Original Celebration of Christmas and New Year: Anthropology of Festive Practices Introduction: Ritual as a Creative Act Originality in celebrating Christmas and New Year does not mean rejecting tradition, but often its deep processing or creating new rituals in response to changes in the socio-cultural context. From a scientific point of view, these practices can be considered as a form of cultural innovation, where archaic symbols, modern technologies, and individual creative impulse intertwine. Originality manifests in the choice of location, format, participants, and semantics of the celebration. Extreme and eco-oriented location Shifting the celebration from home space to unusual environments is becoming more popular. Arctic and Antarctic Christmas: For staff at polar stations, the celebration is a key event fighting isolation and polar night. Rites here are hypertrophied: they decorate not only the Christmas tree but also the equipment, prepare a special dinner from supplies, organize a "journey" to the conditional "North Pole". In 1902, Robert Scott's expedition celebrated Christmas in Antarctica, using penguins as a festive dish. High mountain and cave celebrations: Celebrating New Year at the top of a mountain (Elbrus, Kilimanjaro) or in a cave becomes a test symbolizing overcoming and the beginning of a new cycle with a "clean sheet". Such practices date back to archaic mountain cults as places of power. Underwater Christmas: In aquariums and diving clubs, diving with a decorated artificial Christmas tree is practiced. This is an example of completely transferring the celebration to another element, where familiar actions acquire a new, surreal dimension. Technological transformation of the ritual The digital era has given rise to forms of celebration that were impossible before. Virtual Christmas in metaverses: Creating digital avatars, "visiting" virtual cathedrals (e.g., in VRChat), exchanging NFT gifts. This is an attempt to overcome geograph ... Read more