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 antagonistic to the ruler of
Winter--the Frost King--may flee. For water sprites, fairies, gnomes,
and other invisibilities, who delight in sunshine and warmth, are
forced, through the power of the priest's prayers, and the showering
of holy water, to take refuge in a hole that is cut in the ice beside
a tall cross, and disappear beneath the cold water of the blessed
river.

A PALM BRANCH FROM PALESTINE