Елочные базары в Санкт-Петербурге на рубеже XIX–XX вв.
Christmas Markets in St. Petersburg at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries

Summary/Abstract: In the article, the concept of “seasonal heterotopia” is introduced. The seasonal heterotopia is associated with a specific calendar period, and this association distinguishes it from heterotopias, indifferent to the calendar. The article analyses the seasonal heterotopia that occurs during the winter solstice and is associated with the ritual of Christmas tree. In St. Petersburg, at the beginning of XIX century, the Christmas trees were placed only in the houses of Germans. Then from the 1830s, decorated Christmas trees were sold at confectionaries, thus becoming a custom and creating a seasonal heterotopia. By the middle of the XIXth century, Christmas trees were sold at markets and squares. The turn of the centuries was the heyday of Christmas tree’s market in St. Petersburg. The tree had come to be regarded as a national custom in origin. Thus Christmas, which was celebrated in Russia as a purely religious holiday, went beyond the limits of the Orthodox Church (where the Christmas tree was not permitted) and turned into a secular holiday, in which the tree took the principal place. At the end of December, the Christmas commotion embraced people of all generations and all classes of the capital. Increased quantity of the Christmas tree’s markets signalized the oncoming of the holiday. It was there that the “other space” was formed. Christmas tree seasonal heterotopia expanded its borders, extending to all the urban space and absorbing it. Such emotional intensity of the seasonal holiday that began with the sale of Christmas trees in the bazaars, Petersburg did not experience ever throughout the year. The seasonal heterotopia as such, occurring in the same calendar period, is making temporary though dramatic changes in the space and life of the city, making it “other” in appearance, affecting on activities and the mood of its inhabitants, forming an aura inherent in a given calendar period.

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