Folk Customs And Traditions In Russia example essay topic

Course Paper Customs, Traditions and Holiday. 1 Moscow, 2010 So many countries so many customs, an English proverb says. Every country and every nation has it is own traditions and customs. It's very important to know traditions and customs of different people. It will help you to know more about the history and life of different nations and countries.

One cannot speak about Russia without speaking about traditions and customs. They are very important in the life of Russian people. People are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. A great number of customs & traditions date back to the early days of Russia and we can say that they are the reflection of the country's history and the people's psychology. To know the customs and traditions means to understand the people, their art and culture better. Customs and traditions arose in prehistoric times and evolved through the centuries blending with Christian rites.

They can be divided into: familial customs and rites, which consist of birth, marriage, and burial rites; seasonal productive customs and traditions, which are tied to farming, herding, and hunting tasks; and communal customs, which mark certain events in the life of the community. With the spread of modern civilization and urban culture, as well as the changes triggered by the two world wars, the folk customs and traditions in Russia have been greatly transformed. Recently a persistent effort is being made to revive folk rites. Customs and traditions are tied to ancient beliefs and symbols.

In Russia people attach greater importance to traditions and custom that in other countries. Russian men are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. There are many customs and some of them are very old. There is, for example, New Year, Christmas, Easter, Mother's day, Maslenitza, May Day, Independence Day and Victory Day.

New Year. The New Year was celebrated with a rich repertoire of folk traditions. People see the new year in at midnight on the 31st of December. They greet the new year with champagne and listen to the Kremlin chimes beating 12 o'clock. There are lost of New Year traditions in Russia. In every home there is a new year tree glittering with coloured lights and decorations.

Children always wait for Father Frost to come and give them a present. Many people consider New Year's Day to be a family holiday. But the young prefer to have New Year parties of their own. Christmas. Christmas, the feast of Christ's birth was at first celebrated in the East on January 6, together with the feast of Epiphany. Later, in the mid-4th century, it was established by the Roman catholic church as a separate feast and was celebrated on December, 25, according to the Julian calendar.

With the introduction of the Christianity in the 10th century Christmas was fused with the local pagan celebrations of the sun's return or the commencement of the agricultural year. The most interesting part of Christmas is Christmas Eve with its wealth of ritual and magical acts aimed at ensuring a good harvest and a life of plenty. Dead ancestors and family members are believed to participate in the eve's celebration and are personified by a sheaf of wheat. A characteristic feature of Christmas is caroling, which expresses respect for the master of the house and his children and is sometimes accompanied by a puppet theater. The religious festival lasts three days and involves Christmas liturgies, caroling, visiting, and entertaining relatives and acquaintances. The Christmas theme has an important place, more important than Easter, particularly in church painting, and in poetry.

The 'holy supper' on Christmas Eve is a meal of 12 ritual meatless dishes. Easter. The day we celebrate Christ's rising from the dead is called Easter. It is always on Sunday in March or April.

To many people Easter means the coming of spring. In spring trees send out new leaves. We colour eggs and give them to our friends, as a way of saying, 'spring is here!' ' Easter follows Great Lent, a time during which rich foods are usually forgone or eaten sparingly. To mark the end of this fasting period, and particularly to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, worshipers arrange special foods in a basket which they take to church on Easter, morning for blessing. These foods may include ham, sausage, seasonings, cheese, butter, "pasta", eggs, salt, horseradish, beet radish, and onions. Of special significance is the decorated Easter egg which symbolized life, while its decorative themes may portray health, happiness, fertility and prosperity.

Easter Sunday is a feast of joy and gladness. People exchange Easter eggs, visit each other and say: "Jesus Christ has resurrected"! the other people answer: "He's truly has"! Mother's Day. Every last Sunday in November, Russian mothers become queen-for-a-day. Children and men present cards, flowers, presents, call their mothers. In fact, the holiday's history embodies many social changes of recent centuries.

The earliest tributes to mothers date back to the annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities. Christians celebrated this festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honour of Mary, mother of Christ. In Russia this holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mother's Day. Maslenitza. Maslenitza is on of the most favourite holidays in our country. It lasts from Monday till Sunday.

It comes either at the end of February or at the beginning of March, this is socal led movable festival. In 2002, Maslenitza took place in March (from 3d up to 9th). This holiday means the end of winter and the spring coming. It has pagan origin. During this holiday people visit each other, children play snowballs, light bonfires, enjoy horse-sledging. During these days people should avoid eating any kind of meat, but they are to eat much butter, cheese, sour cream, lots of pancakes.

Lent follows Maslenitza, it is the strictest and long holiday, it lasts 7 weeks. During these weeks people avoid eating fat meals, meat and there are few entertainments. People must work hard, pray and clean their soul. May Day.

May Day celebrations have their origins in the Roman festival of Flora, goddess of flowers, which marked the beginning of summer. People decorated their houses and villages with fresh-cut flowers gathered at dawn in the belief that the vegetation spirits would bring good fortune. May 1st was an important day in the Middle Ages. In the very early morning, young girls went into the fields and washed their faces with dew. They believed this made them very beautiful for a year after that. Also, on May Day the young men of each village tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows.

May is the month for traditional dancing around the maypole. The original maypoles were freshly felled frees, stripped of their branches, brought into the community and adorned with garlands and ribbons. The maypole was originally a pagan fertility symbol. Independence Day and Victory Day. June 12 is Russia's newest holiday, Independence Day, which commemorates the adoption in 1991 of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian Federation. The greatest nation holiday in our country is Victory Day.

On the 9th of May, 1945, the Soviet Army and its allies completely defeated the German fascists and the Second War ended. A magnificent memorial on Poklonnaya Gora has been built to commemorate the Victory. Many veterans take part in the military parade and lay wreaths on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Radio and TV broadcast popular was songs.

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