O Ovsen!
Who, who will go
Along that bridge?
Ovsen will go there,
And the New Year,
O Ovsen! O Ovsen!"

With this song the young folks endeavor to encourage the people who
are about to cross the gulf between the known and the unknown, the
Past and the Future Year; at the same time they scatter good seed for
them to reap a bountiful harvest. Often the boys sing the following
Kolyadki:

"Afield, afield, out in the open field!
There a golden plough goes ploughing,
And behind that plough is the Lord Himself.
Holy Peter helps Him to drive,
And the Mother of God carries the seed corn,
Carries the seed corn, prays to the Lord God,
Make, O Lord, the strong wheat to grow,
The strong wheat and the vigorous corn!
The stalks there shall be like reeds!
The ears shall be (plentiful) as blades of grass!
The sheaves shall be (in number) like the stars!
The stacks shall be like hills,
The loads shall be gathered together like black clouds."

How singularly appropriate it seems that boys, hungry at all times,
should be the ones to implore the god of fruitfulness to bestow upon
their people an abundant harvest during the coming year!

In Petrograd the New Year is ushered in with a cannonade of one
hundred shots fired at midnight. The Czar formally receives the good
wishes of his subjects, and the streets, which are prettily decorated
with flags and lanterns, are alive with people.

On New Year's Day the Winter Palace is opened to society, as is nearly
every home in the city, for at this season, at least, hospitality and
charity are freely dispensed from palace and cottage.

On Sotjelnik, the last of the holidays, the solemn service of Blessing
the Water of the Neva is observed. At two o'clock in the afternoon the
people who have gathered in crowds at various points along the river
witness the ceremony which closes the festivities of Yule-tide. At
Petrograd a dome is erected in front of the Winter Palace, where in
the presence of a vast concourse of people the Czar and the high
church officials in a grand and impressive manner perform the
ceremony. In other places it is customary for the district priest to
officiate. Clothed in vestments he leads a procession of clergy and
villagers, who carry icons and banners and chant as they proceed to
the river. They usually leave an open space in their ranks through
which all the bad spirits likely to feel antagonis