Advent calendar is a Christmas or New Year expectation calendar (as in Russia).
During December, a child or an adult receives every day a mini-gift, sweets, wishes or assignments .
We decided to change the idea of the Advent calendar and not just prepare for the holiday, but practice the Russian language.
Who is with us? ;)
In Russian culture the family has always played a very important role. Not by chance in the language the word family - СЕМЬЯ consist of the words 'семь' and 'Я' (seven I). Of course, this is not the real origin of the word, but we like it very much :)
So family is the basis of society.
For a long time, 4 generations of the family lived in one house - children, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents.
One of the most popular sports in Russia is football. It is loved by adults and children, men and women, people from cities and villages. It is played at every stadium and field, and who can not play well, watches it with great pleasure. Football for Russians is a holiday, and the FIFA World Cup in Russia will be like a national holiday.
All people in Russia are waiting fot the main football event. ;)
The popularity of the Russian language is growing every day. People of all generations and all nationalities are increasingly showing interest to the Russian language.
Today we want to talk about the Day of Russian language - June 6. This holiday has appeared not so long ago - since 2011. And since 1997 this day was celebrated Pushkin's Day - the birthday of the famous Russian poet and writer, who in fact created the modern literary Russian language.
Some facts about the Russian language
Russian language is one of the East Slavic languages, in the sixth place in the world's distribution and the state language of Russia.
about 260 million people speak Russian, including 137.5 million people from Russia;
one of the UN working languages (together with English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic);
state and official language not only in Russia, but also in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Abkhazia, Moldova, Romania;
in space they speak Russian (!) and all astronauts must know the Russian language;
on the second place on the Internet;
one of the most difficult languages for learning (not even every Russian competently speak Russian);
"great and powerful", as well as "truthful and free" these words wrote Ivan Turgenev (Russian writer of the 18th century) about Russian language.
Until the 18th century, in the Russian Empire, the Russian language was spoken mostly by poor people, peasants and merchants, noblemen and rich people sought to speak French. But Pushkin wrote his works exclusively in Russian and tried to use foreign words less. Perhaps, that's why Alexander Sergeevich is considered to be the founder of the modern literary Russian language. ;)
Some words about Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837)
There are many books, articles, stories and memories about famous writer. We tried to collect the most interesting facts from the writer's life.
wrote poems, novels, stories, plays and fairy tales (more than 800 works in 37 years of life!);
was born in Moscow, but he named St. Petersburg as his native and beloved city;
By the way, in St. Petersburg there is an interesting museum-apartment Pushkin on the Moika, 12 - the last apartment of the writer, where he died after a duel with Georges Dantes. And also near the Northern capital there is a small town Pushkin (the old name Tsarskoe Selo), which is the Great Catherine Palace and the Lyceum (the school-university where the writer studied).
he knew and spoke many languages - French, Greek, Latin, German;
loved gambling and dueling - in total Pushkin participated in 27 duels and basically he himself called out rivals;
The last duel took place on January 27 at the Black River in St. Petersburg. Georges Dantes fired first and dealt a death blow. After the injury, Pushkin lost consciousness briefly, but still made his shot and also wounded the opponent. Pushkin lived 2 days. "Pushkin: The Last Duel" (2006, directed by Natalia Bondarchuk) is a Russian film about the last days of the writer's life. A fascinating story with a political version of the duel.
Pushkin met Natalia Goncharova in 1828, a Moscow beauty and his future wife, when she was 16 years old.
In 5 months after the acquaintance the writer asked her parents about marriage, but was refused. And after 2 years Natalia's family agreed for a marriage. Pushkin and his wife lived in Moscow for only 3 months (in a house on Stary Arbat Street) and left for Tsarskoe Selo, since the writer had difficulties with his mother-in-law.
Pushkin and Natalya had 4 children (2 boys and 2 girls) - Maria, Alexander, Gregory and Natalia . Today the last direct descendant (on the male line) of the writer - Alexander Pushkin - lives in Belgium.
Victory Day (May 9) in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).
In Russia and in some post-Soviet republics, Victory Day is celebrated on May 9 since 1945.
The Act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed on 8 May at 22 hours 43 minutes (in Moscow it was already May 9 at 0:43).
On May 9, 1945, Joseph Stalin made a speech on the radio, in which he congratulated the Soviet people with victory in the Great Patriotic War. Here is a small excerpt from his speech: "Comrades! The Great Patriotic War ended with our complete Victory! The war period in Europe ended. A period of peaceful development began. With the Victory you, my dear compatriots and compatriots! Glory to our heroic Red Army, who defended the independence of our Motherland and won victory over the enemy! Glory to our great people, the victorious people! Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in battles with the enemy and gave their lives for the freedom and happiness of our people!"
After Stalin's speech, people went to the centers of cities and congratulated each other with the Victory! It was the happiest and long-awaited day for all. There was no parade on this day. The soldiers have not returned from the front yet. But everyone was happy.
The first
military parade on Red Square was held on June 24 in 1945. The next parade took
place only 20 years later in 1965 and after it was passed almost every year
on May 9 in Hero cities.
It's difficult to get to the parade itself now, but the rehearsals can be seen a few days before the parade.
Every year, soldiers of various troops, military equipment (old and modern) and aircraft equipment (sometimes they cancel flights of airplanes due to bad weather) take part in the parade through Red Square.
Victory Parade 2021 you can watch online ↙
After the
parade, people lay flowers - usually carnations - to the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier (in Moscow), to monuments of glory and military valor, to memorials. Everyone congratulate veterans,
participants of the Great Patriotic War.
Since 2012,
a new tradition (or a new parade)is hold - the action "Immortal Regiment",
in which people carry portraits of their relatives,
grandfathers and great-grandfathers.
The action "Immortal regiment" appeared in Tomsk. Every year new cities and countries take part in this action. Participants in the action carry portraits of their relatives who fought, were in the rear, were captured or were born during World War II. All this symbolizes the participation of those in the parade on Victory Day. Today, the action "Immortal Regiment" already takes place in 80 countries, anyone can take part in it.
Another
important symbol is the St. George ribbon. A few days before the
holiday the symbol is given to eneryone on the streets of
cities not only in Russia, but all over the world.
There is one more tradition - a Minute of Silence at 7 pm (TV and radio broadcast) - a
tribute to the memory of those who perished during the Great Patriotic War.
Before a moment of silence, the announcer reads military verses and remembers
the dead in the war.
The day
ends with a festive salute (fireworks) at 22 o'clock. Pictures from pixabay.com, moypolk.ru.
