Holidays / Праздники

Russia Day has been celebrated since 1992 and marks the anniversary of the the Russian Republic (RSFSR)'s declaration of its autonomy from the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union was on the brink of collapse in 1990, its central republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), or what we think of as Russia today, declared sovereignty. The document declaring the RSFSR's sovereignty also introduced the new name, Russian Federation.

On June 12, 1991, Boris Yeltsin was elected the first president of Russia. He declared the date a national holiday, which he called "Day of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Russia." The holiday was renamed Russia Day in 2002.

The holiday is celebrated with a day off work, parades, concerts, fireworks, and other events. Buildings are decorated with red, white, and blue, the colors of the Russian flag.

In 2004, there was a military parade on Red Square in the center of Moscow. Representatives from Russia's 89 regions, dressed in national costumes, alongside Russian military personnel, presented significant moments in Russian history to onlookers.

However, according to Russia Beyond the Headlines, many Russians do not know the correct name for the holiday or what it celebrates. Some Russians do not celebrate Russia Day at all. A Russian Life article lays out three major reasons for this rejection of the Russian Federation's "birthday." Those who long for a return to the Soviet Union, generally of the older generations, associate Russia Day with the collapse of the USSR. Others see the holiday as a gross exhibition of patriotism and politics. Finally, some Russians feel that the celebration of the Russian Federation ignores centuries of Russian history and believe the young post-Soviet nation does not merit a holiday of its own.

International Women's Day is not just a holiday in Russia. It is celebrated, you guessed it, internationally. The holiday began in the late 19th century with the women's labor movement in the West. The Soviets adopted the holiday shortly after the October 1917 Revolution, and used the holiday to celebrate the achievements of working women in the Soviet Union.

International Women's Day in the Soviet Union saw the printing of special postcards and postage stamps, celebrating women for overfulfilling work norms or other work achievements, and  meetings in Soviet factories to discuss both female Soviet successes in industry as well as the situation of women in other countries.

It became a public holiday in 1966 and an official day off work for women. Celebrations at work moved to March 7 and March 8 was spent at home with family. The men of the household would give flowers and sweets and cook lunch for everyone, with help from the children. 

What does International Women's Day look like in Russia today? Think a combination of Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, but aimed at celebrating all women, not just moms and significant others. Men treat the women in their lives to flowers, small gifts, and cards. The Russian president makes a brief speech on television, praising Russian women and congratulating them on the day. Flowers are given out to women on the street, on airplanes, and on the metro.

Flowers are the most popular gift to give on Women's Day in Russia. Tulips, a symbol of spring, are the most common flower given. Yellow mimosa flowers are also associated with the day. According to Russia Beyond the Headlines, Vladimir Lenin's wife Nadezhda Krupskaya allegedly suggested giving mimosa flowers on March 8 since other flowers would be hard to find at the still cold time of year in Russia. 

Women activists use the day for feminist demonstrations focusing on topics like gender-based discrimination and the wage gap.

Easter, or Paskha (Пасха) in Russian, is an important religious holiday for Christians around the world. The major religion in Russia is Russian Orthodoxy, which uses the Julian calendar. Easter falls later in the year according to this calendar. Like Easter in the West, the actual date shifts. Russian Orthodox Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon. Easter is preceded by the 40 days of Lent during which people are to abstain from meat and dairy. Good Friday is a day of total abstinence from food or drink until evening. 

The week before Easter, known as Holy Week, is when preparations for the holiday take place. People thoroughly clean their homes before "Clean Thursday," when Russians decorate Easter eggs. The Saturday before Easter, people cook traditional Easter foods, which are often blessed at church during an evening service. 

On Easter morning most Russians will have a breakfast consisting of eggs, kulich (кулич) bread, and paskha (пасха) cake.  Russians will visit family, bring decorated eggs and traditional Easter foods to one another, and greet each other with the phrase "Christ is risen!” to which the response is “He is truly risen!” In the images below you can see that the paskha cake has the orthodox cross on one side and the letters X B on the other. XB stands for христос воскресе (Christ is risen).

Eggs have been a traditional symbol of life and rebirth in many cultures for centuries. Russians, like other countries, celebrates the resurrection of Christ by decorating eggs. People will often dye eggs by boiling them in water with things like onion skin (for red) and tumeric (for yellow).  Learn more about the different ways to decorate eggs in Russia and Eastern Europe.

People play traditional Easter games with their eggs. They try to crack each other's eggs, or roll them on the floor in a sort of race. Whoever's egg reaches the end without cracking wins.

May Day, celebrated on the first of May, is a national holiday in Russia. Schools and many businesses are closed in observance on both the first and second of May.

May 1 became International Labor Day after the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, Illinois on May 1, 1886. In early May 1886, demonstrations were held in Chicago and other US cities demanding an eight-hour working day. On May 4, violence erupted leaving four workers and seven police officers dead as well as many people wounded. in 1889, the Second Socialist International, which met in Paris, designated May 1 as Labor Day in honor of those lost in the Haymarket Affair. 

Labor Day was not a holiday in Russia until Soviet Times. Workers would still participate in demonstrations, demanding an eight-hour work day and the end of autocracy in Russia. They rallied despite threats of dismissal from their jobs. By 1914, Labor Day demonstrations became violent. After the Revolution of 1917, Labor Day changed from an illegal holiday to one of the most important state-sanctioned celebrations of the year. Russia Beyond the Headlines notes that "In the early years, it was a military day of solidarity, during which socialist Moscow called upon workers of the whole world to unite and revolt against capitalism." The call for an international workers' revolt eventually faded and the Soviets celebrated May Day with large parades of workers holding banners with portraits of political leaders.

The holiday lost its political meaning after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. People enjoy the day off by spending it with family and friends. People often visit their dachas (small cabins outside the city), have cookouts, and work in their gardens. Some people give tulips and lilacs or other flowers as gifts to women, and parents will often give balloons and ice cream to children. Though it has become more a celebration of spring's arrival than a celebration of labor and workers, you can still see small demonstrations by members of the Communist Party and banners that read "Peace! Labor! May!" in more mainstream celebrations.

Victory Day, celebrated on May 9th, commemorates the Soviet Victory over the Nazis in1945 at the end of WWII, or what Russians call the Great Patriotic War (Великая отечественная война), during which over 8 million Soviet soldiers lost their lives. People get the day off work, there is a large military-style parade in Moscow, veterans receive carnations, and there is a fireworks display in the evening. People will also visit the graves of those who perished in th war.

V-E (Victory in Europe) Day is celebrated on May 7th in West, on the day of the Nazi surrender in Reims, France. Russians commemorate the day that the Nazis surrendered in Soviet-controlled Berlin the next day. By the time the German Instrument of Surrender document was signed in Berlin, it was May 9th Moscow time. A parade celebrating the victory was held in Moscow on June 24, 1945, which you can watch here.

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev declared Victory Day an official holiday in 1965 and held military parades on jubilee years. The last Soviet Victory Day parade was held in 1990. The early '90s saw a break in the May 9th parades, which finally returned in 1995 under Russian president Boris Yeltsin for the 50th anniversary.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made the Victory Day military parade an annual event, showing off the country's military hardware. The president also gives a "Victory Speech" which is broadcasted on television. The demonstrations embody a sense of unity and togetherness. Most Russians enjoy the parade, though some do not like the display of military might on a day related to grief, loss, and memory.

Previously, there was no one day that all school classes started. In 1984, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declared September 1st the official first day of school and a state holiday. Russian students and their parents bring bouquets of flowers to teachers to wish them a happy upcoming school year. People wear white ribbons. Girls will wear them in their hair.

The Russian head of state traditionally wishes teachers and students a happy Knowledge Day. The holiday also marks the end of the summer and the beginning of Autumn. 

Usually there is the линейка, which is the word for ruler. First graders will line up, with seniors behind them to guide them into school life. A senior boy will lift a first grade girl onto his shoulders and she will ring a bell, what is called the First Bell (первый звонок), which officially starts the school year.

Teachers and students will gather to listen to poetry and music. Head teachers will give inspirational speeches. The school then holds open classes for students an parents. It is not a full day of school, and people can head home after the celebration is over. 

The Orthodox church uses the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Therefore, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th instead of December 25th.

In pre-Soviet Russia, the holiday season, knows as svyatki, was a time for parties, caroling, dancing, fortunetelling, and mummery. Mummery was when people would dress in costumes, most often animal costumes, and go house to house for small treats. Similarly, children and young people would go house to house singing carols in exchange for small treats. People attended church services on Christmas Eve and Christmas day was a time of celebration and food.

The last day of the Christmas holidays is Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, which celebrates Christ's baptism. After church, the priest leads people to a nearby river or lake, breaks a hole in the ice, and blesses the water. Some people bathe in the freezing water. Check out photos of Epiphany ice-baths here.

The Soviet Union was a secular state, therefore, the religious holiday of Christmas was abolished in 1929. In 1935, the Soviets moved a lot of Christmas traditions to the celebration of New Year's, a secular holiday. You can learn more about Russian New Year's celebrations below. When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, the religious celebration of Christmas returned.

People attend church on January 6, and return home for a traditional Christmas Eve meal. Devout families will return to church for an all-night vigil. On Christmas morning, people will head to church for the Morning Divine Liturgy of the Nativity. Decorating trees, gift giving, and Santa are all part of the new year's celebration.

New Year's is probably the biggest celebration in Russia. People host parties, dress up, give and receive gifts, prepare special foods, and decorate trees.

Grandfather Frost, known as Ded Moroz (Дед Мороз) and his granddaughter the Snow Maiden, Snegurochka (Снегурочка), bring New Year's gifts to children like Santa Claus does in the United States for Christmas. Ded Moroz traditionally wears a long red, blue, or white fur coat, carries a staff, and travels in a troika. He is often accompanied by forest animals. The Russian Ded Moroz lives in Veliky Ustug (Великий Устюг). In 2005, it was decided that his birthday was November 18th, which is the date that weather data established is usually the first major frost in Veliky Ustug. You can now visit Ded Moroz's estate in Veliky Ustug.

Russians also decorate trees for New Year's, though the tradition was originally associated with Christmas. Emperor Peter the Great, interested in all things Western, decided Russia would celebrate the new year on Jan 1 and had the cities decorated with fir and pine trees and branches. In the 19th century Tsar Nicholas I’s wife, Aleksandra Feodorovna, who was originally Prussian, brought a tree inside as was traditional in her country. By late 1800s decorated trees indoors and gift giving became common traditions.

These decorated trees made a comeback in the 1930s, but tied to New Year's instead of Christmas. They were topped with a red star. Today, Russians decorate trees for New Year's. View a variety of photos of Soviet New Year's trees.

Every New Year's the Russian president gives an address on TV. There is a fireworks display on Red Square and the Russian national anthem plays at midnight after the Kremlin clock chimes midnight. A popular movie to watch at New Year’s is Irony of Fate (Ирония судьбы). Russia-1 also airs Little Blue Light Special which includes music and variety acts. On New Year's Eve Russians drink wine to send off the old year and drink champagne to welcome the new year. To wish someone a happy New Year in Russian say "s nOvym gOdom! (с новым годом)."