Tag Archives: Russian holidays
Women’s Day or Femininity Day Posted by yelena on Mar 8, 2012
March 8 is a holiday in Russia, Международный женский день (International Women’s Day) or праздник Восьмого марта (the Eighth of March) or simply Женский день (Women’s Day). There will be plenty of поздравления (congratulations), цветы (flowers), поздравительные открытки (greeting cards), шоколад (chocolate) and подарки (gifts). Men will also try, if just for one day, to…
Defender of the Fatherland Day Posted by yelena on Feb 23, 2012
February 23rd is yet another holiday in Russia – День защитника Отечества (Defender of the Fatherland Day). The majority of young Russian males end up serving in the Armed Forces as призывники (draftees). Comparatively few Russian women serve in the military. Besides, women have their own holiday on March 8th. For all these reasons, February…
Time to Visit Your Тёща Posted by yelena on Feb 21, 2012
Don’t take this song (or this post for that matter) very seriously. Not all husbands experience intense dislike of their mothers-in-law and not all mothers-in-law can’t stand their sons-in-law. This week Russians celebrate the festival of Масленица (Maslenitsa). We wrote a bit about it on this blog before in this post, this one and this…
Out With the New, In With the Old Posted by yelena on Jan 13, 2012
What are your plans for tomorrow, Saturday the 14th of January? Better cancel them and instead celebrate старый Новый год (the old New Year). Today, January the 13th is yet another the New Year’s Eve. Yes, it’s another chance to finish last year’s unfinished business, to set goals and make promises, and to start afresh…
What to Do on Christmas Eve Posted by yelena on Jan 6, 2012
‘Twas the night before Christmas… when the devil stole the moon, two drunken Cossacks lost their way in a snowstorm, a village blacksmith spoke with a Russian tsarina and a young peasant girl got her wish. Since this is the night before Christmas in Russia (remember, Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7) as…
How to Decorate the New Year’s Tree Posted by yelena on Dec 21, 2011
I don’t know about you, but конец декабря (the end of December) is always the busiest time for me. It’s all about getting ready for Новый Год (the New Year), мой любимый праздник (my favorite holiday). At first I wasn’t going to write about празднование Нового Года (celebrating the New Year) since we already covered…
Russian Holidays: День народного единства Posted by Natalie on Nov 9, 2011
A funny experience happened in my Russian class today, «дорогие друзья» [dear friends]. We are reading «Дама с собачкой» [The Lady with the Lapdog]. My professor said of the main character, «Гуров» [Gurov], «Он верен своей жене?» [Is he faithful to his wife?] I smiled and gave a resounding «Да, конечно» [yes, of course]…