Happy New Year, and Enjoy Your Bath!

Last updated on: December 31, 2021 at 2:00 am by Nadya Williams

Happy New Year, and Enjoy Your Bath! 2021-12-24T09:48:06-04:00 Nadya Williams

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A beautifully decorated tree forms the center-piece of the snow-dusted city square, festive lights are everywhere, holiday music is beaming from every radio, and children flock to sit on the knee of a bearded red-suited jolly grandfather figure. Everyone knows that this is the most wonderful time of the year. But the holiday described here is not Christmas, even if it looks and sounds so much like it. Rather, I am describing the secular New Year celebrations in Soviet Russia, which closely replicated Christmas traditions, minus any religious overtones (since religion was officially illegal during the entirety of Soviet rule). The similarity extends, even, to one genre of entertainment that has come to be one of the most popular parts of the holiday season for some — the holiday rom-com films, which generally revolve around a couple of great-looking but unlucky-in-love people, finally finding each other in time for the holidays.

New Year tree on the Red Square in Moscow, Russia.

Yes, these films generally have the same plot — as one meme recently seen on Facebook notes, “Basically, Hallmark has made 437 Christmas movies using 17 actors, five locations and three different plots.” In part, perhaps, because of this lack of sophistication, we do not generally think about holiday rom-coms historically, but in my last post for 2021, I would like to do just that. What might we, as historians and as Christians, learn from the striking similarities between the American Christmas rom-coms and their Soviet New Year-themed counterparts?

One of the most popular such films during my childhood in Soviet Russia in the 1980s, was titled The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath. Really, the second part of the title “s legkim parom” is one of those untranslatable idiomatic expressions: it is what you say to someone going to a traditional Russian steam bathhouse: “Have a nice steam!”

Ironija sudby, ili s legkim parom! (Irony Of Fate, Or Enjoy Your Bath!)

Cover of the DVD version of the film.

The plot unfolds as follows. A group of friends in Moscow enjoy a wild night of celebrations on New Year’s eve, including going to a Russian bathhouse and consuming copious amounts of distinctive beverages for which Russian celebrations are so well-known. At the end of the night, one of the friends is supposed to fly to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), so the group escorts him to the airport and helps him board his plane (oh, the days when one could just do that!). But in the confusion stemming from the aforementioned Russian beverages, they get the wrong guy from the group on the plane. And so, the film’s protagonist, Zhenya, flies to Leningrad without quite realizing what happened. When he disembarks, he takes a taxi from the airport to follow the familiar route home along the neighborhoods and buildings that look just like the part of Moscow where he lives.

This initial portion of the film makes fun of the uniform style of Soviet buildings of the Brezhnev era. The cookie-cutter new neighborhoods, high-rise buildings, and apartments indeed looked alike in every way, down to the furniture. Illustrating the point, the protagonist’s address in Moscow on Third Builders’ Street turns out to have an identical counterpart in Leningrad. And so, the taxi driver has no problem driving Zhenya home from the airport to the address provided. Even Zhenya’s apartment key works without a hitch when he lets himself in. His first clue that maybe something is amiss is when he gets into the apartment, and someone appears to have rearranged his furniture. But he does not dwell on this detail too long, and goes to sleep.

Of course, since this is a rom-com, what results from this comedy of errors is a nice boy-meets-girl story, since (you guessed it!) a lovely young woman, who happens to be named Nadya, lives in the Leningrad apartment to which our protagonist accidentally stumbled. And once the confusion is sorted, after a very lengthy set of meandering circumstances that evening, including Nadya’s breakup from her previous relationship, which obviously wasn’t going to work out anyway, Zhenya and Nadya get together at the end of the film, just in time for New Year. What better time to find true love?

No one watches rom-coms for the sophistication of their plots. In fact, the analogy to Soviet-era buildings would be just as apt for talking about this genre of films. The American counterpart is similarly simplistic and cookie-cutter in its approach to relationships, as it also glorifies the search for true love, albeit one that looks more like serial monogamy, rather than committed marital relationships. The only difference is that the American Hallmark channel holiday films revolve around Christmas, rather than New Year. But is this even a difference? After all, the version of Christmas in these films has about as much religion involved as the Soviet New Year celebrations — meaning, none. And yet, there is a deeply theological yearning that is inadvertently hiding in these films, and it reminds us of a truth programmed into all of us.

Deep down, we all have a desire to be loved. We know this all the time, but we feel it especially deeply around holidays and in moments that presage new beginnings, such as the New Year. Might this not be one reason why depression rates often spike around the holidays? The world is longing for the kinds of happy endings that these rom-coms dutifully present, because these stories make viewers feel good. And yet, as Christians, we also know the truth: the happy endings that these movies present are superficial and impermanent.

As historians, we know that life was not easy in Russia in the 1970s, just as it is not in modern US. But as Christian historians, we know that there is a bigger story to love and to new beginnings in this time of year, and it is a story that we lose when we focus excessively on the secular aspects of Christmas that would look the same as the Soviet New Year.

The historical roots of Christianity, which give us hope in the season of Christmas, provide a picture of love that is more beautiful than any rom-com film or, let’s face it, human pen could ever tell. What other tale could rival the love story of a God who loved humanity so much as to take on human flesh, live the life of a pauper under an oppressive regime, and die an agonizing death? And it is this incredible love story that promises us now maybe not a happy new year (although we can hope for that as well!), but a happy eternity someday.

Previous Post

December 30, 2021

2021: The Year of Christian Women

Next Post

January 3, 2022 Primal Religion? Indigenous? Traditional? What?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe guest post Guest Post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was swallowed by a whale (great fish)?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jonah Noah Abel Job