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Russian Holidays: Difference between revisions
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{{
[[
'''New Year'''
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New Year in Russia has an equivalent of Christmas trees. A New Year tree is always called a fir tree (yolka) even when another conifer trees is used (like a pine). Kids believe that Ded Moroz (the Russian Santa; literally "Grandfather Frost") puts presents under the New Year tree on the Januray 1 night, when they are asleep.
Ded Moroz is usually accompanied by his granddaughter, Snegurochka (Snow Maiden). He carries a staff and a bag of presents. His garments are blue, sometimes red or in some rare cases golden. He travels in a sleigh, carried by trio of white horses.
Some parents hire Ded Moroz impersonators to deliver gifts to their children personally, in exchange for a small poem recited by heart, usually New Year themed. Every children's New Year festival, usually carried out in schools and kindergartens, also has a Ded Moroz and Snegurochka.
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'''International Women's Day'''
March 8. Basically, the reverse of the above: men give gifts to women instead of the other way round. Generally not the same ones. Historically has ties to the international labor movement, hence the name, but it has long lost any political meaning.
'''May 1'''
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May 9, the day Nazi Germany surrendered to the Soviet Union in 1945. (Taking into account the timezone issue.) It is celebrated with gifts to WWII veterans, a military parade on the Red Square (a tradition that began with the Victory Parade of 1945, which actually took place on June 24), and war documentaries displacing pretty much everything else on TV.
* In Russian Orthodox Church 9th of May is The Day of Mourning the Fallen. The Victory Day is actually a [[Bittersweet Ending|bittersweet holiday]].
* The traditional parade is not really certain event. It ''wasn't'' held in Soviet Union until [[The Seventies]], and [[The New Russia]] seriously scaled it down, with the vehicle part not being held until the [[
'''Russia Day'''
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June 12. A relatively new and obscure holiday, corresponding to the day (in 1990) when the RSFSR announced that its laws take precedence over Union ones, which was taken as a declaration of sovereignty. (Russia still remained part of the Soviet Union until its dissolution a year and a half later.) Known as Independence Day until 1994, ignoring the fact that Russia has always been independent throughout its history (except for the Mongol yoke).
* The Independence Day referred specifically to independence of ''Russia'' from the ''Soviet Union'', or at least the autonomy of the former within the latter. While in the Soviet times the terms "Russia" and "Soviet Union" were never used interchangeably like they were used in the West, the RSFSR had less autonomy than the other republics, since it did not have its own branch of the Communist Party and was controlled directly by the all-Union Party. So, in a sense, Russia was not independent of the USSR, just like England is not independent of the UK.
* Since many people in Russia feel [[The Great Politics Mess
'''Unity Day'''
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There are many, but these probably deserve at least a brief mention. All unofficial holidays are working days, except for Easter, which is always a Sunday.
* Old New Year (January 13) i.e. New Year in Julian calendar.
* Tatjana's day (January 25) - a day of students.
** It corresponds to the Feast of St. Tatiana, the Orthodox saint on whose day the Moscow University was founded. Thus she became seen as the patron saint first of the University, and then the students in general.
** Also, by this day the exams session of the fall semester generally ends and the winter vacations start in most universities, so students celebrate it as their day of liberation from the oppression of teachers.
* St. Valentine's Day (February 14): Its celebration is still relatively new in Russia, so whatever traditions exist are borrowed from the West, such as heart-shaped postcards. It has a certain significance due to immediately preceding both "gender holidays", February 23 and March 8.
* Fool's Day (April, 1) . The day of jokes, sometimes pretty scary.
* Easter, or Paskha (first Sunday after... ah, forget it, [
* The week before Lent (also the seventh ''before'' Easter - a Western translation would be the old Western feast of Septuagesioma) is "Maslenitsa", (the last day of) which is an occasion to eat sweet pancakes and all kinds of other food. Was often a non-religious family "holiday" (read: excuse to eat pancakes) in Soviet times. Has since become somewhat more public; in particular, [[Das|this troper]] has fond memories of it being "practiced" (again, as an excuse to eat gratuitous amounts of sweet pancakes) at his school when he was in first grade, though that seems to be far from universal.
* Ivan Kupala (July 7): Named after a weird amalgamation of John the Baptist and a pagan Slavic deity, although the origin is forgotten nowadays anyway, as well as the "meaning" of the single weird tradition that defines this holiday. It involves the youth running around shirtless and pouring water at each other.
** Actually, the holiday is more or less forgotten too.
** It's still celebrated by the folklore buffs and neo-pagans.
* Cities also celebrates a city day, a kind of city birthday.
* Many job's days. Only a few are really wide known, like teacher's day (September 1)
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** Watching ''Irony of Fate'' on New Year's Eve, often on repeat, has become something of a tradition among many Russian households.
* The 2007 film ''1612'' aims to explain the historical background of Unity Day, although it is only loosely based on history.
* [[
** His another story, ''[[The Night Before Christmas]]'', [[Exactly What It Says
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Useful Notes/Russia]]
[[Category:Russian Holidays]]
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