Existential experiences on New Year's Eve and Christmas: between hope and the futility of time Introduction: The chronological turning point as an existential challenge The period of New Year's and Christmas holidays represents a unique cultural and psychological phenomenon, highlighting a complex of deep existential experiences. These holidays, marking the end of one temporal cycle and the beginning of another, act as a powerful trigger for reflection, leading the person from the automatism of everyday life to questions of meaning, finitude, loneliness, and the authenticity of existence. Socially prescribed joy and family idyll often conflict with internal states, giving rise to the phenomenon of "holiday depression" or "existential melancholy". 1. The phenomenon of "summing up" and the experience of finitude New Year's Eve is traditionally associated with the ritual of retrospection. A person is forced to conduct an existential audit of the year lived: The feeling of wasted time ("Fever of the outgoing year"). Analysis of unfulfilled plans, missed opportunities, unfulfilled promises to oneself gives rise to a sense of guilt, regret, and existential anxiety (Angst), described by Kierkegaard. The thought "another year has passed, and I..." becomes the source of fear of "inauthentic life" (Heidegger). Confrontation with one's own limits. Expectations of society and internal ambitions clash with real achievements, exposing the gap between "ideal self" and actual position. This experience of the boundaries of one's own abilities and the time allotted for their realization. 2. The pressure of "authenticity" of the holiday and existential loneliness The holiday is sold and consumed as a ready-made scenario of happiness: a reunited family, a generous table, universal joy. This imposed cultural narrative creates existential discomfort: The gap between expectation and reality. Even a successful celebration rarely corresponds to the glossy picture, causing a sense of frustra ... Читать далее