The biggest Russian holiday
is New Year (1 January). During the Soviet
time people were not allowed to celebrate
Christmas (Russian Christmas is 7 January),
and New Year was the most cheerful holiday.
The next holiday is the Old New Year (13
January). Russians had a different calendar
before February 1918. The difference between
Julian (the old Russian) and Gregorian (European)
calendars was 13 days, and after the Soviet
government adopted Gregorian calendar Russians
started to celebrate many holidays twice:
according to the new style and the old one.
"Men's Day" is 23 February,
it is a public holiday called "The
Homeland Defender's Day". All men in
Russia are liable for call-up (including
reservists), so they all are celebrities.
On this day women usually give men small
gifts.
"Women's Day"
is 8 March. On this day men give women gifts,
usually flowers. Men also are supposed to
do all the housework, this is pretty nice
- at least once a year women can take a
break and forget about all those dishes,
cooking, kids, take a magazine and relax
on the coach...
1 April is non-official "the
Day of Laugh". People tell jokes to
each other, newspapers and TV publish funny
stories and jokes. The motto of this day:
Do not trust anybody on 1 April ("Pervoye
aprelya - nikomu ne veryu").
1 May is the Day of Labor. During
Soviet time there were huge demonstrations
on this day, as everybody was obliged to
show his loyalty to the state; now only
communists organize meetings on this date.
9 May - Victory Day. 2-day public
holiday (8-9 May), the day when Nazi Germany
capitulated in 1945 after 4-year war with
Soviet Union and other countries. Soviet
Union lost 20 million people in the war.
The minute of silence announced on the Central
TV in the memory of deceased at 9:00 P.M.,
and fireworks thereafter.
12 June - the Independence Day. It's
an official holiday but Russians are not
used to it yet. They spend this day on their
"dachas" - small plots in countryside
where they plant some vegetables.
1 September is the Day of Knowledge
- it's the beginning of a school year. Children
go to schools with flowers for teachers,
there are meetings before the classes start
- nice and exciting.
7 November - the Day of October revolution
(25 October according to the old calendar).
It's still an official holiday in Russia
though there is not such a huge celebration
as it used to be during the Soviet era.
12 December - The Constitution Day. This
day the first Constitution of the Russian
Federation was adopted in 1993 (previous
Constitutions were all Soviet Union's).
It is a recent public holiday, and there
are no special customs connected with this
day.
Russians LOVE to celebrate. They adopted
the Western holidays such as St. Valentine,
Catholic Christmas (they celebrate Christmas
twice - Catholic and Orthodox) and Halloween.
They also appreciate Chinese New Year, Muslim
and Jewish holidays, as Russians are very
tolerant to other religions.
When there is a public holiday, the weekend
is shifted towards the holiday: if the holiday
is on Thursday, Sunday will be the working
day and Friday the day off. The same when
the public holiday is on Tuesday: Saturday
becomes the working day and Monday the day
off. If the holiday is on Wednesday, there
will be no long weekend.
There are quite a few long weekends every
year, which many Russians use to travel,
locally and abroad, the others spend holidays
on their "dachas" (country-side
houses).
