Annoying FSU habits/superstitions

[kievstar]

How long have you been with your wife?  Something does not sound right.  very few women marry men on holidays.  The odds of all her friends doing this is not normal.

[CallMeSasha]

How long have you been with your wife?  Something does not sound right.  very few women marry men on holidays.  The odds of all her friends doing this is not normal.

just over 5 years now - i'm in my early 30s and my wife is in her late 20s.

yes, i agree with you - i think her friends met their husbands via dating sites and they do not like to admit to this (why?)

the more i think of it, maybe the lying is to avoid embarrassment?

[mies]

Number one on my list of pet peeves would be wearing slippers around the apartment.. Now, I can understand having a pair of slippers at home for when your floors get dirty and you need to get something from the kitchen without ruining your socks.. But if you invite me to your home and demand that I put on a pair of slippers to walk around in, forget it!. I don't know whose feet have gone in them, so I won't wear them and if that bothers you then don't invite me anymore.. Or clean your floors next time..

There are different theories about emergence of this interesting and peculiar cultural habit in the soviet area.
One theory connects demands to wear slippers to foot-slippers fetish in FSU houses, and the biblical tradition of washing feet of a person to show them appreciation.
Another theory suggests that this symbolic ritual is meant to facilitate an exchange of bodily fluids through the sweaty feet, and is next in importance only to the ritual of sharing blood from fresh cuts or (more extreme version) - trans venous transfusion - to establish a "blood-brotherhood" - often used between communist camarades.
Younger, less traditional and more revolutionary scientists suggest that the tradition developed in the time of drastic impoverishment of Russian people in the Soviet Union and global shortage of socks in the country. Thus, guests visiting the house often wore socks with peeping toe or several toes. Moreover, quality of shoes was low, and leather was not soft enough. Thus, a guest had options of staying in uncomfortable shoes, showing their shameful torn socks, or wearing slippers kindly offered by the host. Offering slippers to the guest is equated in this case to humanitarian mission - helping the needy.  
Sociologists, politologists and PR specialists have been long studying this phenomenon too. In their works - they suggest that the ritual of offering slippers was widely used to established a hierarchy in the group. Such, the most valuable guests would get new unworn slippers, or (in other areas) - host's personal slippers would be offered to the most important guest. Good friends would be offered worn slippers without tears or big signs of wear. Less wanted or less respected guests would be getting very old slippers - with significant tear and wear signs, smelly, and not soft. Finally - the unwelcomed guests would be offered no slippers at all. This sign should clearly show the guest that since the household has slippers for all other guests yet does not have slippers for this particular person - there is no room for this person in the host's house.

Few health scientists and physicians have offered their own explanation to the ritual of offering slippers to guests. They claim that floors in soviet houses were often cold, especially during winter. While wearing winter boots in house during party makes feet extra sweaty. Hence, health scientists suggest that slippers are offered to guests with the only utilitarian purpose to make the guest feel comfortable - not too cold barefoot, and not too hot in winter boots. However, this view remains marginal in the domain of study of offering slippers to guest. Many questions still exist and should be explored in further research.
 

Sources:
Cushioned, P. Ed (1978), "How slip is the slipper?" in Annals of Symbolic Fuzzy Logic, Ch.14, All-over-Moscow-publishers, 257-99.
Hotskaya, Nataliya (2001), "Be My Guest - Hide Your Socks: On the Tradition of Offering Slippers to Guests in Urban Russia", Quarterly Journal of Slippers and Superstitions Research, Vol.69, 123-212.
Sock, Tornstad (1994), "Shall we slip?" Journal of Russian Science and Culture, Vol. VIII (3), 57-64.
 

[SANDRO43]

Many questions still exist and should be explored in further research.

Using slipper-wearing lab rats and guinea pigs ?

[OlgaH]

Till Red Revolution people usually wore galoshes over their footwear and took them off before entering home and also at the theaters and restaurants.

[youtube=425,350]01uA91OrBXM[/youtube]

[mies]

Using slipper-wearing lab rats and guinea pigs ?

if funds will allow - a series of behavioral experiments with human subjects will be conducted. 

[mies]

And last but not least, carpets with bright colored patterns haging on walls.. Nothing like a huge carpet on the wall to make you feel like a Mongolian nomadic tribe leader!.

OK, I've shown you mine, now you show me yours..

internet has answer for this question   
http://lurkmore.ru/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80

[possum]

internet has answer for this question   
http://lurkmore.ru/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80

Suddenly carpets, thousands of them!.

[Faux Pas]

Suddenly carpets, thousands of them!.

I tried to translate that page with babelfish but it wouldn't translate. I'd love to read that

But on the topic subject Possum. Can you explain to me the idea behind these wax seals on doors? Not so much an annoying habit but how can this really be useful? 

[possum]

I tried to translate that page with babelfish but it wouldn't translate. I'd love to read that

But on the topic subject Possum. Can you explain to me the idea behind these wax seals on doors? Not so much an annoying habit but how can this really be useful? 

You mean like when a crime happens and they put a wax seal on the door with a string attached to it so no one can enter the place?.

[mies]

I tried to translate that page with babelfish but it wouldn't translate. I'd love to read that

But on the topic subject Possum. Can you explain to me the idea behind these wax seals on doors? Not so much an annoying habit but how can this really be useful? 

this website is mocking people who treat their carpets/rugs as a centerpiece of their dwellings, and life in general. They like to make photos of poor quality, and carpet must be on that photo.

[possum]

Here's an example of what mies is talking about..

[Faux Pas]

You mean like when a crime happens and they put a wax seal on the door with a string attached to it so no one can enter the place?.

No not that. I noticed in municipal buildings and in the university there are these little tabs for a small wax seal so that apparently, someone can tell when the room has been entered.

this website is mocking people who treat their carpets/rugs as a centerpiece of their dwellings, and life in general. They like to make photos of poor quality, and carpet must be on that photo.

I wanted to read the page but couldn't get it translated with the online page translator. My FMIL has such a rug hanging on her wall. I ask my fiancee about it and after she giggled she told me that it was too big for the floor. I accepted her explanation but, I didn't believe it. 

I know that these rugs are a source of pride and many heirlooms but I would really like to know the history behind the practice of hanging them on the walls

[ECOCKS]

My theory is that it serves a triple purpose of decoration, insulation and sound deadening. Concrete walls don't have the best acoustics.

[OlgaH]

I know that these rugs are a source of pride and many heirlooms but I would really like to know the history behind the practice of hanging them on the walls

Even in Medieval Times the carpets were not only signs of prosperity and one of the best trophies during the Crusades but had the same purpose as ECOCKS wrote. 

A Persian carpet was always a good present for emperors and tsars... Cleopatra was wrapped inside a present for Caesar, of course it was a carpet       

[mies]

My theory is that it serves a triple purpose of decoration, insulation and sound deadening. Concrete walls don't have the best acoustics.

absolutely!
plus it used to be an investment. similar to gold and jewelry. It was not quite ok to accumulate gold/jewelry in FSU above some minimal amount, cars were hard to get, carpet was the option.