Unity Day: November 4

With November just around the corner, I thought Unity Day would be a fitting blog post. Unity Day is a national holiday observed in Russia.  Unity Day commemorates an uprising that freed Moscow from Polish-Lithuanian occupation, which occurred on November 4, 1612. Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky were the leaders of this uprising and therefore became national heroes.
Unity Day was not made a national holiday until 1649 and was done so by the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.  Yet, when the Bolsheviks came to power, they replaced it with a new holiday, which was on November 7, and it commemorated the Revolution of 1917.  In 2005, the Russian Parliament removed the commemoration of the Revolution of 1917 as a national holiday and reinstated Unity Day as a national holiday.
Russians celebrate Unity Day in many different ways.  Many lay flowers on the statues of the national heroes who led the uprising.  Russian Orthodox Christians usually attend a church service to honor Our Lady of Kazan (a Russian Orthodox icon) who's feast day is held on November 4.  Many concerts and exhibitions will also take place on this day to commemorate the holiday.


*Statues of Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky

Russia's Strange Obsession

When people think of Russia, their minds fill with the thoughts of cold climates, acres upon acres of desolate landscape, and a surprisingly thriving culture. Alas, what they think not of is but a small fern, to some, even, a weed, that has managed to find its way into nearly every meal served in Russia. Perhaps a light bulb now goes off in your head, or even better yet, you know not of that which I now speak of - dill. Yes, this measly, seemingly insignificant addition to our already overly copious selection of green foods is, in fact, not insignificant at all. Dill has aggressively inserted itself into the Russian diet, and recent trends show no sign of change as this disgusting food manages to gain popularity despite its lack of a resemblance to anything close to a stimulating or satisfying taste. When something can be compared to the invasion of cane toads in Australia, perhaps it should not be so widely celebrated. Dill has gotten further into Russia than the Germans ever did, and were our reality to be some classic alien invasion movie that began with the poisoning of our ferns, Russia and her people would be dead within minutes. Alas, in movies these days, Russians always appear to be the bad guys, so perhaps this would not be such a horrible thing.

You know its bad when you have potato/dill flavored potato chips. Come on!

Russian State Library

When we think of great works of literature, it’s only natural that among the authors first and foremost in our minds are Russian heroes Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Given the substantial nature of their works, as well as that of many other prominent Russian writers, it is only fitting that their books find a suitable home in the appropriately lavish Russian State Library.

Known by many as the Leninka, the Library holds over 43 million items, written and preserved in 247 languages. It is the second largest library in the world, following only the Library of Congress here in the U.S. It was founded in 1862 and has taken over 140 years to become the pinnacle of literary success that it is today, holding a prestigious collection of maps, documents, etc. that enthusiasts would consider gems in the field.

Approximately 4000 visitors pass through the Library every single day (except Sunday, when the Library is closed), 200 of them taking their very first steps on the grand floors. Anyone over the age of eighteen is welcome into their designated reading rooms, and anyone may browse their stock online.

The Russian State Library is truly a link between times, utilizing both old-fashioned card-indexes and state-of-the-art technology to bring their books to the people. They have recently adopted a plan to take their outreach to a global scale, “emerging into the future” on the public, academic, digital and international scales. 

Russian Superstitions

Like most other cultures, Russians have various superstitions. Americans might be superstitious walking under a ladder, spilling salt, or breaking a mirror. It may even be considered bad luck for the groom to see his bride before the wedding. Here are a few Russian superstitious…

Whistling inside the home will cause you to lose money. If you gift someone with a wallet or purse, put money inside of it or it will bring poor financial luck to the person receiving it. Money is believed to transmit energy from its owner – negative energy. The passenger of a taxi, for example, should leave the money on the dashboard or special tray. Once the passenger leaves, the driver may then collect the money (after the link to the energy is broken). 

If you have forgotten something at home, do not go back! If you really do think you need to go back to your house after forgetting something, look in a mirror before you leave the house again. Before someone leaves for a long journey, everyone in the house must sit down in the hall for a minute. This allows people to help calm down before the journey (and this helps to remember anything they might have forgotten to pack). 

Familiarly, if a black cat crosses in front of you it will be a bad day. (To offset this bad luck, walk backwards away from the cat). It is also bad luck to see a woman with an empty bucket headed towards your direction. 

No baby showers – you should only buy gifts for the child after it has been born. Do not visit the newborn for a month after its birth because you do not want to accidentally give the child negative energies. Women looking to get married should not sit on the corner of a table – this will leave her single for seven years!

Washing someone’s clothes when they are away on a trip might mean they will not return from that trip. Brooms should be kept in the corner where they can be seen to keep bad house spirits away. 

There are ways to have good luck instead of just keeping bad luck away! For exams, put five rubles in your shoe. Finding a lilac with an odd number of petals is also good luck. There are omens such as a spoon falling to the floor – this means that the next person who enters that room will be a kind woman. On the other hand, a fork means it will be an angry woman, and a knife means the man will arrive. If you find a spider on your clothes, this is a sign of financial success. 

Hiccups mean that someone is thinking of you. It you find out you is thinking about you, the hiccups will stop. A dark omen is the bird: a bird flying into your home will bring about death (although if bird poop lands on your head, this is also good luck in Russia).  

Blini’s!

Blini are Russia's version of the thin French crêpe and a staple on most Moscovian menus, typically made with buckwheat for savoury fillings or white flour for sweet toppings. You'll see accompaniments of smoked salmon, creamy mushrooms, sour cream, jams and condensed milk– to name a few– but the high-end, revered combination is a spoonful of red salmon or black sturgeon caviar. Another tasty Russian pancake is the cottage cheese version called syrniki, a denser form of ricotta-pancakes, which are eaten for breakfast or dessert. They're best served with homemade jams made from Russia's large array of berries, although condensed milk, honey and sour cream are also served as condiments.(Expatica) 

Ingredients:
(makes ~15 crepes)

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups of milk (or heavy cream for more indulgent blini)
• 1T sugar
• 1/2t salt
• approx. 2 cups of flour 
• 2T canola or vegetable oil + more for rubbing the pan

Instructions:

1. Whisk eggs, milk, sugar and salt
2. Slowly start stirring in flour. Start with a cup, and stir a little more at a time until you get a runny batter but not as thin as milk - don't stress about this step, you can always adjust as you go!
3. Stir in oil
4. Let rest for 15 minutes
5. Preheat a 10" pan over medium heat and rub with oil (I pour some in a little cup and dip a paper towel in, then run it around the pan before making each blin)
6. Use a 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup measurer the scoop the batter into the middle of the pan, then quickly tilt the pan in a circular motion until the batter spreads to cover the pan surface. It should be a very thin layer*.
7. Cook for 2-3 minutes on the first side, until small bubbles form on top and the crepe is light golden brown on the bottom. Flip and cook for 30 seconds. Repeat until batter is used (don't forget to rub the pan with oil each time!)
8. As always, enjoy with sweetened condensed milk, sour cream and jam or any toppings, dips, or fillings of your choice. :)

*The first few blini may be experimental. Try the 1/4 cup and see if the batter covers the pan. Does it easily slide around the pan? If it's too thick, add some milk/cream to the batter. If it's too thin, add more flour to the batter. If it flows freely but doesn't properly cover the pan, use 1/3 cup per blin. I made these twice using a 10" pan, the first time 1/3 cup was perfect, the second time 1/4 cup was enough. Play with heat as well... my stove at home got hot quickly and the crepes were burning on medium (3.5/10 heat ended up perfect). At my parents' in law house in Maine, the pan wouldn't get hot enough on medium, but the crepes were cooking properly on medium high.
(http://www.russianbites.com)

The Dawn of the Space Race

Sputnik 1

On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union successfully launched the first unmanned satellite in the history of space exploration. Sputnik's launch shocked many around the globe, especially America who saw themselves as technologically superior to the Soviet Union. With this event, the Soviet union was able to get the upper hand in their arms race with the United States. Sputnik proved outer space is  reachable by humans. 

The embarrassment of the United States after Sputnik galvanized them to launch their own artificial satellite, the Explorer I, on January 31, 1958. The ensuing space race would be one the highest period of scientific research and discovery

Russian WWII Veterans

iremember.ru is a website created by the Russian Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communication. Available in both English and Russian, this site is a compilation of memoirs from Russian World War II veterans, most of whom are alive today. These interviewees range from front line soldiers to NKVD agents and encompass many age groups at the time of service. Not only do these interviews provide insight into the combat experience of these people, but they also detail Stalin's style of command during this time.

Собор Василия Блаженного!

Saint Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, Moscow, Russia

Directly adjacent to the Kremlin, lays the Saint Basil's Cathedral(Собор Василия Блаженного), standing over 150 feet tall at its peak. The cathedral is very distinct in that it was created in the mid-16th century, as well as it's architecture. It was designed to resemble a bonfire in full flame and is not only unique to it's time period, but all subsequent time periods, for the entire millennium from the 5th century to the 17th century. Very few structures rival the beauty and exceptionality of this structure. The building was originally used as a church until being seized by the Russian Federation. Since then, it has maintained the re-purpose of a museum.

More information:
http://www.saintbasil.ru/
http://www.moscow.info/red-square/st-basils-cathedral.aspx

Novorossiya, or New Russia

If any of you have been paying attention to Russian/Ukrainian politics in the last few years, there has been a series of unrest in this region, due to a variety of factors. One of these reasons is Novorossiya (Новороссия).

A region in southeastern Ukraine, Novorossiya historically was a military frontier region of the Russian Empire, whether during the Russo-Turkish wars in the late 1700's, or or the anti-Bolshevik White Party movements from 1918-20. After the Soviet Union was officially formed, this region was assimilated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

A map of the various regions of Ukraine; Novorossiya is clearly marked.

Novorossiya happily remained part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic until the collapse of the Soviet Union, when unrest was fostered. In 1992, before the movement for Ukrainian independence took shape, an attempt was made to give Novorossiya the status of a republic in its own accord, especially in the Odessan, Nikolayev, Crimean, and Kherson oblasts. However, this failed to ever gain any real support, and the movement fell to pieces.

However, the Novorossiya movement was revived in 2014, following an interview with President Putin in April where he referred to several oblasts as part of Novorossiya. Novorossiya itself is considered to be the combination of two separate people's republics--Donetsk and Luhansk--both of which have been classified terrorist groups by the Ukrainian national government. Novorossiya was never officially recognized by any government in the world as a governing body, and by spring of 2015, the leaders announced the freezing of the confederation project, until more support could be gained.

The Novorossiyan flag in the city of Donetsk.

Novorossiya is significant in the current Russo-Ukrainian struggle because the majority of the unrest in the region is coming from pro-Russian supporters, and support for an independent republic still survives despite the dissolution of the confederation project.

Russian Idioms

Ever wondered about phrases and idioms in another language? Here are some in Russian. 

Бе́лая воронa: literally means white crow in Russian. In english it would be equivalent to the odd one out. 

Знать как свои́ пятьпа́льцев: in Russian means to know something as well as one's own fingers. In English it would be equivalent to knowing something like the back of your hand. 

Набра́ть в рот воды: in Russian means to fill one's mouth with water. In English it could be compared to keeping quiet or mum's the word. 

Мир те́сен: in Russian means the world is cramped. In English we would say it's a small world (after all). 

 Как об сте́нку горо́x: in Russian is "like throwing peas against the wall" and in English is comparable to talking to a brick wall. 

Лить как из ведра: in Russian means pouring as if from a pail. It has the same meaning as the English idiom its raining cats and dogs. 

Пётр Ильич Чайковский

One of the "Big Five" Russian composers of the romantic era, Пётр Ильич Чайковский (Tchaikovsky) was considered a very nationalist composer. Much of his music features traditional Russian melodies as themes.

Little known fact for people that aren't into classical music:
Tchaikovsky was gay but he tried to hide or repress who he was, and as a result suffered from depression. His depression stayed with him for much of his life, and he even attempted suicide on some occasions. His depression and internal conflict can be heard in a lot of his compositions. While his official cause of death is listed as cholera, many historians speculate that it was actually suicide to cover up a scandal.



I encourage anyone to attend the Stetson Chamber Orchestra concert this coming Tuesday, November 4th, in Lee Chapel. We will be performing Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, a work in four movements.

Olympic Russian Dressage Rider and Her Legendary Horse

Elena Petushkova started late in the sport of dressage but quickly she excelled. In 1968, Petushkova won two silver medals and a gold medal at the summer Olympics. She also was 13-time Soviet national champion for the sport, a record for women riders in her country. In 1970, at 30 years old, she became the World Dressage Champion. In 1990, Russia reduced their financial support of sports and Petushkova worked hard to preserve it. Some believe that saved dressage in those years.

For a while in her career, Petushkova could be seen riding Pepel. Pepel was a black stallion of strong Russian Trakehner breeding. Pepel’s mother was brought to Russia from Germany after World War II in a group of horses that were trained for sports. Petushkova and Pepel were amazing together. A judge even claimed that they left an impression of harmony and easiness on those watching. 

In addition to her success as a dressage rider, Dr. Petushkova spoke fluent English, graduated with honors from Moscow University, wrote 60 publications for Russian and foreign magazines, and wrote a book about her two interests—science and sports. She died at the age of 66 from a brain tumor. 

     

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_XLDWms-MQ         

Sources:

http://www.eurodressage.com/equestrian/2009/10/20/pepel-true-legend-russian-dressage

http://voiceofrussia.com/2008/12/31/233562/

Берингов пролив

The Bering Strait is the body of water separating the United States (Alaska) from Russia. It is only 53 miles wide at its narrowest section. There are multiple islands throughout the strait, the most well-known being the Little and Big Diomedes.

During the cold war, famous distance and cold-water swimmer Lynn Cox swam 2.7 miles between Little Diomede and Big Diomede islands. Normally, travel was prohibited between the islands due to the political conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. An exception was made specially for her. She swam through the frigid 43 degree Fahrenheit water for an hour and thirty minutes before completing the swim at Big Diomede. Water this temperature would have caused hypothermia in the average human, but Cox, utilizing her unique body type, was able to complete this swim safely.  She was welcomed by a combination of both Soviets and Americans. In the end, this swim helped to relax Cold War tensions as both Ronald Reagan and, then Soviet Statesman, Mikhail Gorbachev both praised her success.

OFFICIAL: World Cup 2018 logo unveiled in Moscow

The official emblem of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia has been unveiled by the cosmonauts at the International Space Station. The logo was then projected onto the iconic Bolshoi Theater building in the heart of Russian capital, Moscow.

The ceremony was broadcast live during the popular Evening Urgant television talk show, which was attended by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, Italian football great Fabio Cannavaro and Russia's sports minister, Vitaly Mutko.

Blatter stated "To creatively capture the essence of this remarkable historic moment inspiration was drawn from both Russia's rich artistic tradition and its history of bold achievement and innovation," he said. "I hope that fans around the world will appreciate and love the Russia 2018 emblem.”

664 billion rubles ($15.6 billion), half of which are federal budget funds, are to be allocated for the World Cup project through 2018.

A Vocal Artist of Russia: Ёлка

    Ёлка is a popular singer-songwriter-producer in Russia. Her full name is Єлизавета Вальдемарівна Іванців and she was born in 1982 on July 2, in Uzhhorod, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. Although she was born in the Ukranian SSR, Ёлка is half Ukrainian and half Russian. She grew up in a very musical family where her father was a jazz music collector and her mother was a musician, playing three instruments.
      Given her musical background she was bound to end up doing something with music and she started young. In the mid −1990s, became part of the Christmas tree Uzhgorod group "B & B", where she performed as a backing vocalist. She went on with the group "B & B" for a few more years until she became a soloist in 2004. Ёлка's first well-known and award winning single was called "Девочка-студентка" which was on her second album in 2006 known as Тени. In 2011, she gained great popularity with the song "Прованс" and was nominated in three categories at the Muz-TV 2011. That album that followed this single received positive reviews from critics, who considered it the best pop album of 2011. Also in 2011, she was recognized as the Singer of the Year by Glamour magazine and among the ten most successful people in Ukrainian show business, according to the publication Focus. By the end of 2012, she was recognized as the most played performer on Russian radio stations.
     From, 2010 to 2012 Ёлка worked as a judge on the Ukrainian X-Factor. Elka is three time winner of the "Golden Gramophone" award ( for the songs "Мальчик-красавчик", "Прованс" and "Около тебя" ) and nominated for RMA channel MTV. Ёлка is still working and singing today and here are some of her songs that I personally enjoy: 

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky

И́горь Фёдорович Страви́нский

    Igor Stravinsky was born June 17th 1882 in Oranienbaum a suburb in Saint Petersburg. This is where Stravinsky was raised by his parents. His father Fyodor Stravinsky was a bass singer in the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. The stravinsky family was of noble polish decent thanks to Stravinskys grandfather.

    Stravinsky started taking piano lessons as a young boy, along with music theory and composition. By the time he was 15 he mastered a Mendelssohn Piano concerto in G minor adn was gifted in the musical art. However dispite this his parents still expected him to pursue a career in law. The same year Stravinskys father died of cancer, Stravinsky started paying more attention to studying music rather than law. He ended up getting a half-diploma in law and pursued a career in music.

    Igor Stravinsky focused mainly on contemporary music. He moved to France for a time and gained a lot of influence from french composers such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, however he kept his nationalistic Russian influences as well. You can hear how Stravinsky's compositions are influenced in many of his pieces, one of his greatest works is called The Rite of Spring, which is a ballet and orchestral concert written by Stravinsky while in Paris. It was considered one of the most influential musical works of the 20th century.

The Rite Of Spring Full Suite.

Don't. Invade. Russia.

Having been reading for my senior research on the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, let me just take this opportunity to talk about something that I have observed that won't make it into my senior research - for reasons that will become apparent shortly.

In brief, my thoughts are these: don't invade Russia. Just don't do it. Take Vasili's advice:

"You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia"





Obviously this is glib, but seriously.  Napoleon tried it on 24 June, 1812 with his Grand Armee and made it all the way to Moscow (the Russians just let him have it).

It was at this point that the Cossacks burned essentially EVERYTHING in Napoleon's path in one of the greatest exemplars of scorched earth warfare in history, and upon reaching Moscow, the Russian General ordered it evacuated, refused to send a delegation to Napoleon to officially surrender the city, and then set Moscow on fire as well. 

This whole situation might not have been so bad except for the fact that Napoleon was now 1700 miles away from Paris, and he had forgotten that Russia in the winter gets really, really, really cold (as low as 30-40 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit).

Demoralized, defeated, starving, freezing and utterly aware of how short he was, Napoleon was forced to retreat with the Cossacks and peasant partisans at his heels, followed closely by the regular Russian Imperial Army who nipped at Napoleon's heels until he crossed back over the Berezina River. Napoleon had entered Russia with almost half a million men in his Grand Armee, and returned with approximately 27,000.





Almost exactly 129 years later, this guy thought it'd be a great idea to try and do the same thing:

... he did nazi what he was getting into.



 When Hitler made the decision to invade the Soviet Union on 22 June, 1941, it would set off the bloodiest war in modern history. Estimates for German casualties are around 5 million, and the Russian estimates are anywhere from 15-30 million between June 1941 and May 1945.

(When Stalin heard about the invasion, historical sources say he stroked his glorious mustache and laughed)**

Timothy Snyder coined the term "Bloodlands" talking about the area of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, because of the number of people who died on that land.

                                 


This ties into my senior research insofar as I am investigating the instances of partisan violence in the Soviet Union when the Nazis invaded. The German military used the trope of "anti-partisan" warfare to justify so-called "reprisal killings" for German soldiers who had been KIA. Essentially this boiled down to a weak justification for killing civilians indiscriminately. There are two cultural trends that come to a head in this instance between 1941 and 1944 (after 44 they were mostly out of Russia and the invaded territories).
The first trend is the long history of Russian irregular troops utilizing guerrilla fighting methods to harass and pick apart invaders (of which Napoleon was only one). The second is the Prusso-German military's extended history (which actually started with Napoleon) of despising and utilizing excessively brutal tactics against irregular military forces that they deemed dishonorable. These two trends found their ultimate expression in the bloodbath that was the Eastern Front in WWII. In the end, they should have just learned from history: Don't invade Russia.


**not really

The Russian "Iron Maiden"

     I'm a big fan of American and European heavy metal, but it never occurred to me (somehow) that big scary Russians could also make big scary music.  Aria is a Russian heavy metal band that was formed in 1985, and while they weren't the first Soviet heavy metal band, they were the first to become well known and successful. The media have dubbed them Russia's version of Iron Maiden and they seem to live up to that. They released an album in 2011 titled "Феникс" (Phoenix) and seem to still carry quite a fan-base despite the band being 28 years old.

Other notable Russian metal bands (according to some guy from Russia): http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Poohkali/the_very_best_russian_metal_bands/

New IPhone5s on sale finally

Last Friday, the new IPhone 5s and the 5c made its debut in Russian and more than 30 countries worldwide. The IPhone 5s costs between 30,000 and 40,000 rubles (950 and $1260 respectively) depending on the model while the less expensive model costs around $800.

According to the report, neither phone will operate on Russia's long term evolution networks due to the poor quality service they provide. Apple believes that they may make the consumers believe the phone has problems. They will enable this feature once the networks have been approved accordingly.

The demand was strong over this weekend, the IPhone 5s was much more successful than its cheaper counterpart however. Also, they have sold more than the IPhone 5 about a year ago, but still the number sold will not exceed the tens of thousands according to Maxim Klyagin, an analyst.

The biggest problem with the sales is that the die hard apple fans have already ordered them overseas. This means that the total amount of IPhone 5 devices in Russia is much higher than the sales indicate.

Zero Waste Olympic Pledge

The 2014 Winter Olympics are being held in Sochi this year Russia made a vow to have the "cleanest games ever." Basically they were planning on using reusable resources instead of having to dump construction waste. One major reason for this "Zero Waste" Pledge is because the government is trying to keep Sochi's freshwater pure.

But this pledge was broken when The Associated Press found a landfill just north of Sochi, where a state-owned railway was dumping construction wastes. They tried to cover up the dumping by covering the landfill with clay and mixing the waste and clay together, but obviously that didn't succeed. It's also shown in other areas that Russia has tried very little to keep the "Zero Waste" Pledge upheld, especially since none of the $51 billion budget goes to environmental protection.