HOLIDAY LEFTOVERS
B’klyn trees for ‘Russian’ Christmas
The Big Apple’s Christmas-tree vendors don’t go home on Dec. 26, they just head south — south Brooklyn, that is.
Yuletide capitalism booms after Christmas Day in Brighton Beach because the neighborhood’s Russian Orthodox Christians observe Jesus’ birth on Jan. 7.
Tree dealers hawk their postseason goods from vans and even bodegas in the Little Odessa section of the community.
“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 vendor told The Brooklyn Paper, which first reported the story.
To earn the last-chance cash, the self-proclaimed Tree Men stake out spots on major thoroughfares, such as Coney Island Avenue, and offer bargainbasement prices for the sometimes dried-out evergreens, vendors said.
Most of the merchants sell the trees for between $25 and $35 — far less than the hundreds of dollars Manhattan vendors charged before Christmas.
It’s a largely untapped but growing market, and in-the-loop vendors don’t want their secret to get out, one Yule-tree salesman said.
“This year, more people are selling trees down here,” said Ribhi Daoud, 42, who hails from Jerusalem and sells Christmas trees outside his shop, Ave Z Food Market near East 17th Street.
“They are just people in vans. They come and set up anywhere because the police won’t ticket around the holidays,” he fumed.
“They just pull up and start selling,” he griped. “There were two guys right across the street. That hurt my business.”
Members of the Russian Orthodox faith follow the old Julian calendar, which marks Christmas Day as Jan. 7, reli- gious leaders said.
“We celebrate Christmas in January. It’s a very good Russian tradition,” said Priest Alexey Bykon of New Martyrs & Confessors of Russia Church in neighboring Bath Beach. “Long ago, there was a Russian ruler who started the tradition of decorating a tree to celebrate.
“I am still seeing tree vendors here,” Bykon, who lives in Brighton Beach, said Tuesday.
A visit to the neighborhood is one way to squeeze in a few extra days of Christmas, one merchant told The Brooklyn Paper.
“I just think it’s fantastic to be able to come out here after Christmas is over,” the merchant said.
“For some people, the season ends, but to come out here and kind of extend it for another five days — people are still saying, ‘Merry Christmas!’ They are saying, ‘ S novym
godom!’ which means ‘Happy New Year’ in Russian.”