Wondering where those ubiquitous sidewalk Christmas-tree vendors go on Dec. 26? The answer is Brighton Beach.
Dealers pining to shed their leftover stock (and pick up some extra green) head down to “Little Odessa,” where the Tannenbaum trade is still booming after Christmas Day, because members of the Russian Orthodox faith celebrate Jesus’ birth on Jan. 7, one vendor said.
“We’re not even here before Christmas, we sell mostly in Manhattan. Most of what we are doing here is selling off our surplus. We’ve been busy every day,” one conifer vendor said on Dec. 30, declining to give his name.
The area is largely an untapped market — so much so that several pine peddlers asked that this story not be published for fear fellow fir traders would catch on and sap their business.
“Every year, it gets tougher and tougher for us,” another said. “We believe a story like this is going to hurt us.”
Dealers are notoriously territorial and jealously guard their turf from competition. Two Downtown tree merchants got into a verbal bough-t in front of holiday shoppers over fir fiefdoms last year.
Members of the Russian Orthodox faith follow the old Julian Calendar which marks Christmas Day as Jan. 7. While Gregorian Calendar-following Americans are stringing lights in October, Russians don’t consider it Christmastime until all the Westerners’ gifts are unwrapped, according to the Rev. Wiaczeslaw Krawczuk from the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Lord in Williamsburg.
“Our tradition is Christmas starts Christmastime,” he said. “Supposed to buy the tree on Jan. 6 and light [it on] Jan. 6.”
And sellers in Brighton Beach acknowledge their evergreens may not be their greenest by early January, so they are willing to cut prices, another said.
“People are more likely to get a good deal after the 25th,” he said.
Locals are fine with that, according to one celebrant who waits until Boxing Day to pick up his Balsam in order to save paper.
“Usually after normal Christmas, because it’s the best price for me,” said Igor Kamynin from Bensonhurst.
And for some merchants, the extended selling season is a great excuse to keep the holiday spirit alive, one said.
“I just think it’s fantastic to be able to come out here after Christmas is over,” said one worker who declined to give his name. “For some people the season ends, but to come out here and kind of extend it for another five days and have people back in that Christmas spirit — people are still saying ‘Merry Christmas!’ — they are saying ‘S novym godom!’ which means ‘Happy New Year’ in Russian. You learn a lot about the culture too.”
