20/12/2025
The New Year gathering of the Association of Russian Compatriots in Nepal (ARCN) at the Russian House in Kathmandu turned into a warm family celebration where compatriots, their children and friends came together to see off the outgoing year and feel a touch of “winter” on the rooftop of the world.
The celebration opened with a short sketch from everyday life: on an improvised stage Baba Yaga and Snegurochka met and performed a “modern” New Year story about how people celebrate the holiday today – including here in Nepal, at the foot of the Himalayas. The guests learned what kind of “snowmen” appear in a place where real snow is rarely seen, and that in Nepal snowmen are made mostly only in the high‑mountain border areas. The mini‑performance organically wove in the motifs of “Dedmandu” – a magical delivery of letters and presents for children, the whole “group” searching for sel roti, and the image of Grandfather Nepalovich Morozov, who comes «where the mountains are high and the snow is deep, where Everest looks at the world from afar».
After the theatrical opening, the celebration continued with games and contests for children and adults, dancing and a shared New Year table that the guests filled with homemade treats. Father Frost walked slowly into the hall, joked, asked questions and invited the children to the tree one by one – calling them by name, with a short remark or good wish. Each child recited a poem, sang a line from a song or simply hugged the holiday guest and then received a present, while the audience applauded, and with every child the feeling of celebration grew stronger.
The Association of Russian Compatriots in Nepal and the Russian House became a space where Russian‑speaking families could not only celebrate the holiday, but also strengthen horizontal ties, introduce their children to New Year traditions and bring new people into the community’s life. The event showed that a shared celebration combining theatre, a family table and surprises for children remains one of the most effective tools for uniting the diaspora and maintaining cultural identity in Nepal.