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Александр Б. Страхов. Ночь перед Рождеством: народное 
христианство и рождественская обрядность на Западе и у славян. 
(A. B. Strakhov. Christmas Eve: Folk Christianity and Christmas rituals 
in the West and in Slavic cultures.) (Palaeoslavica XI. Supplementum 1). 
Cambridge: 2003. 380 pp. ISSN – 1070-5465. 

 
For almost two centuries the concept of dvoeverie (double belief) 

has been used by scholars to characterize popular religion in Russia. It 
was widely believed that from its origins until well into the nineteenth 
century, Russian Christianity, in contrast to religious practice in Western 
Europe, was never fully accepted among the folk, but existed side-by-
side with pagan beliefs. Much scholarly energy was expended on 
identifying pagan elements in Russian culture and religion, and in the 
Soviet period, continuing pagan practice under the tsarist regime was 
often interpreted as opposition on the part of the lower classes to the 
power of the state. In the last fifteen years, however, some scholars have 
begun to question the pervasive presence of paganism throughout the 
history of Russian Christianity. In the book under review, Aleksandr B. 
Strakhov has made a very significant contribution to this process. 
Strakhov has compiled a vast amount of material on popular Christian 
beliefs associated with Christmas, not only among the East Slavs, but 
also throughout Europe and even North America. As a result, Strakhov 
directly challenges what might be called the two guiding principles of 
traditional dvoeverie based scholarship: the uniqueness of Russia’s 
popular religion, and the pagan origin of its religious practice among the 
folk. He convincingly demonstrates, by citing beliefs and ceremonies in 
Orthodox as well as Catholic countries, that Russian practice is neither 
unique nor pagan in origin, but, like popular Christian religion practiced 
throughout Europe, was the product of a folk interpretation of Christian 
belief that is best understood within the context of a shared Christian 
heritage developed in socially similar conditions, rather than a common 
Indo-European past. 

Noch' pered Rozhdestvom consists of a short foreword by the 
author, eight chapters and an extensive bibliography. There is no index, 
but the table of contents identifies the main topics within each chapter 
and provides page numbers. The chapters, despite the book’s title, all 
deal with the Nativity broadly construed, that is, from the end of 
November to the middle of January. The discussion is wide ranging, 
however, and often addresses Christian celebrations practiced at other 
times in the liturgical calendar. Chapter themes include: miraculous 

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blooming and fruit-bearing plants, the transformation of water into wine, 
the birth of Christ in a cattle shed, the symbolism and magic of fertility 
and birth, as well as the dark side of Yuletide, which derives from its 
nature as the period when Christ was yet unbaptized and the spirits of the 
dead were liberated each year for a short time to roam about the world. 
By limiting the scope of his study to the Christmas period, Strakhov 
provides it with a clear focus, but, at the same time, is able to discuss 
those topics most closely associated with pagan beliefs, namely, 
veneration of the clan and ancestors, and commemorations connected to 
the yearly agricultural cycle. 

Strakhov’s typical method in this study is to begin with a chapter 
theme and provide several examples from a range of countries and 
traditions. As new thematic threads emerge in the course of the 
discussion he examines each and moves forward to additional related 
themes. For example, in Chapter III “The Birth of Christ in a Cattle 
Shed,” the basic premise is that the presence and correct behavior of 
certain animals at Christ’s birth and during the Holy Family’s escape 
from King Herod have obtained for them certain privileges. In contrast, 
the absence of other animals during these events brings negative 
consequences. Pork, for example became the traditional New Year’s Day 
meal rather than beef. In the course of the chapter the discussion ranges 
from the speech and prophetic powers of favored animals such as cattle, 
to the wolf as a symbol of Herod, who persecutes the “lamb” of God. At 
various points in the chapter, Strakhov challenges the views of scholars 
who affirm the pagan origins of popular religion. Thus he promotes the 
explanation that peasants fed their domestic animals high quality feed or 
ceremonial fare at Christmas as a sign of their respect for the role they 
played in Christ’s birth, and rather contemptuously rejects the notion that 
the practice should be viewed as a means of giving their dead ancestors 
ritual food, as some scholars maintain.  

Strakhov’s knowledge of popular religion and his command of 
source materials in close to a dozen languages are quite remarkable. As a 
compendium of folk beliefs related to the Nativity it is hard to imagine 
that this study could be surpassed. The only significant problem I see in 
the work is a failure to engage meaningfully with the “pagan” school. 
Strakhov makes the case for the Christian origin of most popular religion 
very well, but his insistence on only one system to the exclusion of the 
other does not allow for any overlap between the two. The discussion is 
frequently polarized and only the more extreme examples of pagan-based 
theory are given, generally as objects of ridicule. In the brief Foreword, 

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he mentions the origin of the pagan tradition in Romanticism, but says 
nothing about its rather complex development in the Soviet period, 
including among such semioticians as Boris Uspensky and Yury Lotman, 
as well as its embrace by Western feminists like Joanna Hubbs, who sees 
an opposition between a patriarchal Christianity and a more feminine 
paganism. The influence of paganism has certainly been exaggerated in 
many of these approaches, but they are still able to shed some light on 
the nature of the syncretism that did occur. As Eve Levin has pointed 
out, one must recognize in some cases the possibility of beliefs that draw 
on pagan as well as Christian concepts. Curious in this regard also is the 
absence in the lengthy bibliography of Levin’s excellent article or those 
of other scholars, such as Stella Rock, who have questioned the 
predominance of pagan beliefs in the formation of Russian popular 
religion (Eve Levin, Dvoeverie and Popular Belief,” in Seeking God: 
The Recovery of Religious Identity in Orthodox Russia, Ukraine and 
Georgia, ed. by Stephen K. Batalden, Northern Illinois University Press, 
1993, 31-52; Stella Rock, “What’s in a Word: A Historical Study of the 
Concept of Dvoeverie,” Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 35 1 
(2001):19-28).  

Despite this caveat, Strakhov’s strong contribution should not be 
underestimated. He is no doubt correct when he declares that popular 
Christian culture is much more complex than we have been accustomed 
to think. It has evolved over centuries in a spiritual milieu where 
miracles, magic and the correct performance of rituals and recitation of 
prayers were much more important than orthodox theology. As we seek 
to understand the nature of Russian popular religion, highly creative, 
comparative studies like Strakhov’s are an essential part of the process. 

 
David K Prestel 
Michigan State University