MOSCOW entertainments

New Year (the night from December 31st to January 01st)
It is one of the most widely celebrated holidays in Russia. January 01st is the start of the decade of public holidays. On the New Year holiday it is customary to decorate the premises, to dress the New Year Tree and to give gifts to each other. Jack Frost (literally – “Grandfather Frost”) is the symbol of New Year. For Russians this holiday is a family holiday, and at midnight everyone seeks to reunite with his family. At 11:55 p.m. on all Russian TV channels the head of state addresses his greeting to nation.

Christmas (January 07th)
The Russian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 07th (which according to Julian calendar is December 25th). Divine services are held in all churches and cathedrals. In the meantime the certain customs that happened to be in the heathendom Russia are sometimes wrongly associated with the traditions of Christian Russia. So some people are used to tell fortunes before Christmas. Girls’ fortunetelling on future marriage is especially popular.

Epiphany (January 19th according to Gregorian calendar)
On the night of Epiphany it is usual to bless the water in church. According to folk-belief Epiphany is connected with the beginning of especially hard “Epiphany” frosts. Bathing is ice-holes are practiced on this day.

International Women’s Day (March 08th)
Officially established as early as in Soviet times the women’s holiday has become a nation-wide celebrated holiday. This is the day when men congratulate women and give them flowers.

Cheese Fare Week (the week before Lent according to Orthodox calendar)
In old time the Cheese Fair Week was connected with the day of spring solstice. That was the holiday of winter end and spring beginning. After Russia embraced Christianity the holiday was timed to the beginning of Lent. On the last day of Cheese Fair Week a scarecrow symbolizing winter is burnt in public. Cheerful open-air merrymaking, concerts, and prize drawing are held in the city squares. Throughout all Cheese Fair Week it is usual to bake pancakes and to go on a visit to each other.

Easter
It is one of the most important Orthodox holidays, the holiday of Easter Sunday. This is the last miracle of Jesus Christ that was revealed to people – the Resurrection and the ascension to heaven. Before Easter the Orthodox Christians withstand Lent, the longest and the strictest fasting, eating the food of vegetable origin only. On Easter it is usual to bake Easter cakes and to color chicken eggs into red color.
Orthodox believers greet each other with an exclamation “Khristos voskrese!” (literally means “Christ is risen!”), and reply with “Voistinu voskrese! (literally means “Indeed He is risen!”), and then give each other a threefold kiss.

Victory Day (May 09th)
Victory Day is an officially and nationally respected holiday celebrated in honor of the victory over the Hitlerite Germany in World War II, 1945. A military parade is held on this day in the Red Square. The relatives of soldiers who died in this war come to the tombs of their loved ones. Veterans put on their orders and medals and accept congratulations.

Moscow City Holiday (first Sunday of September)
This is the day when Muscovites celebrate their city’s birthday (Moscow was founded by Yuri Dolgorukiy in 1147). Moscow is decorated with flags. Festive concerts are held in city squares. The city revives after a vacation and holidays period.

Sky-Borne Troops Day (August 02nd)
This is the professional holiday of the Russian army elite subdivisions – the Sky-Borne Troops (VDV), whom people call troopers (“desantnik”). You can very often meet cheerful guys dressed in sailor’s striped vests (military uniform of troopers) and blue berets singing songs under guitar and sometimes bathing in city fountains. The celebration of the Troopers Day coincides with the Orthodox Holiday of Elijah the Prophet, the patron of military men. Every year mass media forewarns on the future celebrations, and call the townspeople and metropolitan visitors to exercise caution in city streets.

Ivan Kupala (the night from June 23rd to 24th)
This is an ancient holiday that came to modern Russia from the heathendom Russia. The holiday is mainly celebrated in Russian villages by night open-air merrymaking and nude bathing in basins. According to peoples superstition a flower of fern blossoms out this night, and for the one who finds it “all the treasures, and earthy luxuries and riches” will be opened.