Christmas Eve (Gogol)
Encyclopedia
Christmas Eve literally translated The Night Before Christmas, is the first story in the second volume of the collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
by Nikolai Gogol
.
, a witch flying across the night sky and the devil stealing the moon
and hiding it in his pocket, first playing with it in the sky, which no one in the village notices. Since it is the night before Christmas
, the devil is free to roam around and torment people as he pleases, so he decides to find a way to get back at the village blacksmith, Vakula, because he paints hideous portraits of him in the church.
In the village lives a Cossack
named Choub, whose daughter Oksana, an exceptionally beautiful village girl loved by all the young boys, is the object of the blacksmith Vakula’s affection. Choub goes out in the night with his friend Panas to the sexton’s home gathering, suddenly noticing that the moon is not in the sky. Meanwhile, Vakula is trying to win over Oksana, who mentions that his mother, Solokha, is a witch. Choub and his friend are suddenly engulfed in a snowstorm started by the devil and lose each other. While his friend finds his way to the tavern, Choub comes upon his home, but the blacksmith, who is visiting Oksana, answers him. Choub is confused about why the blacksmith would be in his own house, and concludes its not his house. The blacksmith then sends him away.
When Vakula goes back to Oksana, she tells him she won’t marry him unless he can get for her the slippers off the Tsaritsa
’s feet. While their discussion is happening, Solokha is with the devil in her home, when someone knocks at the door. To hide the truth, she puts the devil in a coal sack, emptying out the contents. The mayor walks in and begins to speak with her but no sooner than he does there is another knock at the door. The mayor hides in another bag and the sexton comes into the home. While he is trying to play around with Solokha, there is another knock at the door and she hides him in another sack while Choub comes into the house. Another knock comes at the door and this time it is Vakula, and Choub goes into the sack that the sexton is already in, not knowing he is there, thinking it is something else. After his mother goes outside to speak with another visitor, the blacksmith takes the heavy bags to get them to the forge, wondering why he seems to have lost his strength temporarily, and concluding it had to do with Oksana not loving him. He comes upon Oksana, who again belittles him, and runs off saying goodbye to her, threatening to kill himself.
He decides the only way to win her is to indeed capture the slippers, so he goes to Puzaty Patsyuk, a local Zaporozhian Cossack who was believed to be in league with the devil. He goes to him and asks him to tell him the way to find the devil while Patsyuk eats magical varenyky that fly down into a basin of cream and then into his mouth, Vakula brushes one aside as it rubs cream on his closed lips. After asking Patsyuk about the devil, he remarks that he cannot give directions to the blacksmith to what is already on his back. Vakula doesn’t understand until he puts down the sacks and the devil hops onto his back. Vakula tricks the devil into thinking he will obey him, then grabs his tail and threatens to use the sign of the cross
until it agrees to help.
Fearing the cross, the devil takes him into the sky en route to St. Petersburg, leaving the sacks behind. A group of locals begin to take the bags and discover the men inside, while Vakula goes to find the Tsaritsa. He is amazed by the sites of the city, and has the devil (who shrinks into his pocket) transport him into the palace, where he meets up with a few Zaporozhian Cossacks who are meeting her (i.e., Catherine the Great). When she comes to greet them, the blacksmith appeals to her and glorifies her slippers, which she finds amusing and agrees to give to him.
In the meantime Oksana gets upset because the villagers have been passing around the rumor that Vakula has killed himself. She knows that Vakula, a good Christian, would not do this, and that night she falls deeply in love with him. She is delighted to see him return and agrees to marry him even before he shows her the slippers. They get married and the story ends with a bishop passing by their beautifully painted house. In the church the blacksmith has made another painting, showing the devil in hell, which villagers spit on and the women bring their frightened children up to say “Look what a kaka (poophead)” (transliterated as: Yaka kaka!)!
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka is a collection of short stories by Nikolai Gogol, written from 1831-1832. They appeared in various magazines and were published in book form when Gogol, who had spent his life in Ukraine up to the age of nineteen, was twenty two. He put his early impressions and...
by Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
.
Plot
The story opens with a description of the winter scenery of Dikanka, UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, a witch flying across the night sky and the devil stealing the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
and hiding it in his pocket, first playing with it in the sky, which no one in the village notices. Since it is the night before Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, the devil is free to roam around and torment people as he pleases, so he decides to find a way to get back at the village blacksmith, Vakula, because he paints hideous portraits of him in the church.
In the village lives a Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
named Choub, whose daughter Oksana, an exceptionally beautiful village girl loved by all the young boys, is the object of the blacksmith Vakula’s affection. Choub goes out in the night with his friend Panas to the sexton’s home gathering, suddenly noticing that the moon is not in the sky. Meanwhile, Vakula is trying to win over Oksana, who mentions that his mother, Solokha, is a witch. Choub and his friend are suddenly engulfed in a snowstorm started by the devil and lose each other. While his friend finds his way to the tavern, Choub comes upon his home, but the blacksmith, who is visiting Oksana, answers him. Choub is confused about why the blacksmith would be in his own house, and concludes its not his house. The blacksmith then sends him away.
When Vakula goes back to Oksana, she tells him she won’t marry him unless he can get for her the slippers off the Tsaritsa
Tsaritsa
Tsaritsa , formerly spelled czaritsa , is the title of a female autocratic ruler of Bulgaria or Russia, or the title of a tsar's wife....
’s feet. While their discussion is happening, Solokha is with the devil in her home, when someone knocks at the door. To hide the truth, she puts the devil in a coal sack, emptying out the contents. The mayor walks in and begins to speak with her but no sooner than he does there is another knock at the door. The mayor hides in another bag and the sexton comes into the home. While he is trying to play around with Solokha, there is another knock at the door and she hides him in another sack while Choub comes into the house. Another knock comes at the door and this time it is Vakula, and Choub goes into the sack that the sexton is already in, not knowing he is there, thinking it is something else. After his mother goes outside to speak with another visitor, the blacksmith takes the heavy bags to get them to the forge, wondering why he seems to have lost his strength temporarily, and concluding it had to do with Oksana not loving him. He comes upon Oksana, who again belittles him, and runs off saying goodbye to her, threatening to kill himself.
He decides the only way to win her is to indeed capture the slippers, so he goes to Puzaty Patsyuk, a local Zaporozhian Cossack who was believed to be in league with the devil. He goes to him and asks him to tell him the way to find the devil while Patsyuk eats magical varenyky that fly down into a basin of cream and then into his mouth, Vakula brushes one aside as it rubs cream on his closed lips. After asking Patsyuk about the devil, he remarks that he cannot give directions to the blacksmith to what is already on his back. Vakula doesn’t understand until he puts down the sacks and the devil hops onto his back. Vakula tricks the devil into thinking he will obey him, then grabs his tail and threatens to use the sign of the cross
Sign of the cross
The Sign of the Cross , or crossing oneself, is a ritual hand motion made by members of many branches of Christianity, often accompanied by spoken or mental recitation of a trinitarian formula....
until it agrees to help.
Fearing the cross, the devil takes him into the sky en route to St. Petersburg, leaving the sacks behind. A group of locals begin to take the bags and discover the men inside, while Vakula goes to find the Tsaritsa. He is amazed by the sites of the city, and has the devil (who shrinks into his pocket) transport him into the palace, where he meets up with a few Zaporozhian Cossacks who are meeting her (i.e., Catherine the Great). When she comes to greet them, the blacksmith appeals to her and glorifies her slippers, which she finds amusing and agrees to give to him.
In the meantime Oksana gets upset because the villagers have been passing around the rumor that Vakula has killed himself. She knows that Vakula, a good Christian, would not do this, and that night she falls deeply in love with him. She is delighted to see him return and agrees to marry him even before he shows her the slippers. They get married and the story ends with a bishop passing by their beautifully painted house. In the church the blacksmith has made another painting, showing the devil in hell, which villagers spit on and the women bring their frightened children up to say “Look what a kaka (poophead)” (transliterated as: Yaka kaka!)!
Adaptations
- Vakula the SmithVakula the SmithVakula the Smith , is an opera in 3 acts, 8 scenes, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, his Opus 14. The libretto was written by Yakov Polonsky and is based on Nikolai Gogol's story Christmas Eve . It was written for composer Alexander Serov, who died in 1871 leaving only fragments of an opera on the subject...
(1874 opera by Pyotr Tchaikovsky) - Christmas EveChristmas Eve (opera)Christmas Eve , is an opera in four acts with music and libretto by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Composed between 1894 and 1895, Rimsky-Korsakov based his opera on a short story, "Christmas Eve", from Nikolay Gogol's Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka...
(1895 opera by Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
) - The Night Before Christmas (1913 film)The Night Before Christmas (1913 film)The Night Before Christmas is a 1913 silent film made in the Russian Empire by Ladislas Starevich, based on the tale of the same name by Nikolai Gogol...
- The Night Before Christmas (1951 film)The Night Before Christmas (1951 film)The Night Before Christmas is a 1951 Soviet animated film directed by the Brumberg sisters and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow. The film is based on Nikolai Gogol's story The Night Before Christmas....
- The Night Before Christmas http://www.animator.ru/db/?ver=eng&p=show_film&fid=1814