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Feature
RUSSIA INDIA REPORT
BOOKMARKS bd.english.fom.ru Population Poll: Holidays in Russia
IN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA
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THE ECONOMIC TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2007
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Celebrations Russia enjoys a holiday season longer than most nations; how did the country get so many festivals?
Four in One
That’s how many
celebrations we pack
into our winter
holidays
Before the 1917 revolution, two of each. Thus, for the most
Russia operated according to Europhile Russians, festivities
the Julian calendar, which is begin on December 24 in cele-
some 13 days behind the more bration of the Christians'
modern Gregorian calendar. Christmas Day. After Christ-
When the Communists came to mas follows the most enthusi-
power, they celebrated accord- astically celebrated holiday of
ing to the new Georgian calen- all: New Year’s Eve. Then there
dar but the Church refused to is the Russian Orthodox Christ-
accept the new order. The mas (January 7) and, finally,
Communists, in turn, refused the Old New Year (January 13).
to accept the old Orthodox fes- Last year these festivities
tivals. The result is that, in- were made law, and December
stead of one New Year and one 30 to January 8 is now an offi-
Christmas, Russia celebrates cial state holiday. IZOSOFT.RU
Christmas characters
Time for home & travel
The most famous Russian
A Magic night for
delicacy is caviar, usually
served in cut-glass bowls. There
There is no Russian home that fashionable in the West, hand- tant responsibility, which is to
Generally speaking, the Russ- restaurants have opened; tour
is another linguistic peculiarity
would do without a Yolka made decorations are not used hand out good presents to
ian New Year is a festival that firms are now two-a-penny;
(spruce) Christmas/New in Russia. This is because the good people. And in this he is
has traditionally been cele- and dachas have been
great food
here; the word ikra means both
sturgeon caviar and the cheap-
Year’s tree. Whether real or Russian Yolka is not supposed aided by his charming niece
brated at home. Indeed, under swapped with foreign palaces.
The Russian vocabulary has
er salmon eggs. The former is
synthetic, miniscule or to demonstrate talent and per- the Snow Maiden - who, as
the old regime, all restaurants All the same, the habit of stay-
scratching the ceiling, from sonal ability, as much as to legend has it, is supposed to
were ordered to close at 10 in ing at home remains great.
All over the world, holiday
more than 50 jaw-breaking
referred to as “black caviar”,
the forests just outside show off a family’s riches. Rus- melt in spring.
the evening; while escaping Even restless Russians gener-
cooking is the last bastion
terms for those delicacies,
and the latter as “red”.
Moscow or from Scandinavian sians are obliged to break the Just as with the Santas you
abroad was only possible us- ally leave the country in the
of national resistance to
such as buzhenina, boiled salt-
Caviar is spread on but-
farms (in which case, it is not bank on toys for their Yolkas: see working at malls in Amer-
ing the Rudolf Nuriev tech- days following New Year.
globalisation. Dishes pre-
ed pork, or syrokopcheny
tered bread as a prelude to
a spruce but simply a fir tree), baubles, electric lights, bells, ica, Granddad Frost and the
nique - ie a swivel and jump Travel itself is usually in one
pared for the main holidays
orekh. No one knows what the
the New Year feast, accompa-
few Russian homes are with- snowflakes and so on. Snow Maiden entertain count-
over the Iron Curtain. of three directions. The first is
ignore the fundamentals of
term really means, especially
nied by champagne.
out one. A sister of the Euro- The director of festivities, less families all over the coun-
Whether one liked it or not, to Europe’s snow-topped
healthy eating and replace
since the misleading phrase
What Russians know as
pean or American Christmas on the other hand, is the un- try -- visiting homes on paid to
there was no choice but to sit peaks for skiing and snow-
it with tradition.
literally means “smoked nut”.
champagne is another linguistic
However, all who taste it
trap. The Iron Curtain made
tree, the Russian Yolka does, usually conservative Grandad order requests. At each home
at home. For those lovers of boarding. These tours are usu-
seem to like it immensely.
real champagne from France
however, differ in a few im- Frost. A tall old man with a Granddad Frost will be treat-
extreme adventure, there was ally the most popular; indeed, Such occasions are rare - usu-
Following in popularity are
unavailable, and the regime
portant ways. full beard, Frosty is not well ed to a drink. On New Year’s
another option - the dacha, an elite resorts such as ally once a year, on the princi-
solenya, salted or pickled veg-
never had any consideration for
First, Russians do not aim disposed to extravagance, like Eve, requests come so fast
out-of-town retreat some- Courchevel become Russian pal religious feasts in most
etables - cucumbers, toma-
brands. So a modest sparkling
to decorate the tree by Christ- throwing presents down chim- and frequent that, by 12pm,
times translated (somewhat colonies over the New Year countries. Russians celebrate
toes, wild and garden garlic,
wine was amply produced un-
mas Day, but continue to do so neys or wearing dainty hats Granddad Frost is in the kind
erroneously) as “country break. The second group of New Year’s Eve on the grand-
cabbage and so on. There are
der the name of Soviet Cham-
right up until midnight on New with jingle bells. Instead, he is of state that usually befits the
house”. The use of the word destinations are European est scale, the night to recon-
about 100 recipes. Russians
pagne. Public taste for it did
Year’s Eve. Secondly, though only aware of his most impor- Snow Maiden in spring.
“house” here presents difficul- capitals, of which Paris is cile all religions and denomi-
ties in that it suggests the most popular. The third option nations.
also love their griby (mush-
not vanish with the Communist
presence of sewerage systems is to turn winter into summer The centrepiece of a Russ-
rooms). Mushroom dishes are
ideology. Now, it is honestly la-
Presents and presidents
and water supply. and set off for Thailand, UAE, ian holiday table is a dish that
extremely sophisticated.
belled, though the words “Sovi-
From those times, much has the Maldives or - for those on has too many calories to be
Some are soaked in water for
et Champagne” still remain on
changed. A great number of tighter budgets - Egypt. - healthy, but is excellent for
several weeks to remove poi-
the label under the description
Every New Year is celebrated as to let the New Year into year: just before the Kremlin
the soul. It is called Olivier sal-
son, or else the mushrooms
“sparkling wine”.
by Russians in identical fash- their house. chimes begin to ring, there is
ad, named after its inventor,
would be something like the
New Year celebrations and
ion. Two minutes before the Third, a mass of presents not one present to speak of;
Lucien Olivier, a French chef
Japanese fugu fish. If you
dishes that go with them are
New Year, the President ap- begin to materialize under the by the time the chimes finish, The Old New Year
who lived in Moscow in the
come to Russia, try salted
shared by all Russians, though
pears on TV with a national Yelka, for kids as well as a mountain of them appears!
1860s. It is a mixture of fresh
gruzdi, milk agarics. Many
the choice of hot food is not as
address. This is a Russian tra- adults. If you find yourself cel- Russians traipse around Officially speaking, Russians which have come to represent
apples, pickled cucumbers,
people find them the best
obligatory. Everyone some-
dition - Brezhnev did it, as did ebrating New Year in a Russ- shops for a good week or two are obliged to return to work a Russian winter rite. The tra-
boiled potatoes and carrots
complement to vodka. All the
thing chooses to his taste-
Gorbachev and Yelstin, and ian family, you can be sure prior to the New Year, collect- on January 9. In reality this ditional way of eating blinys is
and hardboiled eggs, all
kinds of salted mushrooms are
New Year material pre-
Putin does it now. that a present will materialize ing presents of all descrip- rarely happens, as most peo- to spend some time outside in
chopped into very small
usually garnished with sour
pared by: Dmitri Gubin, Robb
Then, for one whole minute, for you too. tions, the average price of ple extend their already gen- the freezing cold before re-
pieces, plus canned green peas
cream.
Report (Russia Version)
the whole country watches I say the word "materialize" which has for many years erous 10 days’ leave to include turning to the warmth, down-
their television sets which are for the simple reason that been ballooning. For example, the Old New Year on January ing a shot of vodka and grab-
(I wonder where Mr Olivier
invariably broadcasting an im- every year, beginning with this year the Russian version 13. bing a pancake smeared with
obtained them in the mid-19th
T
.RU
age of the country's largest childhood, I have attempted of the Robb Report recom- This occasion will, once butter and caviar.
century), lavishly garnished
clock on the Kremlin's to monitor how presents ap- mended: a) the Zonda F - Pa- again, call for an full festive On this occasion, cham-
with mayonnaise. The salad is OSOF
served in amazing quantities.
IZ
Spasskaya tower (erected pear under the tree. The same gani sports car, b) a full-size table (if just a little less exu- pagne and presents are usual-
during the era of Catherine thing has happened to me merry-go-round or, c), a retro berant than the New New ly overlooked. Instead, this is
Many of the new rich at-
the Great). As the minute Black Swan sailing ship. As Year). Most likely, the table a day when the New Year
tempted to shift the emphasis
hand slowly approaches 12, every stocking fillers, the magazine will be cov- most definitely fades back
to pate de foie gras, but soon
everyone counts the bell recommended a vineyard in ered by bliny into the usual routine; it is a
turned back to Olivier.
chimes monotonously. South Africa, an apartment in (pancakes), time to take the decorations
Ranking next in popularity
When they ring for the Moscow and a chateau in down, brush away the fallen
is seledka pod shuboi (literally,
twelfth time, three things fol- France. pine needles and store away a
“herring in a fur coat”) - an
low automatically. mass of unwanted presents
elaborate dish with a bottom
First, the obligatory bottle in the loft.
layer of grated boiled pota-
of champagne is popped (re- From this point, only
toes, then a layer of sliced her-
cently, some sophisticates the most stubborn
ring, which underlies a layer of
have begun to open the choose to continue.
chopped hardboiled eggs and
bottle in the French There is one club in
is topped with grated boiled
manner - quietly St. Petersburg, The
beet. All this also drowns in
and without Snowstorm, which
mayonnaise to make a deli-
pomp - though stoically prolongs
cious if somewhat heavy hors-
this is the celebrations
d’oeuvre.
gener- to unheard of di-
Next come zakuski. Many
ally recog- mensions. The
languages have borrowed the
nized as club is the only
word from Russian. Translat-
wholly im- place on Earth
ed, it means a special kind of
proper). that I know of
starter. The most popular is
Second, which, every
narezka, an arrangement of
everyone day, on the
sliced meats. The word de-
shouts s stroke of mid-
rives from rezat, meaning to
novym night cracks
“cut” or “slice”. There are
godom! open the bot-
about 50 kinds of narezkas,
('Happy tles cham-
with no fewer than five served
New Year!'); pagne to celebrate
at the New Year table. Beef
some also the traditional Russ-
and pork is boiled, grilled, sim-
T
.RU
open up doors ian New Year. And no
mered, smoked or dried for
and windows, so
the purpose.
OSOF
one seems to mind. -
IZ
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