principle of realism - there was no place for miracles, fantasies, mysticism, or the supernatural. If some kind of miracle was part of the plot, then at the end it was explained and turned out to be no miracle at all.

Such a construction of the plot was characterized by the “story within a story” structure - this was the most convenient way to separate the two realities of the story - the one in which the characters of the story exist, and the fantasy one in which miracles happen.

Another characteristic feature of the plot of the Christmas story is the path of the hero and the changes that occur to him during Christmas night.

In this case, the miracle is the main engine of the plot - thanks to him, the hero looks back at his life and decides to change it. But this is a side story with an element of miracle, this story itself is told to us by the narrator.

In Nikolai Leskov's story "Christ Visiting a Man", the narrator is an old Siberian who believes in the veracity of everything that happened to his friend Timofey Osipovich. Natalia Starygina gives an example in her analytical article:

“Timothy was once reading the Gospel in the garden. “It was at this very moment that the beginning of the miracle happened, about which Timothy tells me this:
- I look, he says, around me and think: what abundance and contentment I have, and my Lord walked in such poverty ...

And all my eyes were filled with tears, and I can't blink them away; and everything around me became rosy, even my very tears. So - in a kind of oblivion, or fainting, I exclaimed: Lord! If you had come to me, I would have given myself to you. And suddenly, in response, from somewhere, as if in a breeze, he breathed in pink:
- I'll come!

It happens that the miracle itself is an internal narrative of the narrator or a memory of the Christmas story. Moreover, a miracle is a prerequisite for this legend, then the reader will perceive it as something not related to the reality of the story.

This leads to the fact that the reader himself is looking for a realistic explanation for the miracle. It also happens that the legend with the miracle appearing in it gives way to the hero’s dream, as happens in the stories “Fixed Ruble” by Nikolai Leskov, “Angel” by Leonid Andreev, “Makar’s Dream” by Vladimir Korolenko.

A miracle can be presented as a sick or too rich imagination of a hero, for example, Leskov's "Scarecrow", Dostoevsky's "Christ's Boy at the Tree".

And sometimes a miracle is a hoax, as in the story "The Artist and the Devil" by Anton Chekhov, and sometimes it's just a lucky coincidence, as, for example, in Leskov's stories "The Pearl Necklace" and "The Old Genius".

Sometimes, instead of a miracle, the hero encounters people who are ready to help in difficult times, because Christmas is a time of kindness and compassion. A miracle may not be part of a Christmas story at all - writers turn to realism and prefer to show episodes from life - for example, the stories "In front of the stove", "Love Lovers", "On the High Road" by Pavel Zasodimsky.

With a star Reproduction from a painting by Mikhail Germashev.
1916

As a rule, in a Christmas story, all events unfold in one Christmas night, during which the characters change their lives and their principles. For example, this happens in the stories of Alexander Chekhov "Trishkin's Soul", "The Violator of the Law", "A Grave Sin", "Star", "Night Chime".

In a Christmas story, we can meet characters who do not know each other, but it is on Christmas night that their stories intersect, as in Alexander Chekhov's story "Christmas Eve in a Snowdrift" and Nikolai Leskov's story "Choice Grain".

Leskov's story "Deception" also begins with the following structure: "Just around Christmas time, we were driving south and, sitting in the carriage, we were talking..."

However, no matter how the structure of the Christmas story changes, no matter how the principles of plot construction change, one thing remains the main thing in the genre - the moral and instructive component. In the finale of the story, morality invariably follows - for the sake of which the heroes survived all the Christmas adventures, for the sake of which miracles were performed.

For example, in the story "The Beast" by Leskov (1883), the priest's sermon melted the heart of a stern man, changed his attitude to life and to his loved ones. The story "Christ visiting a peasant" (1881) ends with the moral of the author:

“Thus the peasant was taught to arrange in his heart a manger for Christ born on earth. And every heart can also be such a manger, if it fulfills the commandment: "Love your enemies, do good to those who offended you," and Christ will come into his heart, as into a chosen chamber, and make himself an abode there.

By the beginning of the 20th century, along with socio-political changes in the country, the genre was in decline.

The very tradition of Christmas is gradually being abolished, and the emphasis in the winter holidays is shifting to the New Year, which, as if by baton, takes on the custom of decorating a Christmas tree, giving gifts, believing in miracles - and becoming, in turn, the central plot for a number of magical, now New Year's, works.

slide 2

Reflection in the story of Slavic traditions and legends (fiction and reality) Evil and good in the story of N. V. Gogol "The Night Before Christmas"

slide 3

Reality - something that really exists not in the imagination Fiction - something that is based on imagination, fiction, something magical, incredible

slide 4

List the characters in the story "The Night Before Christmas"

Real heroes Vakula Oksana Chub Head Dyak Kum Weaver Kumov's wife Maiden Parubki Fantastic creatures Devil Solokha ("along with the devil") Patsyuk ("akin to the devil")

slide 5

The night before Christmas is special: the night before the greatest Christian holiday - the birth of Jesus Christ.

What do you know about the Christian holiday of Christmas and the night before Christmas?

slide 6

On Christmas Eve, carolers carry with them a star, symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem, and a small nativity scene.

Slide 7

Children and adults put on masks and costumes (they try to dress in such a way that they are not recognized), gather in groups and go from house to house, singing carols (special songs containing words to glorify the holiday and ask for alms).

Slide 8

Noisier and noisier the songs and shouts rang out through the streets. The crowds of the pushing people were increased by those who came from the neighboring villages. The lads were naughty and furious enough. Often some merry song was heard between the carols... Small windows were raised... and old women leaned out of the window with a sausage in their hands or a piece of pie. The boys and girls vied with each other to set up bags and catch their prey ...

Slide 9

The plot of the story "The Night Before Christmas" was based on the folk-Christian holiday - the Nativity of Christ. The image of Christ the Savior is invisibly present on the pages of the story, brings light and good to people, gives hope...

Slide 10

slide 11

The symbolic title of the story "The Night Before Christmas"

The last day before Christmas has passed. A clear winter night has come. Stars looked. The moon rose majestically into the sky to shine kind people and to the whole world, so that everyone would have fun caroling and glorifying Christ ...

slide 12

Why is the struggle between good and evil forces, light and darkness, intensified on the eve of Christmas?

Evil forces on the eve of Christmas are most active, trying to force people to break the Christian commandments on the last night before the Birth of Christ.

slide 13

Ten Commandments of the Law of God 1. I am the Lord thy God; May you have no other gods but me. 2. Do not make yourself an idol. 3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath. 5. Honor your father and your mother. 6. Thou shalt not kill. 7. Do not commit adultery. 8. Don't steal. 9. Don't lie. 10. Do not wish someone else's good

Slide 14

What commandments could the blacksmith Vakula break on the night before Christmas?

Wanted to kill myself. Sell ​​your soul to hell.

slide 15

What commandments does Oksana break on the night before Christmas?

Envy Selfishness.

slide 16

How do representatives of the forces of evil influence the fate of the main characters?