Russian Holidays

When you're visiting Russia, it's helpful to discover the country's holidays so you can join traditions and understand culture in order to see the country in another dimension. Officially recognized Russian holidays include New Year's Eve, Christmas, Motherland Day Protector, International Women's Day, Spring and Labor Day, Day of Victory, Day of Russia and Day of Unity. Non-official Russian holidays such as Easter, Maslenitsa, Ivan Kupala and Cosmonaut Day are also celebrated.

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.

Non-official "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.

Official "Women's Day" is 8 March. On this day men give women gifts, usually flowers. Men also are supposed to do all the housework.

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).