Understanding her holidays

[jone]

Because, after their schism in 1054, the Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian one, introduced later in 1582 and adopted by most.

I only use the Juliain for fries:

[jone]

[mendeleyev]

Easter weekend has arrived in the Eastern part of the world. We call Easter Пасха ("Paskha") the Greek term for "great night" of passion via the death and resurrection of Christ. The Russian term for Sunday, воскресенье, literally means "resurrection," and is worth celebrating 52 days of every year.

We greet each other during this time, in person and even on the phone, with Христос воскрес! ("Kh-rees-TOHs Vahs-krYEHs") meaning "Christ is risen." The common reply is Воистину воскрес! ("Vah-EEs-tee-nu Vahs-krYEHs") which means "Truly, He has risen."

Other common terms that you may hear:

Black Friday
White Saturday


 

[SANDRO43]

We call Easter Пасха ("Paskha") the Greek term for "great night" of passion via the death and resurrection of Christ.

In turn from Aramaic פסחא (Pesach) and Hebrew פֶּסַח (Pesah): Passover, commemorating when the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt .

[ML]

We are extremely busy with working on outdoor garden, but Ochka still insists that she must take time to make paska.

I told her it wasn't worth it  because it takes so much time and hard work.

Didn't tell her that really I don't much care for it because it is so bland and rather dry.  I would rather have a chocolate cake.

[AC]

Didn't tell her that really I don't much care for it because it is so bland and rather dry.  I would rather have a chocolate cake.

Youth and beauty are fleeting.  The ability to make a yummy chocolate cake lasts forever.   

[Larry1]

Today is, in addition to Orthodox Easter, also Cosmonautics day, celebrating Yuri Gagarin's first space flight.

Cosmonautics Day, celebrated on April 12, commemorates the first ever manned flight into outer space by one of the world's most timeless pioneers: Yury Gagarin.

In November 1957, Laika, a stray dog from Moscow, was launched into space in a 508-kilogram Sputnik-2 capsule and became the first animal to orbit the Earth. Laika's flight proved living beings could survive the conditions of outer space, but could humans undergo a similar test of endurance and live to tell the tale?

Roughly three years after Laika's mission, on Apr. 12, 1961, the 27-year-old Russian cosmonaut Yury Gagarin followed suit and made history as the first man to orbit the Earth. His flight lasted 108 minutes from launch to landing...

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/multimedia/photogalleries/yury-gagarin--first-man-in-space/5687.html

[2tallbill]

I am sure Mendy has filled everyone in on all the Easter details.
Easter at the 2tallbill household and a few photos.

First thing you gotta learn is the greeting and the response.
The greeting is

Христос воскресе! = Khristos vaskrese!  = Christ is risen or Christ is resurrected

The response is 
Воистину воскресе! = Vaistinu voskrese! = Really risen or really resurrected.

[Boethius]

Воистину воскресе! = Vaistinu voskrese! = Really risen or really resurrected.

He has truly risen.

[msmobyone]

IF he has risen .. can he stop Orthodox Christians killing each other, please

[AC]

Great photos Bill, thanks for sharing.   

[ML]

I just called Ochka in to read the greeting phrases and look at the offerings baked up by Bill's wife.

She had also tried to get me to say the appropriate responses, but I can't ever remember what to say and can't say it well anyway.

Remember I had told Ochka it takes much to much time to make the Paska.

Now she was feeling bad that she didn't do all the trimmings, etc.

Said she was probably a bad wife.

But we kept much too busy with yard and garden work this weekend.

[Hybrid]

It was much of the same in my house over the weekend.

This is one of the cakes my wife produced

[mendeleyev]

Thanks to each of you for keeping this moving forward. I have been preoccupied with events in Russia and appreciate each of your contributions!

Yes, he is truly risen!

[ML]

Mendy, where is your spiel about the current Trinity days?

[mendeleyev]

What do we call the first of September in the FSU?



There are at least three titles:

1 сентября - yes, that is the date, but "1 September" is also used to name the first day of school because that is the traditional day when school is back in session.




Днём знаний - naturally, it is the "day of Knowledge," another name used for the first day of the school year.

первым Днём Осени - and, it is the first day of autumn.


When children arrive for school, a special ceremony, usually outdoors, greets the first day of school. The children are dressed up and carry flowers for their teachers. This called the "first bell."

Like this...

[mendeleyev]

The children are so cute when all dressed up, and first year students seem to be filled with wonder. Parents attend this first day, and despite what you read on agency websites about absent fathers, many Dads turn out too.

The tradition includes an older student, usually male, who carries a first grade student, typically a little girl, on his shoulders. She rings the "first bell" to begin school.

[jone]

Mendy,

I was going to write on this for my blog from Peter, but you beat me to it.  The visuals today, while we were out, were both charming and memorable.  Everyone has a camera.  In our building there were three little girls, all dressed up, all with their hair exactly the same.  Long and divided into two pony tails.  What a treat to see.

There are some things, here in the FSU, that are held higher in importance than in the West.  The Day of Knowledge, here in Russia, is wonderful to behold.

[Larry1]

What do we call the first of September in the FSU?

 "1 September" is also used to name the first day of school because that is the traditional day when school is back in session.

Днём знаний - naturally, it is the "day of Knowledge," another name used for the first day of the school year...

When children arrive for school, a special ceremony, usually outdoors, greets the first day of school. The children are dressed up and carry flowers for their teachers. This called the "first bell."

A few years ago I was in Kiev on September 1. I stepped out on the balcony of my apartment and noticed a family walking on the sidewalk, dressed up. At first I thought they must be going to church, but it was Saturday, and then I remembered a previous thread Mendy wrote on First Bell. Reading RWD, particularly Mendy's posts, adds to your experience traveling to FSU.

[mendeleyev]

Jone, thank you, but please do post about it on your St P blog. I, and others, would enjoy seeing that experience through your eyes.

[mendeleyev]

Thank you, Larry.

[Chicagoguy]

For full holiday effect some Russians can choose to "celebrate" beginning Christmas Eve through the old New Year's day and get in a full 28 days   

I have known a few.

[mendeleyev]

Each city has a its own day of celebration in Eastern Europe.

Over the weekend we celebrated the "Day of Moscow" which was officially on 5 September but the city had events on the 5th and 6th. Supposedly 10 million showed up, not hard to do in a city with a 12+ million population. Looking a various crowds, however, I had to wonder at the police count because I have seen larger political protests which officials seem to site as 50,000 or so. Russian math, apparently.

To be sure, there were plenty of celebrations, and good numbers showed up.


(Photo: City of Moscow press pool)

Mrs. M and I were fortunate to be able to spend some time inside the Kremlin. We never cease to be impressed at the palaces and their splendid interiors. For her, the memories call up her childhood history lessons of Romanov families. For American journalists the memories are of Ronald and Nancy Reagan greeted by Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev in a neglected and run-down Kremlin Palace that had lost its luster during Soviet times, of Bill Clinton dancing and drinking with Yeltsin, George Bush's gaping jaw drop upon entry to the same, but renovated Grand Palace that had unimpressed the Reagans, and of Barrack and Michelle Obama shocking Medvedev and Putin by showing up with their children in tow--and a large support staff that included a food taster who checked everything before Obama would eat--a huge insult to the Russians.

(Putin had wanted to respect Obama in those days, but the presence of children at high level diplomatic trips is not something he respects, any more than his opinion of Lukashenko who travels to the Kremlin with his son who sometimes irritates Putin's dogs.)

So, happy 868th birthday, Moscow! You are a grand old lady who has seen a lot of history pass through your gates.

Some of the more "fun" events included a massive book fair, yes Russians still love to read, at VDNH. It was also the VDNH exhibition grounds that hosted a "Rabbit Breeding" event. Curious, but Russians do raise rabbits at their dachas. That was free to children, but 300 rubles for accompanying adults. Of special note to my artist wife was the free weekend admission to the Moscow Museum of Modern Art.

On Red Square there were booths of all sorts, and a grand celebration of the city that naturally featured a speech by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.


(Photo: City of Moscow press pool)

In this photo he is seated with Governor of the Moscow Region Sergei Vorobyov and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill to his left, and Prime Minister Medvedev, and Speaker of the Senate Valentina Matviyenko to the right.


Photo: City of Moscow press pool.

Although the city had dispatched planes with chemicals that were supposed to disperse clouds, Mother Nature had a mind of her own. It was a rainy weekend.


Photo: Ilya Varlamov.

On Sunday evening, the annual Spasskaya Tower International Music Festival opened on Red Square, and naturally this year's theme included tributes to Moscow.
 

Photo: City of Moscow press pool.

This is the 8th annual Spasskaya Tower International festival. On Saturday the various bands from all over the globe had given free concerts in city parks, etc. The Spasskaya Tower is the "Saviour Tower" and the main clocktower of the Kremlin.

[mendeleyev]

Angel Day/день ангела





Some readers may not be familiar with the term день ангела (angel day), but there is an outstanding chance that your lady has one. For example, if she has a name like Natalia (Natasha), Olga, Tatyana (Yana), Kseniya, Hope, Elena, Svetlana, Yuliya (Julia/Julie), Irina, Larisa, Anna, Lidia, Alyona, Valentina, Anzhelika, Ludmila, Anastasiya, Maria, Alexandra, Oksana, Nina, Tamara, Veronika, Ekaterina (Katherine/Kate), Victoria, Elizaveta (Elizabeth), Iraida or Zinaida, Izabella, Kristina (Christina), Olesya, Sofia (Sophia), Polina (Pauline), Yaroslava, and others, your lady bears the name of an Orthodox saint.

For many, the name is tied to a specific Orthodox saint based on the date of birth. Not everyone follows this strictly, but in many cases the name of the child is the name of the saint whose memory is celebrated on the 8th day after the child's birth.





Some girls are given these names simply because the parents liked the name, or a favourite relative had the name. In Soviet times the practice continued, without the children being baptized, but they still received the name of the saint due to generations of Russia tradition. Boys are often given Saint names, and thus have Angel Days, as well.

Some are very proud of their connection to a particular saint, others deny an connection to faith in regards to their name, and then there are some who have changed their perspective on the question. One such famous Russian comes to mind. His first name is Vladimir, which is the name of a very revered Russian saint, and for years this contemporary Vladimir denied any connection to the church and faith.

Ah, but politics makes for strange bedfellows, and these days that same boy named Vladimir, whose family name is Putin, is only too happy to declare to the Russian public that he was baptized as a child. His father was a member of the local Communist party via his factory in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and baptism would have created problems for the family. So, the new story is that his mother arranged a secret baptism at church while his father was at work.

This story raises many questions, especially among those who know how such things worked back then, and especially in regards to entering the ranks of the KGB later. The public revelation of this secret baptism just happened to coincide with preparations for the 2012 presidential campaign. However, one must also admit that this particular Vladimir is no stranger in church, knows the traditions intimately, and maintains a small chapel at the presidential residence outside Moscow.

The story may be true, although there appear to be no original baptismal records, not surprising given the level of persecution in those days, and further spectulative since Putin's parents are deceased. Putin, like his father, was an admitted atheist for a very long time. But, two crisis points in his life triggered a change, according to his biography. One of those events was a car accident that nearly claimed the life of his wife, Ludmila, whom he has since divorced.

There should be no problem asking if your lady has an Angel Day. If she does, it is a great thing to know and to congratulate her each year. If she does not observe it, at least you are assured that you have not ignored a day of importance.

[SANDRO43]

Some readers may not be familiar with the term день ангела (angel day)

Only because we call it name-day, nom-jour, onomastico, dia del santo, dia onomástico, Namenstag, etc. ?