Russian Holidays

If you watched CNN last week or read the previous blogs, you know that September 12 is now known as a Day of Conception in part of Russia! Of course this intrigued me, so I set out to find what other "fun" holidays Russia has to offer. Unfortunately none of them were as exciting as Conception Day, but here are a few interesting official holidays that Russians observe:

International Women's Day: March 8th. This day is a mix of Valentines Day and Mothers Day and women are showered with gifts and flowers to show appreciation for their hard work, love and commitment.
Tatiana Day: January 25th. Named after Saint Tatiana the patron saint of students, this day is celebrated as Russian Students Day to honor one of the first universities built in Moscow.
Defender of the Fatherland Day: February 23rd. This day honors those who are serving or have served in the Russian military. It used to be called Red Army Day in the Soviet Union era and was established to celebrate the first mass draft of the Red Army.
Russia Day: June 12th, 1990 Russian parliament declared its sovereignty. Thank god this holiday was renamed because this day was once known as Day of the Adoption of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian Federation. However, they may need to change it to Baby Day now because those who participated on September 12th and give birth on this day receive a prize (money cars, etc)! I pity the children born at 12:01 am on June 13th!

These are only a few of the Russian holidays I read about, though it was interesting to learn about all of them. The holidays are a diverse mix of old, new, official and unofficial, professional, religious and fun.