When Leo Tolstoy and his brother were children, they created a club with a peculiar, almost impossible initiation ceremony. In order to become a member, one had to stand in a corner for a half an hour and not think of anything white.
(….almost impossible? I’m pretty sure that IS impossible…..)
In the memoirs of Catherine II of Russia, it is recorded that any Russian aristocrat who displeased the queen was forced to squat in the great antechamber of the palace and to remain in that position for several days, mewing like a cat, clucking like a hen, and pecking his food from the floor.
(hahaha…I can only IMAGINE what that must have been like)
During the time of Peter the Great, any Russian man who wore a beard was required to pay a special tax.
(Which I find particularly interesting because I thought having a beard at that time was a sign of being a proper Christian… So does that mean men were penalized for being good Christians?)
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