Wrap gifts in brown paper and twine. Inside: Russian birch bark bookmarks, French wildflower seed packets, and a handwritten promise to take a nature walk together on New Year’s Day.

One of the most extreme "bare" traditions is the on Epiphany (January 19), closely tied to Christmas season. Believers cut a cross-shaped hole in frozen rivers or lakes and immerse themselves three times. This is the ultimate "bare" nature celebration—no fancy suits, just skin against icy water, symbolizing purification and rebirth.

The table was long and uncluttered: a slatted wooden plank, sanded smooth but unvarnished, its grain a map of winters. No heavy centerpieces, only a single evergreen bough laid down the middle, dotted with tiny beeswax candles in glass votives. The candles burned low and steady, their honeyed light pooling like warm tea. Each place setting was simple: a linen napkin folded plain, a porcelain plate with a thin band of cobalt, and an anonymized name card written in quick, looping Cyrillic and Latin letters — a silent nod to two tongues sharing one night.