New Year’s Day was declared a state holiday by the Law on State Holidays in 1955.
In the early years of socialism, Santa Claus (Deda Mraz) was unwelcome and condemned as a Bolshevik-clerical creation. He was associated with “Ded Moroz,” the King of Winter, which has pagan origins.
The Women’s Antifascist Front, an organization responsible, among other things, for taking care of children, was tasked with promoting New Year’s Day as a new, primarily children’s holiday towards the end of 1948. December 31st was proclaimed the Day of Children’s Joy.
The main character associated with this holiday was supposed to be a girl in traditional folk attire (as the personification of the New Year) carrying a bright future or an elderly Partisan symbolizing tradition and revolution. However, with the inevitable modernization and liberalization of society, which occurred parallel to the rise of department stores and consumerism, Santa Claus’s figure won popularity and became a more frequent guest at New Year’s celebrations in companies, schools, kindergartens, and homes.
The older generations remember well – on December 31st, stores remained open until 2 AM, and people waited in long lines to buy bread, knowing that nothing would be open in the following days. In the evening, a humorous New Year’s Eve news program was broadcast on TV, and if people chose to wait for the New Year at home, the TV was not turned off until morning. Combined programs were aired from all studios of JRT (Yugoslav Radio Television). And after midnight, a movie was always shown.
Those who decided to go out for the New Year’s Eve celebration went to cultural centers, military homes, factories, and dancing was an essential part of the evening. Elegant dinners, attractive dresses, and suits were prepared months in advance.
On the first day of the New Year, after the Vienna concert, movies were shown all day, and the news program (Dnevnik) invariably covered celebrations in all major cities, along with a report on how President Tito spent that night.
Year after year, if he was not abroad, President Tito organized grand celebrations for his closest associates, family, and friends. He also attended mass public events, took walks through city streets, and even rode public transportation, providing an opportunity for those who were not his closest associates to personally congratulate him on the New Year.
