Holidays in Russia (3)
There are many
national holidays in Russia, when people all over the country do
not work and have special celebrations. The major holidays are:
New Year's Day, Women's Day, May Day, Victory Day, and
Independence Day.
The first holiday
of the year is New Year's Day. People see the new year in at
midnight on the 31st of December. They greet the new year with
champagne and listen to the Kremlin chimes beating 12 o'clock.
There are lots of
New Year traditions in Russia. In every home there is a New Year
tree glittering with coloured lights and decorations. Children
always wait for Father Frost to come and give them a present.
Many people consider New Year's Day to be a family holiday. But
the young prefer to have New Year parties of their own.
A renewed holiday
in our country is Christmas. It is celebrated on the 7th of
January. It's a religious holiday and a lot of people go to
church services on that day.Non-official
"Men's Day" is the 23d of February, it is a public holiday
called "The Homeland Defenders 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.
On the 8th of March we celebrate Women's Day when men are
supposed to do everything about the house and cook all the
meals. 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 a coach.
The 1st of May is
the Day of Labour. 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.The greatest
national holiday in our country is Victory Day. On the 9th of
May, 1945, the Soviet Army and its allies completely defeated
the German fascists and the Second World War and the Great
Patriotic War ended. A magnificent memorial on Poklonnaya Gora
has been built to commemorate the Victory. Many veterans take
part in the military parade and lay wreaths on the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier. Radio and television broadcast popular war
songs. A lot of guests from different
countries of the . world come to Moscow to participate in the
celebrations.
Independence Day
is anew holiday in our country. On the 12th of June, 1992, the
first President of Russia was elected.
The 1st of
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.
The 12th of
December — the Constitution Day. This day the first Constitution
of the Russian Federation was adopted in 1993 (previous
Constitutions were all Soviet Unions).
Russians love to
celebrate. We adopted the Western holidays such as St.
Valentine, and Halloween. We also appreciate Chinese New Year,
Muslim and Jewish holidays, as Russians are very tolerant to
other religions.
We also celebrate
Easter and lots of professional holidays which are not public
holidays and banks, offices and schools do not close.