Russian Blog
This is a blog by JustRussian about learning Russian. You will find useful tips for learning Russian, Russian courses available in London, information about Russian culture and links to websites with information for students of Russian.
Russian holidays and celebrations Part 3
By Vlada 16 January 10
More country info from a Russian tutor, or something you might find interesting but may not learn in a Russian course
In previous blog posts, I described the Russian public holidays of the first half of the year. In summer, we don’t really have any public holidays, apart from one, not a very well established one, the so-called “Day of Russia”.
The Day of Russian Independence (The Day of Russia) – the 12th of June
This is one of the “youngest” public holidays in the country. The Day of Russia, or the Day of Russian Independence, as it was first called, was established in 1994 by Boris Eltsin, the first Russian (and not Soviet!) president. Before that, Russia was one of the Soviet republics and not an independent state, but after perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union all the Soviet republics, one by one, became independent countries. So the 12th of June celebrates this significant moment in history for Russia.
Because this is a new holiday, there is no tradition of celebrating it. So most people just enjoy a day off in summer, without attaching any significance to it.
The 1st of September – “The day of Learning”
The 1st of September is traditionally the first day of the school year, for children and all students. It is not a public holiday but a high profile day in the life of the country which has a strong tradition of education. Kids come back to school (usually reluctantly!) after a three month long summer holiday, carrying bunches of flowers for their teachers. There are festive speeches and presentations, usually in the school yard in the open air, and not much learning is done. It’s a day of introduction to school life, of settling admin questions and meeting new teachers and classmates.
For college and university students it’s the beginning of the new academic year which is divided into two semesters and ends in June. For young people, this day symbolises the end of summer (everyone’s favourite season), and return to “normal life” after a long summer break. For their parents it’s the start of numerous worries related to the kids’ education. On the whole, it’s a cheerful occasion, which, paradoxically, is not looked forward to by anyone!
The day of National Reconciliation: the 4th of November
This, again, is a new holiday, the meaning of which is obscure to most people. I suspect that the real purpose of this public holiday is to fill the gap that appeared when the 7th of November (the Day of the October Socialist Revolution) was scrapped after perestroika. It used to be a huge public holiday, with a big military parade in Red Square (with the famous missiles and tanks intended to scare the rest of the world), an occasion consisting of 2 days off. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the complete change of state ideology, the communist revolution celebration was abolished. But no one wanted to lose a public holiday, so a new one had to be invented around the same time. It must have been quite tricky, because the holiday that finally replaced Revolution Day celebrates something that happened a long time ago and most people who didn’t pay much attention in history lessons do not know much about it.
According to the church calendar, the 4th of November is the day of the Kazan (a city in Russia) icon of the Virgin and it used to be a public holiday in Russia from 1649 until the communist revolution. So strictly speaking, it’s not a new holiday, but a well forgotten old one! On this day in 1612 the People’s Militia led by two civilians – a commoner Minin and a prince Pozharsky ¬ liberated Moscow from the Polish occupants who had to seized the city and put their own Tzar on the throne. The people’s militia in those days was the manifestation of the nation’s unity in the face of danger, of everyone making an effort for the country regardless of their social status, religion or age. So the new holiday, established in 2005, was called “The Day of National Unity”.
Having mentioned all these public holidays, I should mention that the most important celebration for Russians is not a public one! The most important celebration of the year, with the biggest gifts and parties, is one’s birthday. Russians get rather surprised and often disappointed when they discover birthdays are not as important in the UK. So if you deal with Russians on a personal or business level (especially a personal one), try to find out the important date and treat it as a special occasion.