Festivals in Russia

Like the whole world, Russian people love celebrating their holidays. Celebrations in Russia reflect many aspects of its history, culture and traditions. Some Russian festivities are official public holidays and government offices, schools and banks have their days off.  These are New Year (January, 1^st – 5^th), Orthodox Christmas (January, 7^th), Defender of the Motherland Day (February, 23^rd), International Women’s Day (March, 8^th), Spring and Labour Day (May, 1^st), Victory Day (May, 9^th), Russia Day (June, 12^th), National Unity Day (November, 4^th) and Constitution Day (December, 12^th).

The Russians usually celebrate holidays with plenty of food and presents. The most popular holiday is New Year’s Day. Russian people decorate fir-trees, cook delicious meals, make fireworks. All children wait for Father Frost and his granddaughter Snegurochka to get presents from them. On Christmas people visit their relatives and friends and tell fortunes.

Defender of the Motherland Day is also known as Men’s Day because all Russian men and boys, active servicemen and war veterans get warm greetings and special presents from their families, friends and colleagues. International Women’s Day has been celebrated in Russia since 1913 and it is the day for all mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and girlfriends. Spring and Labour Day appeared in Russia on the 1^st of May in 1890 after the strike of Chicago workers who demanded an 8-hour working day.

Victory Day is a sacred and dramatic holiday for Russia. The whole country commemorates millions of victims of the Great Patriotic war. Russia Day became a national holiday after the Declaration of Sovereignty was adopted in 1991.  And National Unity Day commemorates the liberation of Moscow from Polish occupation in 1612 and it is celebrated with parades. Constitution Day is a celebration of the adoption of the Russian Federation Constitution in 1993.

Unofficial Russian holidays are also observed. There are religious and foreign celebrations among them:  Old New Year (January, 14^th), St. Valentine’s Day (February, 14^th), Orthodox Easter Sunday, Maslenitsa, Cosmonaut’s Day (April, 12^th), Halloween (October, 30^th) and Mothering  Sunday (in November).  

Some Russians celebrate the New Year according to the Julian calendar that was used in Russia before 1918 and they call this holiday Old New Year. Easter is always celebrated with painted eggs and church services. Maslenitsa is a holiday of meeting the Russian spring with such rituals as eating pancakes and burning a dummy of winter.

Maslenitsa

There are many holidays and festivals in Russia. But Maslenitsa is the most original Russian festival. It lasts the whole week (from Monday till Sunday) and includes many events. Furthermore, according to archeological evidence Maslenitsa may be the oldest surviving Slavic holiday.

Maslenitsa originated from pagan times. This holiday symbolized the beginning of spring. The Slavs welcomed the Sun and made pancakes. They believed that a hot pancake is a symbol of the sun. Later Maslenitsa became a Christian holiday. The festival starts right before the Great Lent, so it is the last chance to bask in worldly delights. During the Maslenitsa week people enjoy almost any food, except meat.

Historically the festival was devided in two parts. The first three days were called a Small Maslenitsa. During this time people worked, cleaned, cooked pancakes and prepared for the main events of Maslenitsa. On Thursday the Wide Maslenitsa came and brought a lot of amazing entertainments. Everybody took off work and spent the day ridding on horses, sledding, fighting snowballs and etc. Of course, all people also ate pancakes with caviar, sour cream, jam or others fillings. On the last day of Maslenitsa people burnt the Lady Maslenitsa (a doll of straw and rags). In this way the Slavic said goodbye to winter and greeted a warm spring.

Nowadays Maslenitsa is not celebrated so wide. But the main treat of Maslenitsa (different pancakes) and tradition to burn a dummy have survived to this day. So, come to Russia and join to the celebration of Maslenitsa!

HALLOWEEN

The celebration of All Saints Day or just Halloween takes place on October 31st. The tradition of Halloween began in the fifth century B.C. This day the Irish Celts celebrated their New Year at that time, because they organized their year according to the agricultural calendar and marked the transition from one year to the next on October 31.

In the year 835 AD. the Roman Catholic Church made November 1st a church holiday to honour all the saints. This day is called All Saint's Day. Since that time many years have passed. Some traditions are gone, new traditions appeared. I am going to tell you about the most popular customs of Halloween.

The most known custom is the tradition of dressing.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, people placed bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter their home.

Fire has always played an important part in Halloween. Fire was very important to the Celts as it was to all early people. In the old days people lit bonfires to ward away evil spirits and in some places they used to jump over the fire to bring good luck. Today, we light candles in pumpkin and then put them outside our homes to ward of evil spirits.

Trick or Treat was first known as Mischief Night. Halloween was a time for making mischief — many parts of England still recognize this date as Mischief Night — when children would knock on doors demanding a treat (Trick or Treat) and people would disguise themselves as witches or ghosts, in order to obtain food and money from householders.

Halloween was sometimes called Nut Crack Night or Snap Apple Night in England. Families would sit by the fire and tell stories while they ate apples and nuts.