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Archive for the ‘Russian Events’ Category
Posted in Merry Christmas
Декабрь 25th, 2009 3 Comments
...to those Christians who live by the Gregorian calendar. I am Orthodox and our church lives by the Julian calendar, so our Christmas is celebrated on January 7. The Christmas is attended by carol-singing and fortunetelling (usually about the future groom). I will tell more about it later.
Before the 1917 Revolution we officially used Julian calendar and our Christmas came on December 25 too. In 1918 adopted the Gregorian calendar (which we call “new style”) and the next day after Jan 1, 1918 was Jan 14, 1918. But the church refused to do that and continued celebrating the religious holidays by the Julian calendar (“old style”) because it was used in Christ's time. Besides, Apostolic Cannons prescript not to celebrate the day of Holy Easter at the same time with Judaists and the “old style” never violates that rule.
Tags: Being A Guest In Someone’s House In Russia
Ноябрь 7th, 2009 No Comments
For everyday occasions, it’s not customary in Russia to issue invitations in writing or well in advance. Russians tend to make invitations further in advance for big celebrations such as a wedding, house-warming, big anniversary if it is going to be celebrated at a restaurant, then you may get a beautiful card with the invitation. Most often Russians issue an invitation in person or over the phone 3-4 days in advance. Usually Russians invite for a weekend or evening to come to their home or datcha (summer cottage).
Gifts
It’s not necessary to ask what you can bring when going to someone’s house. If you ask a Russian, most likely the answer will be “Nothing at all!”, but it doesn’t mean you should go empty-handed. If there’s no special occasion and you have just been invited to someone’s house, you should bring the hostess some flowers or a box of candies. The host usually receives a bottle of good wine that he will put on the served table. It’s polite to bring something for the hosts’ children, for example candies or toys.
Russian Wedding
Сентябрь 28th, 2009 8 Comments
Traditional Russian wedding has a few stages. On the wedding day the groom and his friends (usually the witness) come to the place where his bride lives. They are met by the bride’s female friends and female witness and the ceremony of the ransom of the bride begins and it ends at the bride’s apartment door or the room door. During the ceremony while the groom goes upstairs the witness and friends ask him questions, riddles, give tasks (dancing, singing, chanting a poem, etc). For example:
- Each stair the groom steps he may have to call his bride loving names. To make it harder each step may have a letter which the loving name should start from.
Russian Picnic
Июль 23rd, 2009 No Comments
While Americans eat barbecue, Russians cook shashlyks. Shashlyks are pieces of meat of fish put on skewers and cooked on a camp fire, actually on coal when there is almost no flame but a lot of steam. Cooking shashlyks is a whole ceremony where the most important thing is the process rather than a result. What you need to cook it are a campfire, steam and a good company.
