The Christmas tree was introduced to Russia by the reforming Tsar Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725), a fan of all things Western and the husband of a German princess who would have been familiar with the custom. Though it often featured at the Russian court during the 1700s it was not in widespread use until the mid-19th century as its popularity spread from the imperial family and nobility to the upper middle class. A glimpse of this can be seen in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1848 short story “A Christmas Tree and a Wedding” where the children “strip the Christmas tree to the last sweetmeat in the twinkling of an eye.”
During World War I Christmas trees were banned by the Orthodox Holy Synod as being “too German” and after the Revolution, Lenin’s Bolsheviks kept the tree ban in place as part of their drive against religion and Christmas in particular. In 1935 Pavel Postyshev, a member of the Politburo, proposed that Russian children be given a new festival. Stalin agreed, so Ded Moroz and the trees were rehabilitated in 1937. Many of the accoutrements of Christmas – feasting, presents, a magical Gift-Bringer, and a decorated conifer – were now to be associated with New Year’s.
Though Christmas and other Orthodox holidays were restored after the fall of the USSR, Russian families still regard December 31/January 1 as their major holiday and the traditional tree as a New Year ornament.