Russian - A More Unusual Family Holiday Choice

Russia, the land of diamond like snow, and the home of vodka! Anyone who loves a winter wonderland and sitting in front of a cosy fire would love to visit Mother Russia this time of year. This is the perfect place to spend your family holidays. There are so many sights to see and so much awe inspiring tradition to take in. No one in the world could imagine how wonderful this holiday can be in such a beautiful country. Apart from all the traditions and beautiful scenery, the people are amazingly kind.

Christmas in Russia is one of the most beautiful holidays of all time. Outside you can see the snow falling and all the decorations being put up around the small towns. If you visit one of the many small towns you will see all the people come together to decorate their town square and help bring in the summer harvest. All the summers’ harvests have to be stored and canned to last the long winter ahead. So you see all the townspeople gathering their food from their “dacha”, a small farm outside their town, to store. All the homes are decorated with fruits and handmade decorations, while tinsel is spread along lamp posts and buildings in the town square. The bone chilling winter inspires every townsperson to make warm soups to serve to their families and fruit pies to sweeten the lips of their children.

All winter long the children wait for “Ded Moroz” their Father Frost version of Santa Claus. The reason they wait most of the winter is because their Christmas isn’t until January 7th. Until then they prepare for the coming feast and festival. The preparation includes canning many foods like cucumbers and tomatoes so that they don’t go bad over the winter. They make homemade coleslaw and pickles to eat and sweet breads from their wheat. Families cook together to make work go quickly so they have time to enjoy the festivities outside. Some of which are walking the town square and helping others decorate. Long walks at night are the best part of a Russian winter because you see blankets of snow covering the parks and they look like mounds of bright diamonds shinning in the moonlight. Throughout the winter the schools have plays conducted with their Ded Moroz being the star of the show.

They have beautiful Russian dancers and act out a holiday scene for parents to come and see. . Russian people seem to enjoy the holiday more and are less stressed at the time. The Russians do have more responsibilities than most other western countries; such as gathering crops before the first frost and preparing all the winter clothing. Preparing the clothing is a tremendous job in itself: all winter clothing must contain a certain amount of fur on it or you can freeze, literally. The insides of the leather coats have a fox or wool fur on the inside which is removable in summer. The boots as well must have fur or your feet will be liable to a bit of frost bite. For the ladies only very brave or native women wear short skirts with heels. Many travellers I believe would not dare to wear heels on frozen concrete. The clothing must be this way because of the extreme drop in temperature and the fact that most people do not have transportation except for a bicycle or a bus. For that reason they must keep very warm as to not get sick.

All in all for a native Russian it is a normal day in paradise, for British and American people, a dramatic change. Finally, after all the preparing, Christmas Eve has arrived. Now begins the traditional fast for the “Feast of Saint Nicholas”. On January 6th the families fast for upcoming meal. They must prepare all their food on their own but not eat until they see the first star appear in the night sky. For their feast they prepare a traditional “kutya” which is a vegetable porridge. The reason for this is that they are celebrating lent and no meat is allowed. For the side dishes to this meal they serve a variety of fruits native to Russia as well as the canned goods they have made over the long winter. They also attend an Orthodox church to spend time praying and thanking the Lord for the year they have had. A typical church visit lasts until two or three in the morning then they return home and can open their gifts on the morning of January 7th. To all who would love to spend a holiday abroad best wishes to you and enjoy.

By: Stebee-16825

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With all the research I have done for this article, Russia sounds like a wonderful place to spend a self catering holiday with the family. All the beautiful traditions, caring townspeople, and mouthwatering food, they make for a wonderful country. Russia truly is a magical place and despite the chilling weather will warm anyone’s heart.