The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs.[12][13] The traditional start date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' state in the north in the year 862, ruled by Varangians.[14][15] In 882, Prince Oleg of Novgorod seized Kiev, uniting the northern and southern lands of the Eastern Slavs under one authority, moving the governance center to Kiev by the end of the 10th century, and maintaining northern and southern parts with significant autonomy from each other. The state adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated as a state due to the Mongol invasions in 1237–1240. After the 13th century, Moscow emerged as a significant political and cultural force, driving the unification of Russian territories. By the end of the 15th century, many of the petty principalities around Moscow had been united with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which took full control of its own sovereignty under Ivan the Great.
Page of a Russian illuminated manuscript; 1485–1490
Russia's 160 ethnic groups speak some 100 languages.[17] According to the 2002 census, 142.6million people speak Russian, followed by Tatar with 5.3million and Ukrainian with 1.8million speakers.[18] Russian is the only official state language, but the Constitution gives the individual republics the right to make their native language co-official next to Russian.[19] Despite its wide dispersal, the Russian language is homogeneous throughout Russia. Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken Slavic language.[20] Russian belongs to the Indo-European language family and is one of the living members of the East Slavic languages; the others being Belarusian and Ukrainian (and possibly Rusyn). Written examples of Old East Slavic (Old Russian) are attested from the 10th century onwards.[21]
Over a quarter of the world's scientific literature is published in Russian. Russian is also applied as a means of coding and storage of universal knowledge—60–70% of all world information is published in the English and Russian languages.[22] The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.[citation needed]
Folklorists today consider the 1920s the Soviet Union's golden age of folklore. The struggling new government, which had to focus its efforts on establishing a new administrative system and building up the nation's backwards economy, could not be bothered with attempting to control literature, so studies of folklore thrived. There were two primary trends of folklore study during the decade: the formalist and Finnish schools. Formalism focused on the artistic form of ancient byliny and faerie tales, specifically their use of distinctive structures and poetic devices.[23] The Finnish school was concerned with connections amongst related legends of various Eastern European regions. Finnish scholars collected comparable tales from multiple locales and analyzed their similarities and differences, hoping to trace these epic stories' migration paths.[24]
Emblem of the Ministry of Culture of Russia. The image of the crowned double eagle and the central crown which is connected with the other two crowns is often used as a pictorial example of Russia's cultural nature. One crowned head looks to Europe and reflects the Western European element in Russian culture, the other looks to Asia and symbolizes the Asian Oriental element in Russia. Both are connected to a big third crown. Russian culture is connected with European and Asian cultures and was influenced by both.
Once Joseph Stalin came to power and put his first five-year plan into motion in 1928, the Soviet government began to criticize and censor folklore studies. Stalin and the Soviet regime repressed folklore, believing that it supported the old tsarist system and a capitalist economy. They saw it as a reminder of the backward Russian society that the Bolsheviks were working to surpass.[26] To keep folklore studies in check and prevent "inappropriate" ideas from spreading amongst the masses, the government created the RAPP – the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers. The RAPP specifically focused on censoring fairy tales and children's literature, believing that fantasies and "bourgeois nonsense" harmed the development of upstanding Soviet citizens. Fairy tales were removed from bookshelves and children were encouraged to read books focusing on nature and science.[27] RAPP eventually increased its levels of censorship and became the Union of Soviet Writers in 1932.[citation needed]
In order to continue researching and analyzing folklore, intellectuals needed to justify its worth to the Communist regime. Otherwise, collections of folklore, along with all other literature deemed useless for the purposes of Stalin's Five Year Plan, would be an unacceptable realm of study. In 1934, Maksim Gorky gave a speech to the Union of Soviet Writers arguing that folklore could, in fact, be consciously used to promote Communist values. Apart from expounding on the artistic value of folklore, he stressed that traditional legends and fairy tales showed ideal, community-oriented characters, which exemplified the model Soviet citizen.[28] Folklore, with many of its conflicts based on the struggles of a labor-oriented lifestyle, was relevant to Communism as it could not have existed without the direct contribution of the working classes.[29] Also, Gorky explained that folklore characters expressed high levels of optimism, and therefore could encourage readers to maintain a positive mindset, especially as their lives changed with the further development of Communism.[24]
Yuri Sokolov, the head of the folklore section of the Union of Soviet Writers also promoted the study of folklore by arguing that folklore had originally been the oral tradition of the working people, and consequently could be used to motivate and inspire collective projects amongst the present-day proletariat.[30] Characters throughout traditional Russian folktales often found themselves on a journey of self-discovery, a process that led them to value themselves not as individuals, but rather as a necessary part of a common whole. The attitudes of such legendary characters paralleled the mindset that the Soviet government wished to instill in its citizens.[31] He also pointed out the existence of many tales that showed members of the working class outsmarting their cruel masters, again working to prove folklore's value to Soviet ideology and the nation's society at large.[32] Convinced by Gorky and Sokolov's arguments, the Soviet government and the Union of Soviet Writers began collecting and evaluating folklore from across the country. The Union handpicked and recorded particular stories that, in their eyes, sufficiently promoted the collectivist spirit and showed the Soviet regime's benefits and progress. It then proceeded to redistribute copies of approved stories throughout the population. Meanwhile, local folklore centers arose in all major cities.[33] Responsible for advocating a sense of Soviet nationalism, these organizations ensured that the media published appropriate versions of Russian folktales in a systematic fashion.[24]
Apart from circulating government-approved fairy tales and byliny that already existed, during Stalin's rule authors parroting appropriate Soviet ideologies wrote Communist folktales and introduced them to the population. These contemporary folktales combined the structures and motifs of the old byliny with contemporary life in the Soviet Union. Called noviny, these new tales were considered the renaissance of the Russian epic.[34] Folklorists were called upon to teach modern folksingers the conventional style and structure of the traditional byliny. They also explained to the performers the appropriate types of Communist ideology that should be represented in the new stories and songs[35] As the performers of the day were often poorly educated, they needed to obtain a thorough understanding of Marxist ideology before they could be expected to impart folktales to the public in a manner that suited the Soviet government. Besides undergoing extensive education, many folk performers traveled throughout the nation in order to gain insight into the lives of the working class, and thus communicate their stories more effectively.[36] Due to their crucial role in spreading Communist ideals throughout the Soviet Union, eventually some of these performers became highly valued members of Soviet society. A number of them, despite their illiteracy, were even elected as members of the Union of Soviet Writers.[37]
These new Soviet fairy tales and folk songs primarily focused on the contrasts between a miserable life in old tsarist Russia and an improved one under Stalin's leadership.[38] Their characters represented identities for which Soviet citizens should strive, exemplifying the traits of the "New Soviet Man".[39] The heroes of Soviet tales were meant to portray a transformed and improved version of the average citizen, giving the reader a clear goal for an ideal community-oriented self that the future he or she was meant to become. These new folktales replaced magic with technology, and supernatural forces with Stalin.[40] Instead of receiving essential advice from a mythical being, the protagonist would be given advice from omniscient Stalin. If the character followed Stalin's divine advice, he could be assured success in all his endeavors and a complete transformation into the "New Soviet Man".[41] The villains of these contemporary fairy tales were the Whites and their leader Idolisce, "the most monstrous idol", who was the equivalent of the tsar. Descriptions of the Whites in noviny mirrored those of the Tartars in byliny.[42] In these new stories, the Whites were incompetent, stagnant capitalists, while the Soviet citizens became invincible heroes.[43]
Once Stalin died in March 1953, folklorists of the period quickly abandoned the new folktales. Written by individual authors and performers, noviny did not come from the oral traditions of the working class. Consequently, today they are considered pseudo-folklore, rather than genuine Soviet (or Russian) folklore.[44] Without any true connection to the masses, there was no reason noviny should be considered anything other than contemporary literature. Specialists decided that attempts to represent contemporary life through the structure and artistry of the ancient epics could not be considered genuine folklore.[45] Stalin's name has been omitted from the few surviving pseudo-folktales of the period.[44] Instead of considering folklore under Stalin a renaissance of the traditional Russian epic, today it is generally regarded as a period of restraint and falsehood.[citation needed]
Some Russian writers, like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, are known also as philosophers, while many more authors are known primarily for their philosophical works. Russian philosophy blossomed since the 19th century, when it was defined initially by the opposition of Westernizers, advocating Russia's following the Western political and economical models, and Slavophiles, insisting on developing Russia as a unique civilization. The latter group includes Nikolai Danilevsky and Konstantin Leontiev, the early founders of eurasianism.[citation needed]
Russia owes much of its wit to the great flexibility and richness of the Russian language, allowing for puns and unexpected associations. As with any other nation, its vast scope ranges from lewd jokes and silly word play to political satire.[citation needed]
Russian jokes, the most popular form of Russian humour, are short fictional stories or dialogues with a punch line. Russian joke culture features a series of categories with fixed and highly familiar settings and characters. Surprising effects are achieved by an endless variety of plots. Russians love jokes on topics found everywhere in the world, be it politics, spouse relations, or mothers-in-law.[citation needed]
As early as the 12th and 13th centuries Russia had its national masters who were free of all foreign influence, i. e. that of the Greeks on the one hand, and on the other hand that of the Lombard master-masons called in Andrei Georgievich to build the Uspensky (Assumption) Cathedral in the city of Vladimir. Russia's relations with the Greek world were hampered by the Mongol invasion, and it is to the isolation arising from this that we must attribute the originality of Slavo-Russian ornamentation, which has a character of its own, quite unlike the Byzantine style and the Romanesque.[citation needed]
Kremlin Tower Clock; 1913; rhodonite, silver, enamel, emeralds, sapphires; by House of Fabergé; Cleveland Museum of Art
Matryoshka doll is a Russian nesting doll. A set of Matryoshka dolls consist of a wooden figure which can be pulled apart to reveal another figure of the same sort but somewhat smaller inside. It has in turn another somewhat smaller figure inside, and so on. The number of nested figures is usually six or more. The shape is mostly cylindrical, rounded at the top for the head and tapered towards the bottom, but little else. The dolls have no extremities, (except those that are painted). The true artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be extremely elaborate. The theme is usually peasant girls in traditional dress, but can be almost anything; for instance, fairy tales or Soviet leaders.[citation needed]
Rushnyk, old traditional Russian weaving style. The patterns vary between regions, and can be found across Russian history in textiles and Russian architecture
Historical paintings depicting average Russians and their clothing
Triptych with Christ, the Virgin, and St. John the Evangelist; 1800s; pigment on wood, in cloisonné enamelled insert; overall: 7.9 x 21.9 x 2 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art (USA)
Russian icons are typically paintings on wood, often small, though some in churches and monasteries may be as large as a table top. Many religious homes in Russia have icons hanging on the wall in the krasny ugol, the "red" or "beautiful" corner (see Icon Corner). There is a rich history and elaborate religious symbolism associated with icons. In Russian churches, the nave is typically separated from the sanctuary by an iconostasis (Russian ikonostás) a wall of icons. Icon paintings in Russia attempted to help people with their prayers without idolizing the figure in the painting. The most comprehensive collection of Icon art is found at the Tretyakov Gallery.[80]
The use and making of icons entered Kievan Rus' following its conversion to Orthodox Christianity from the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in 988 AD. As a general rule, these icons strictly followed models and formulas hallowed by usage, some of which had originated in Constantinople. As time passed, the Russians—notably Andrei Rublev and Dionisius—widened the vocabulary of iconic types and styles far beyond anything found elsewhere. The personal, improvisatory and creative traditions of Western European religious art are largely lacking in Russia before the seventeenth century, when Simon Ushakov's painting became strongly influenced by religious paintings and engravings from Protestant as well as Catholic Europe.[citation needed]
In the mid-seventeenth century, changes in liturgy and practice instituted by Patriarch Nikon resulted in a split in the Russian Orthodox Church. The traditionalists, the persecuted "Old Ritualists" or "Old Believers", continued the traditional stylization of icons, while the State Church modified its practice. From that time icons began to be painted not only in the traditional stylized and nonrealistic mode, but also in a mixture of Russian stylization and Western European realism, and in a Western European manner very much like that of Catholic religious art of the time. The Stroganov movement and the icons from Nevyansk rank among the last important schools of Russian icon-painting.[citation needed]
A three-leaved fold with the image of the "Annunciation", "Trinity" and "Presentation"; the end of the 17th century; temperaon wood; 13 x 7.3cm; National Art Museum of Azerbaijan (Baku)
A lubok (plural Lubki, Cyrillic: Russian: лубо́к, лубо́чная картинка) is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories and popular tales. Lubki prints were used as decoration in houses and inns. Early examples from the late 17th and early 18th centuries were woodcuts, then engravings or etchings were typical, and from the mid-19th century lithography. They sometimes appeared in series, which might be regarded as predecessors of the modern comic strip. Cheap and simple books, similar to chapbooks,[81] which mostly consisted of pictures, are called lubok literature or (Cyrillic: Russian: лубочная литература). Both pictures and literature are commonly referred to simply as lubki. The Russian word lubok derives from lub – a special type of board that pictures were printed on.[citation needed]
Baba Yaga riding a pig and fighting the infernal Crocodile; 17th century
The sun, moon, seasons and 12 months in the form of signs of the zodiac; the end of the 17th-early 18th century
The Mice are burying the Cat; 18th century
Farnos the Red Nose (lubok depicting a pig-riding jester); 18th century
Realism came into dominance in the 19th century. The realists captured Russian identity in landscapes of wide rivers, forests, and birch clearings, as well as vigorous genre scenes and robust portraits of their contemporaries. Other artists focused on social criticism, showing the conditions of the poor and caricaturing authority; critical realism flourished under the reign of Alexander II, with some artists making the circle of human suffering their main theme. Others focused on depicting dramatic moments in Russian history. The Peredvizhniki (wanderers) group of artists broke with Russian Academy and initiated a school of art liberated from Academic restrictions. Leading realists include Ivan Shishkin, Arkhip Kuindzhi, Ivan Kramskoi, Vasily Polenov, Isaac Levitan, Vasily Surikov, Viktor Vasnetsov and Ilya Repin.[citation needed]
By the turn of the 20th century and on, many Russian artists developed their own unique styles, neither realist nor avant-garde. These include Boris Kustodiev, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Mikhail Vrubel and Nicholas Roerich. Many works by the Peredvizhniki group of artists have been highly sought after by collectors in recent years. Russian art auctions during Russian Art Week in London have increased in demand and works have been sold for record breaking prices.[citation needed]
In the 20th century many Russian artists made their careers in Western Europe, forced to emigrate by the Revolution. Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Naum Gabo and others spread their work, ideas, and the impact of Russian art globally.[citation needed]
During the Russian Revolution a movement was initiated to put all arts to service of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The instrument for this was created just days before the October Revolution, known as Proletkult, an abbreviation for "Proletarskie kulturno-prosvetitelnye organizatsii" (Proletarian Cultural and Enlightenment Organizations). A prominent theorist of this movement was Alexander Bogdanov. Initially, Narkompros (ministry of education), which was also in charge of the arts, supported Proletkult. Although Marxist in character, the Proletkult gained the disfavor of many party leaders, and by 1922 it had declined considerably. It was eventually disbanded by Stalin in 1932. De facto restrictions on what artists could paint were abandoned by the late 1980s.[citation needed]
Russian folk dance (Russian: Русский Народный Танец) can generally be broken up into two main types of dances. Khorovod (Russian: Хоровод), a circular game type dance where the participants hold hands, sing, and the action generally happens in the middle of circle, and Plyaska (Russian: Пляска or Плясовый), a circular dance for men and women that increases in diversity and tempo, according to Bob Renfield, considered to be the preeminent scholar on the topic. Other forms of Russian Folk Dance include Pereplyas (Russian: Перепляс), an all-male competitive dance, Mass Dance (Russian: Массовый пляс), an unpaired stage dance without restrictions on age or number of participants, Group Dance (Russian: Групповая пляска) a type of mass dance employs simple round-dance passages, and improvisation, and types of Quadrilles (Russian: Кадриль), originally a French dance brought to Russia in the 18th century.[82]
Ethnic Russian dances include khorovod (Russian: Хоровод), barynya (Russian: Барыня), kamarinskaya (Russian: Камаринская), kazachok (Russian: Казачок) and chechotka (Russian: Чечётка) (a tap dance in bast shoes and with a bayan).[83]Troika (Russian: Тройка) A dance with one man and two women, named after the traditional Russian carriage which is led by three horses. Bear Dance or dancing with bears (Russian: Танец С Медведем) Dates back to 907 when Great Russian Prince Oleg, in celebration of his victory over the Greeks in Kiev, had as entertainment, 16 male dancers dress as bears and four bears dress as dancers.[84][85] Dances with dancers dressed as bears are a recurring theme, as seen a recording of the Omsk Russian Folk Chorus.[86] One of the main characteristics of Russian furious dances is the vprisiadku elements.[87][88]
The original purpose of the ballet in Russia was to entertain the imperial court. The first ballet company was the Imperial School of Ballet in St. Petersburg in the 1740s. The Ballets Russes was a ballet company founded in the 1909 by Sergey Diaghilev, an enormously important figure in the Russian ballet scene. Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes' travels abroad profoundly influenced the development of dance worldwide.[98] The headquarters of his ballet company was located in Paris, France. A protégé of Diaghilev, George Balanchine, founded the New York City Ballet Company in 1948.[citation needed]
During the early 20th century, Russian ballet dancers Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky rose to fame. Soviet ballet preserved the perfected 19th century traditions,[99] and the Soviet Union's choreography schools produced one internationally famous star after another, including Maya Plisetskaya, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Mariinsky in Saint Petersburg remain famous throughout the world. Ballet from then on spread worldwide.[100]
Russia is the place where many of the earliest experiments in electronic music and noise music took place. Arseny Avraamov's magnum opus, "Symphony of the factory sirens" (composed in 1918, performed live in 1922) stood as one of the earliest experiments in noise music and a precursor to musique concrete, Avraamov was also a notable inventor in the field of earliest electronic instruments. Theremin, one of the first mass-produced electronic musical instruments, was invented by Leon Theremin in the Soviet Union before 1928. ANS was another early electronic instrument, invented in 1937 by Soviet engineer Evgeny Murzin. Other electronic instruments, invented around the same time in the Soviet Union and also by Russian emigrees, included "la croix sonore" ("a sounding cross") by Nikolai Obukhov (1929), violena (Russian: виолена) by Soviet engineer Alexander Gurov and ilston (Russian: ильстон) by Ilya Ilsarov, sonar (Russian: сонар) by Nikita Ananiev, ekvodin (Russian: экводин) by Andrei Volodin, kompanola (Russian: компанола) by Igor Simonov, and many others.
During the 1940s, new electronic instruments were invented in the Soviet Union, including "V-9" (Russian: В-9) by Andrei Volodin, emiriton (Russian: эмиритон) by Andrey Rimsky-Korsakov and A.Ivanov. Emiriton was praised by Shostakovich, and an ensemble of four emiritons toured Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1940.
In 1956, Ensemble of Electromusical Instruments (Russian: Ансамбль Электромузыкальных Инструментов), or EMI (Russian: ЭМИ) was founded by Vyacheslav Mescherin. Among many synthesizers used by EMI were theremins, electronic harps, electronic organs, ekvodin and a Soviet-made reverb unit. EMI played music reminiscent of the Westernspace-age pop.
In 1965, production of the first consumer-grade synthesizer in the Soviet Union, called "Yunost-70" (Youth-70) (Russian: Юность-70), was launched.
In 1966, Moscow Experimental Electronic Music Studio (MESEM) (Russian: МЭСЭМ) was created by Evgeny Murzin, and it was officially opened in 1967. Several notable electronic and experimental composers emerged from the studio, including Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Stanislav Kreichi, Alexander Nemtin, Sándor Kallós, Vladimir Martynov, Alfred Schnittke and one of the pioneers of new age music, Eduard Artemiev. Artemiev was among the composers, whose work laid down the foundation of trance music almost two decades later.
During the late 1960s, electronic light music ensembles emerged in the Soviet Union, among them were Ensemble Rokoko, Ensemble Elektron and various jazz ensembles. Their music was frequently transmitted by radio abroad, an effort to increase foreign tourism to the USSR.
By the early 1970s, electronic and electroacoustic instruments became a staple in Soviet estrada and VIA music. Electronic music found acceptance in the Soviet cinema, for instance it was used by Andrei Tarkovsky in "Solaris", "Mirror", "Stalker", was used in Andrei Konchalovsky's "Siberiade", but also was used in more accessible movies, such as "Diamond hand".
Among official soundtracks for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow opening and closing ceremonies was electronic "Oh Thou Sport, you are eternal progress" (Russian: О, спорт - ты вечный прогресс) from the electronic cantata "Ode to the good messenger" (Russian: Ода доброму вестнику) composed by Eduard Artemiev. The sound director for the opening ceremony, Yury Bogdanov, was another notable alumni of MESEM and author of more than 200 electronic soundtracks for Soviet movies, and numerous electronic and experimental albums.
During the Soviet times, popular music also produced a number of renowned figures, such as the two balladeers—Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava,[101] and performers such as Alla Pugacheva.[102]Jazz, even with sanctions from Soviet authorities, flourished and evolved into one of the country's most popular musical forms.[101] The Ganelin Trio have been described by critics as the greatest ensemble of free-jazz in continental Europe.[103] By the 1980s, rock music became popular across Russia, and produced bands such as Aria, Aquarium,[104]DDT,[105] and Kino.[106]Pop music in Russia has continued to flourish since the 1960s, with globally famous acts such as t.A.T.u.[107] In the recent times, Little Big, a rave band, has gained popularity in Russia and across Europe.[108] Other modern music can be found in the media, such as YouTube. For example, the song "Moscow, Moscow," is extremely popular among memes and other means of entertainment.
Russia also has a long and rich tradition of animation, which started already in the late Russian Empire times. Most of Russia's cartoon production for cinema and television was created during Soviet times, when Soyuzmultfilm studio was the largest animation producer. Soviet animators developed a great and unmatched variety of pioneering techniques and aesthetic styles, with prominent directors including Ivan Ivanov-Vano, Fyodor Khitruk and Aleksandr Tatarskiy. Soviet cartoons are still a source for many popular catch phrases, while such cartoon heroes as Russian-style Winnie-the-Pooh, cute little Cheburashka, Wolf and Hare from Nu, Pogodi! being iconic images in Russia and many surrounding countries. The traditions of Soviet animation were developed in the past decade by such directors as Aleksandr Petrov and studios like Melnitsa, along with Ivan Maximov.[citation needed]
Originating from Russian scientific community and telecommunication industries, a specific Russian culture of using the Internet has been established since the early 1990s. In the second half of the 1990s, the term Runet was coined to call the segment of Internet written or understood in the Russian language. Whereas the Internet "has no boundaries", "Russian Internet" (online communications in the Russian language) can not be localized solely to the users residing in the Russian Federation as it includes Russian-speaking people from all around the world. This segment includes millions of users in other ex-USSR countries, Israel and others abroad diasporas.[125]
With the introduction of the Web, many social and cultural events found reflections within the Russian Internet society. Various online communities formed, and the most popular one grew out of the Russian-speaking users of the California-based blogging platform LiveJournal (which was completely bought out in December 2007 by Russian firm SUP Fabrik).[126] In January 2008 a LiveJournal blog of the "3rd statesman" Sergey Mironov had appeared and he was shortly followed by the new President Dmitry Medvedev who opened a personal video blog which was later also expanded with a LiveJournal version.[citation needed]
As of late, there are scores of websites offering Russian language content including mass media, e-commerce, search engines and so on. Particularly notorious are the "Russian Hackers".[127] Russian web design studios, software and web-hosting enterprises offer a variety of services, and the results form a sort of national digital culture. E-commerce giants such as Google and Microsoft have their Russian branches. In September 2007, the national domain .ru passed the milestone of a million domain names.[128] By the end of the 2000s, VKontakte social network became the most populated in the Runet.[citation needed]
In 1957, Laika, a Soviet space dog, became the first animal to orbit the Earth, aboard Sputnik 2.[157] In 1966, Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to achieve a survivable landing on a celestial body, the Moon.[158] In 1968, Zond 5 brought the first Earthlings (two tortoises and other life forms) to arrive at and circumnavigate the Moon.[159] In 1970, Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to land on another planet, Venus.[160] In 1971, Mars 3 became the first spacecraft to land on Mars.[161]:34–60 During the same period, Lunokhod 1 became the first space exploration rover,[162] while Salyut 1 became the world's first space station.[163] Russia had 176 active satellites in space in 2021,[164] the world's third-highest.[165]
Lifestyle
Ethnic dress of Russian people
Picture of young Russian peasant women in front of traditional wooden house (ca. 1909 to 1915), taken by Prokudin-Gorskii.
Not only the minorities in Russia but the Russian culture as a whole has in the different regions of the country like in Northwest Russia, Central Russia, Southern Russia, Siberian Russia, Volga Russia, Ural Russia, Far East Russia and the Russian North Caucasus and their Oblasts own local traditions and characteristics which were developed over a long period of time through strong ethno-cultural interactions within the various groups and communities, like Slavs, Tatars and Finno-Ugrics.[166]
Traditional Russian clothes include kaftan, a cloth which Old Russia had in common with similar robes in the Ottoman Empire, Scandinavia and Persia.[167]Kosovorotka, which was over a long time of period a traditional holidays blouse worn by men.[168]Ushanka for men, which design was influenced in 17th century when in central and northern Russia a hat with earflaps called treukh was worn. Sarafan which is connected to the Middle East region and were worn in Central- and Northern regions of Old Russia. In Southern Russia burka and papaha are connected to the Cossacks which, in turn, is culturally connected to the people of the Northern Caucaus. Kokoshnik for women was primarily worn in the northern regions of Russia in the 16th to 19th centuries. Lapti and similar shoes were mostly worn by poorer members in Old Russia and northern regions where Slavic, Baltic and Finno-Ugric people lived. Valenki are traditional Russian shoes from 18th century designs which originally originated in the Great steppe, from Asian nomads.[citation needed] Russian traditional cloths and its elements still have a high priority in today's Russia, especially in pagan Slavic communities, folk festivals, Cossack communities, in modern fashion and Russian music ensembles.[citation needed]
Russia's national non-alcoholic drink is kvass,[180] and the national alcoholic drink is vodka, which was created in the nation in the 14th century.[181] The country has the world's highest vodka consumption,[182] while beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage.[183]Wine has become increasingly popular in Russia in the 21st century.[184]Tea has also been a historically popular beverage in Russia.[185]
Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism are Russia's traditional religions, deemed part of Russia's "historical heritage" in a law passed in 1997.[202] Estimates of believers widely fluctuate among sources, and some reports put the number of non-believers in Russia as high as 48-67% of the population.[203]Russian Orthodoxy is the dominant religion in Russia.[204] 95% of the registered Orthodox parishes belong to the Russian Orthodox Church while there are a number of smaller Orthodox Churches.[205] However, the vast majority of Orthodox believers do not attend church on a regular basis. Nonetheless, the church is widely respected by both believers and nonbelievers, who see it as a symbol of Russian heritage and culture.[206] Smaller Christian denominations such as Roman Catholics, Armenian Gregorians, and various Protestants exist.
Kulich is a popular variant of Russian Easter breads called Paska
The ancestors of many of today's Russians adopted Orthodox Christianity in the 10th century.[206] The 2007 International Religious Freedom Report published by the US Department of State said that approximately 100 million citizens consider themselves Russian Orthodox Christians.[207] According to a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, 63% of respondents considered themselves Russian Orthodox, 6% of respondents considered themselves Muslim and less than 1% considered themselves either Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant or Jewish. Another 12% said they believe in God, but did not practice any religion, and 16% said they are non-believers.[208]
The steppe culture of the Russian Cossacks originated from nomadic steppe people which merged with Eastern Slavic people groups into large communities. The early Cossack communities emerged in the 14th century, the first, among others, were the Don Cossacks. Other Cossack communities that have played an important role in Russia's history and culture are the Ural Cossacks, Terek Cossacks, Kuban Cossacks, Orenburg Cossacks, Volga Cossacks, Astrakhan Cossacks, Siberian Cossacks, Transbaikal Cossacks, Amur Cossacks, Ussuri Cossacks. Cossacks defended the Russian borders and expanded Russia's territory. The regions of the large Cossack communities enjoyed many freedoms in Tsarist Russia. The culture of the Cossacks became an important part of Russian culture, many Russian songs and various elements in dances and Russia's culture in general were much shaped by the Cossack communities.[209]
Russian forest culture
The forest plays a very important role in Russia's culture and history. The forest had a great influence on the characteristics of Russian people and their cultural creations. Many myths of Russian culture are closely intertwined with the forest. Various of the early Slavic and other tribes built their houses out of wood so that the forest influenced the style of Russian architecture significantly.[210][211] The handcraft Hohloma which originated in the Volga region is made out of wood and depicts numerous plants of the forest, like the berry Viburnum opulus (Russian: Калина, Kalina), flowers and leaves. Many Russian fairy tales play in the forest and fictional characters like Baba Yaga are strongly connected to Russian wood culture. The forest is also an important subject of many Russian folk songs.[212]
Strolling or walking (Russian: гулять, gulyat') is very common in the Russian society. In contrast to many western countries strolling is very common among young people in Russia. Young people often arrange just to go for a walk.[213][214] Besides the verb, the experience itself, which describes the time span of the walk, is called progulka (Russian: прогулка).[215] Walking is so important in Russian culture that gulyat' is also a synonym for "to party".[216][217][self-published source?]
Mushroom hunting and berry picking
Activities in the forest where people pick mushrooms and berries are very common in Russia. Mushrooms (Russian: грибы, griby) have been an important part of Russian folk culture at least since the 10th century and an essential part of Russian meals. There are more than 200 kinds of edible mushrooms in Russia. Mushrooms were always considered magical and so they play a prominent role in Russian fairy tales. The ability to identify and prepare edible mushrooms is often passed on from generation to generation. The mushroom hunting tradition is especially common in Slavic-speaking and Baltic countries. The berry (Russian: ягода, yagoda) also plays an important role in Russian folk culture and is often part of Russian craftsmanship, folk songs and national costumes. The cranberry was known in Europe for centuries as the "Russian berry". To pick mushrooms and berries in forests is a kind of meditation in Russia.[218][219][220][221][222]
As the Soviet Union, Russia was traditionally very strong in basketball, winning Olympic tournaments, World Championships and Eurobasket. As of 2009 they have various players in the NBA, notably Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko, and are considered as a worldwide basketball force. In 2007, Russia defeated world champions Spain to win Eurobasket 2007. Russian basketball clubs such as PBC CSKA Moscow (numerous Euroleague Champions) have also had great success in European competitions such as the Euroleague and the ULEB Cup.[citation needed]
Ice hockey
Although ice hockey was only introduced during the Soviet era, the national team soon dominated the sport internationally, winning gold at seven of the nine Olympics and 19 of the 30 World Championships they contested between 1954 and 1991. Russian players Valeri Kharlamov, Sergei Makarov, Viacheslav Fetisov and Vladislav Tretiak hold four of the six positions on the IIHF Team of the Century.[233] As with some other sports, the Russian ice hockey programme suffered after the breakup of the Soviet Union, with Russia enduring a 15-year gold medal drought. At that time many prominent Russian players made their careers in the National Hockey League (NHL). In recent years Russia has reemerged as a hockey power, winning back to back gold medals in the 2008 and 2009 World Championships, and overtaking Team Canada as the top ranked ice hockey team in the world, but then lost to Canada in the quarter-finals of the 2010 Olympics and 2010 World Junior Championship.[234] The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) was founded in 2008 as a rival of the NHL.[citation needed]
The Matryoshka doll is a recognizable symbol of Russia, while the towers of Moscow Kremlin and Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow are main Russia's architectural symbols. Cheburashka is a mascot of Russian national Olympic team. Mary, Saint Nicholas, Saint Andrew, Saint George, Saint Alexander Nevsky, Saint Sergius of Radonezh, Saint Seraphim of Sarov are Russia's patron saints. Chamomile is a flower that Russians often associate with their Motherland, while birch is a national tree. The Russian bear is an animal often associated with Russia, though this image has Western origins and Russians themselves do not consider it as a special symbol. The native Russian national personification is "Родина мать" Mother Motherland (the statue of it located on the Mamay hill "Мамаев курган" in Volgograd /former Stalingrad/), called Mother Russia at the West.[citation needed] In Russia another state symbol would be White or Silver Birch Trees or chamomile. Chamomile can be found in most places of Russia but is mostly found in the forests. Finding a chamomile can be a good sign in Russia and you could also make a headband out of it called a venok. Mostly young girls will sit outside with their friends in poorer regions and make them. You can make them out of any flower and keep them hanging in the house or wear it when outside.
Tourism in Russia has seen rapid growth since the late Soviet times, first inner tourism and then international tourism as well. Rich cultural heritage and great natural variety place Russia among the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The country contains 29 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, while many more are on UNESCO's tentative lists.[245] Major tourist routes in Russia include a travel around the Golden Ring of ancient cities, cruises on the big rivers like Volga, and long journeys on the famous Trans-Siberian Railway. Diverse regions and ethnic cultures of Russia offer many different food and souvenirs, and show a great variety of traditions, like Russian banya, Tatar Sabantuy, or Siberian shamanist rituals.[citation needed]
Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, shows a unique mix of Christian Russian and Muslim Tatar cultures. The city has registered a brand The Third Capital of Russia, though a number of other major Russian cities compete for this status, like Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod, all being major cultural centers with rich history and prominent architecture. Veliky Novgorod, Pskov and the cities of Golden Ring (Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Kostroma and others) have at best preserved the architecture and the spirit of ancient and medieval Rus', and also are among the main tourist destinations. Many old fortifications (typically Kremlins), monasteries and churches are scattered throughout Russia, forming its unique cultural landscape both in big cities and in remote areas.[citation needed]
The most famous natural tourist destination in Russia is Lake Baikal, named the Blue Eye of Siberia. This unique lake, oldest and deepest in the world, has crystal-clean waters and is surrounded by taiga-covered mountains.[citation needed]
The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' state in the north in the year 862, ruled by Varangians. In 882, Prince Oleg of Novgorod seized Kiev, uniting the northern and southern lands of the Eastern Slavs under one authority, moving the governance center to Kiev by the end of the 10th century, and maintaining northern and southern parts with significant autonomy from each other. The state adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated as a state due to the Mongol invasions in 1237–1240. After the 13th century, Moscow emerged as a significant political and cultural force, driving the unification of Russian territories. By the end of the 15th century, many of the petty principalities around Moscow had been united with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which took full control of its own sovereignty under Ivan the Great.
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world by area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen countries. It is the world's ninth-most populous country and Europe's most populous country. Russia is a highly urbanised country including 16 population centres with over a million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Moscow. Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and its cultural capital.
Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky, also spelt Volodymyr Ivanovych Vernadsky, was a Russian, Ukrainian, and Soviet mineralogist and geochemist who is considered one of the founders of geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and radiogeology. He was one of the founders and the first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Vladimir Vernadsky is most noted for his 1926 book The Biosphere in which he inadvertently worked to popularize Eduard Suess's 1875 term biosphere, by hypothesizing that life is the geological force that shapes the earth. In 1943 he was awarded the Stalin Prize. Vernadsky's portrait is depicted on the Ukrainian ₴1,000 hryvnia banknote.
The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Orthodox Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Historically, they were a semi-nomadic and semi-militarized people, who, while under the nominal suzerainty of various Eastern European states at the time, were allowed a great degree of self-governance in exchange for military service. Although numerous linguistic and religious groups came together to form the Cossacks, most of them coalesced and became East Slavic-speaking Orthodox Christians. Additionally, Cossack units were later established in Persia, notably the Persian Cossack Brigade, formed in the late 19th century with Persian troops, which played a significant role in Iran’s military and political landscape in the early 20th century.
Russians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian, the most spoken Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Orthodox Christianity, ever since the formation of the Russian identity in the Middle Ages. By total numbers, they are the largest Slavic and European nation.
Music of Russia denotes music produced from Russia and/or by Russians. Russia is a large and culturally diverse country, with many ethnic groups, each with their own locally developed music. Russian music also includes significant contributions from ethnic minorities, who populated the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and modern-day Russia. Russian music went through a long history, beginning with ritual folk songs and the sacred music of the Russian Orthodox Church. The 19th century saw the rise of highly acclaimed Russian classical music, and in the 20th century major contributions by various composers such as Igor Stravinsky as well as Soviet composers, while the modern styles of Russian popular music developed, including Russian rock, Russian hip hop and Russian pop.
The city of Moscow gradually grew around the Moscow Kremlin, beginning in the 14th century. It was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and then the Tsardom of Russia until the capital was moved to Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great. Moscow was the capital of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1918, which then became the Soviet Union, and since 1991 has served as capital of the Russian Federation.
Don Cossacks or Donians, are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host, which was either an independent or an autonomous democratic republic in present-day Southern Russia and parts of the Donbas region of Ukraine, from the end of the 16th century until 1918. As of 1992, by presidential decree of the Russian Federation, Cossacks can be enrolled on a special register. A number of Cossack communities have been reconstituted to further Cossack cultural traditions, including those of the Don Cossack Host. Don Cossacks have had a rich military tradition - they played an important part in the historical development of the Russian Empire and participated in most of its major wars.
A bylina is a type of Old Russian oral epic poem.
Ilya Yefimovich Repin was a Ukrainian-born Russian painter. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russia in the 19th century. His major works include Barge Haulers on the Volga (1873), Religious Procession in Kursk Province (1880–1883), Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan (1885); and Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (1880–1891). He is also known for the revealing portraits he made of the leading Russian literary and artistic figures of his time, including Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky, Pavel Tretyakov, and especially Leo Tolstoy, with whom he had a long friendship.
Russian folk music specifically deals with the folk music traditions of the ethnic Russian people. Russian Russian folk music is used as the basic foundation for the creation of all Russian professional music.
Mykola Ivanovych Kostomarov or Nikolai Ivanovich Kostomarov was one of the most distinguished Russian–Ukrainian historians, one of the first anti-Normanists, and the father of modern Ukrainian historiography. He was a professor of Russian history at the St. Vladimir University of Kiev and later at the St. Petersburg University, an Active State Councillor of Russia, an author of many books, including his biography of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, research on Stepan Razin, and his fundamental three-volume Russian history in the biographies of its most important figures.
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin is a 1969–2007 novel by Soviet dissident writer Vladimir Voinovich. Voinovich wrote two sequels to the novel Pretender to the Throne: The Further Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin, 1979, and A Displaced Person, 2007; together, the trilogy constitutes Voinovich's magnum opus.
Belarusians are a major ethnic group in Russia. At the census of 2010, 521,443 Russian citizens indicated Belarusian ancestry. Major Belarusian groups live in the regions of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Karelia and Siberia. Most Belarusians in Russia are migrants from modern Belarus or their descendants, while a minor part of Belarusians in Russia are indigenous.
The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721.
Saint Petersburg has always been known for its high-quality cultural life, and its best known museum is the Hermitage.
The Russian census identified that there were more than 5,864,000 Ukrainians living in Russia in 2015, representing over 4.01% of the total population of the Russian Federation and comprising the eighth-largest ethnic group. On 2022 February there were roughly 2.8 million Ukrainians who fled to Russia.
A Russian fairy tale or folktale is a fairy tale in Russian culture.
The Russian folklore, i.e., the folklore of Russian people, takes its roots in the pagan beliefs of ancient Slavs and now is represented in the Russian fairy tales. Epic Russian bylinas are also an important part of Slavic paganism. The oldest bylinas of Kievan cycle were recorded in the Russian North, especially in Karelia, where most of the Finnish national epic Kalevala was recorded as well.
The history of exploration by citizens or subjects of the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire, the Tsardom of Russia and other Russian predecessor states forms a significant part of the history of Russia as well as the history of the world. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,850 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than a ninth of Earth's landmass. In the times of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire, the country's share in the world's landmass reached 1/6. Most of these territories were first discovered by Russian explorers. Contiguous exploration in Eurasia and the building of overseas colonies in Russian America were some of the primary factors in Russian territorial expansion.
↑ Lifar, Sergei (October 1969). "The Russian Ballet in Russia and in the West". The Russian Review. 28 (4): 396–402. doi:10.2307/127159. JSTOR127159. ...and in the twentieth century Russian coreographers and performers, dis-seminating the art of ballet throughout of the world, attainted world-wide recognition.
↑ "Russia". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 31 January 2008. The inhabitants of Russia are quite diverse. Most are ethnic Russians, but there also are more than 120 other ethnic groups present, speaking many languages and following disparate religious and cultural traditions.... Russia can boast a long tradition of excellence in every aspect of the arts and sciences.
↑ "Russian Census of 2002". 4.3. Population by nationalities and knowledge of Russian; 4.4. Spreading of knowledge of languages (except Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2008.
↑ "Russian". University of Toronto. Archived from the original on 6 January 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2007.
↑ Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007. Russian language. Archived from the original on 16 December 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2007.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
↑ William B. Husband, "'Correcting Nature's Mistakes': Transforming the Environment and Soviet Children's Literature, 1828–1941", Environmental History 11 (2006): 304.
↑ Grimes Farrer, "The Soviet Folktale as an Ideological Strategy for Survival in International Business Relations", Studies in Soviet Thought 13 (1973): 55.
↑ Letopisi: Literature of Old Rus'. Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary. ed. by Oleg Tvorogov. Moscow: Prosvescheniye ("Enlightenment"), 1996. (Russian: Летописи // Литература Древней Руси. Биобиблиографический словарь / под ред. О.В. Творогова. – М.: Просвещение, 1996.)
↑ Muckle, James (1984). "Nikolay Leskov: educational journalist and imaginative writer". New Zealand Slavonic Journal. Australia and New Zealand Slavists’ Association: 81–110. JSTOR40921231.
↑ Boyd, William (3 July 2004). "A Chekhov lexicon". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2022. ...Chekhov, whatever his standing as a playwright, is quite probably the best short-story writer ever.
↑ Jarzombek, Mark M.; Prakash, Vikramaditya; Ching, Frank (2010). A Global History of Architecture 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons. p.544. ISBN978-0-470-40257-3.
↑ Norris, Gregory (1980). Stanley, Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. p.707. ISBN978-0-333-23111-1.
↑ Prokhorova, Elena, "The Man Who Made Them Laugh: Leonid Gaidai, the King of Soviet Comedy", in Beumers, Birgit (2008) A History of Russian Cinema, Berg Publishers, ISBN978-1845202156, pp. 519–542
↑ Birgit Beumers. A History of Russian Cinema. Berg Publishers (2009). ISBN978-1-84520-215-6. p. 143.
↑ "Luna 9". NASA. Retrieved 1 June 2021. Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data from the Moon's surface to Earth...
↑ Betz, Eric (19 September 2018). "The First Earthlings Around the Moon Were Two Soviet Tortoises". Discover. Retrieved 18 January 2022. ...on September 18, 1968, the Soviet Union's Zond 5 spacecraft circled the moon, ferrying the first living creatures known to have orbited another world. On board were two Russian steppe tortoises along with some worms, flies and seeds.
↑ "Lunokhod 01". NASA. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2021. The Lunokhod 1 rover was delivered to the lunar surface by the Luna 17 spacecraft and was first successful rover to operate beyond Earth.
↑ Aleshina, T. S. (Tatʹi︠a︡na Stepanovna) (2013). History of Russian costume from the eleventh to the twentieth century: from the collections of the Arsenal Museum, Leningrad, Hermitage, Leningrad, Historical Museum, Moscow, Kremlin Museums, Moscow, Pavlovsk Museum. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) (PODed.). Charlestown, MA. p.64. ISBN9780300200973. OCLC882932334.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Morales, Brumkin Fonnie; Prichep, Deena (2017). Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking. Flatiron Books. ISBN978-1-250-08760-7.
↑ Shearlaw, Maeve (21 November 2014). "Understanding Russia's obsession with mayonnaise". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2021. Mayonnaise was introduced to imperialist Russia at the turn of the 20th century and it remained a stalwart throughout Soviet times. Mass-produced and durable, it was everywhere – from workers canteens to households that didn't have an abundance of fresh food. Today the average Russian consumes 2.5kg a year, using it as everything from a salad dressing to a bread spread.
↑ "In praise of … pierogi". The Guardian. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2021. But ask Russians what pierogi resemble, and they show no hesitation. It is, of course, nothing more than Russian pelmeni, they reply.
↑ Eremeeva, Jennifer (10 February 2021). "North Meets South in Mini Golubtsy". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 5 January 2022. At the other end of Europe, the popularity in medieval France of pigeon and foie gras wrapped en paupiettes with cabbage leaves may well have migrated east — or at least its association with pigeon may have. That seems to be the origin of Polish goląbki, Ukrainian holubtsi, and Russian golubtsy, all versions of the word pigeon.
↑ Cloake, Felicity (5 August 2020). "How to make the perfect Russian salad". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2022. ...if Russian salad is an orchestra of flavours and textures, then each player deserves to be heard.
↑ "Global Snack: Herring under a fur coat". DW News. Deutsche Welle. 12 April 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2022. Shuba, or dressed herring, fills many Russian hearts with nostalgia. Also known as "herring under a fur coat", it was a traditional New Year's Eve dish in the Soviet era - and is still a much loved snack.
↑ Ferdman, Roberto A. (23 February 2014). "Map: Where the world's biggest vodka drinkers are". Quartz. Retrieved 18 May 2021. The Russians drink some 17.3 shots of vodka per month on average, according to data from Euromonitor. That's easily the most in the world.
↑ Russia Wine Market Overview. Foreign Agricultural Service (Report). United States Department of Agriculture. 22 April 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022. The topic of wine production and wine varieties is gaining popularity among the population. More and more, Russian wine consumers want to learn about the product being consumed, which is reflected in the growing influence of beverage retailers on the retail distribution of wine.
↑ Teslova, Elena (31 January 2021). "Russian samovars make tea-time distinctive tradition". Anadolu Agency. Retrieved 17 November 2021. In Russia, where tea is a part of daily life in all seasons, "tea-drinking," or chayepitiye, refers to more than just simply consuming the brewed delicacy.
↑ "In pictures: May Day through history". Euronews. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2022. Since the end of the Soviet era in Russia, May Day has become a rallying point for Russians who are nostalgic for the Communist era.
↑ Guzeva, Alexandra (13 January 2021). "Why Russians celebrate New Year TWICE". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 10 January 2022. The Old New Year isn't an official holiday. By this time, there have been enough days off for Russians - almost eleven days to celebrate the New Year and Orthodox Christmas. But, for some reason, January 13–14 is a feast yet again.
↑ Ziffer, Emily (25 January 2019). "Students Celebrate Tatiana's Day". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 10 January 2022. In Russia, Jan. 25 is Tatiana's Day—otherwise known as student's day—and Moscow has an array of events planned to mark the occasion.
↑ Godoy, Maria (14 March 2013). "It's Russian Mardi Gras: Time For Pancakes, Butter And Fistfights". NPR. Retrieved 10 January 2022. The country is in the midst of celebrating Maslenitsa, an Eastern Slavic folk holiday that takes place the week before the start of Russian Orthodox Lent... Though now tied to the Christian calendar, Maslenitsa has roots in ancient Slavic sun worshippers — it originally marked the end of winter and advent of spring.
↑ Taylor, Alan (10 July 2018). "Images From Ivan Kupala Night". The Atlantic. Retrieved 10 January 2022. In parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and Russia, an ancient pagan summer rite called Kupala combined with the traditional Orthodox feast of Saint John the Baptist, becoming Ivan Kupala Night, a festival celebrating the summer solstice.
↑ "St. Petersburg paints the town red with Scarlet Sails festival". TASS. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2021. More than 1.4 million people gathered along the Neva River in St. Petersburg on June 23 to watch the famous Scarlet Sails celebration held in honour of the city's high school graduates
↑ Zuckerman, P (2005). Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns, chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin. Cambridge University Press.
1 2 Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007. Russia. Archived from the original on 9 January 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2007.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
↑ PETTUS, MARK. (2017). RUSSIAN, BOOK 1: russian through propaganda. [Place of publication not identified]: LULU COM. p.202. ISBN978-1387423521. OCLC1021096626.
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