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Russian Holidays
Lubov's birthday is on the 20 of April.
Don't forget to make her feel special this day - send her flowers and send a birthday greeting!
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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, the Day of Army. 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, this is pretty nice - at least once a year women can have some rest and forget about dishes, cooking, kids, take a magazine and relax on the coach...
1st of April is the non-official "Day of Laughter". People tell jokes to each other, newspapers and TV publish funny stories and jokes. The motto of this day: Do not trust anyone on the 1st of April ("Pervoye aprelya - nikomu ne veryu").
1st of May is Labor Day. During the Soviet era 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.
12th of June - Day of Russia. 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.
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 - nice and exciting.
7th of November - 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.
Russians love to celebrate. They adopted the Western holidays such as St. Valentines Day, 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.
From time immemorial each folk holiday in Russia had its own, peculiar ceremonies, traditions, songs. The origin of many holidays doesn't often relate to the Christian holidays, as far as the source of these ancient ceremonies lies in the remote past, the times of paganism. Christianity brought an end to the pagan ceremonies. However, many traditions were preserved by the people in the forms of merry entertainment and festive occasions, some of them were even adapted to the Christian ceremonies and traditions.
Maslyanitsa
By the end of winter, a “Pancake Week” comes right before Lent, it is also called a "cheese week". The Christian historians say that those were really "mad" days in the past. People wore funny masks and costumes, sometimes, men wore women clothing and vice a versa. Such masquerade gave start to merry festival, when nice food and a lot of wine was consumed. A big man of straw was burned as the final act of saying goodbye to the already passed winter. Bare fist fighting was another fun event, which was used to warm up on those cold winter days. Tsars and Grand Princes used to find a lot of fun in bare fist fighting. Today, special performances are held on Pancake Week. Through the whole week people cook pancakes served with honey, caviar, fresh cream and butter. In Russian, “Pancake Week” is called Maslyanitsa, this word means "butter" in English. It means that many different foods, including butter, may be eaten before the time when Lent comes. On the whole, the Pancake Week may be segmented into three parts, i.e. meeting of Maslyanitsa on Monday, broad Maslyanitsa, or the peak of the festive occasion, on Thursday, and the last day, the good-bye day, which comes on Sunday morning.
Holiday Greetings
Below are some basic Russian phrases (written in Cyrillic, transliteration, practical transcription) with their English equivalents.
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English
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Russian
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Transliteration
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Pronunciation
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Happy Birthday!
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Pronunciation
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S dnem rozhdeniya!
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S dn'OM rah-ZHDE-n'ia!
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Merry Christmas!
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Счастливого рождества!
C рождеством!
Весёлого рождества!
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Schastlivogo rozhdestva!
S rozhdestvom!
Vesyologo rozhdestva!
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shchis-LEE-vah-vah razhdee-STVAH!
srah-zhdee-STVOHM!
vee-S'O-lah-vah rah-zhdee-STVAH!
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Happy New Year!
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С Новым годом!
Счастливого Нового года!
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S Novym godom!
Schastlivogo Novogo goda!
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SNO-vim GO-dahm!
shchis-LEE-vah-vah NO-vah-vah GO-dah!
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My sincere greetings with ...
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От всей души поздравляю с ...
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Ot vsej dushi pozdravlyayu s ...
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Aht fsehy doo-SHI pahz-drahv-L'A-yoo s ...
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...New Year!
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...Новым Годом!
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...Novym Godom!
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...SNO-vim GO-dahm!
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...Christmas!
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...Рождеством!
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...Rozhdestvom!
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...rah-zhdee-STVOHM!
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I wish you ...
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Желаю тебе/вам ...
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Zhelayu tebe/vam ...
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zheh-LA-yoo teh-BEH/vahm ...
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... happiness.
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... счастья.
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... schast'ya.
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... SHCHAST'-yah
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... good luck.
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... удачи.
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... udachi.
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... oo-DA-chee!
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... good health.
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... здоровья.
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... zdorov'ya
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... zda-ROHV'-yah!
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May all your dreams come true.
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Пусть сбудутся все твои/ваши мечты!
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Pust' sbudutsya vse tvoi/vashi mechty!
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poost' ZBOO-doo-tsa fseh tva-EE/VA-shi mehch-TI!
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I wish you all the best.
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Желаю всего хорошего.
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Zhelayu vsego horoshego.
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zheh-LA-yoo fseh-VO ha-RO-sheh-va!
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(I wish you) Happiness and health!
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Счастья и здоровья!
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Schast'ya i zdorov'ya!
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SHCHAST'-yah ee zda-ROHV'-yah!
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