Popular holidays in Russia
A men needs rest after hard work. Very often we are eagerly looking forward to weekends and holidays to enjoy ourselves.
The word "holiday" comes from the words "holy day". Holidays were first religion festivals. Now many holidays have nothing to do with religion. Almost every country has holidays honouring important events in its history.
Some holidays come on the same date of the same month, for instance, New Year's Day or Cristmas. But some do not. Some, such as Easter, are movable holidays.
New Year's Day is very popular all over the world. It is my favourite holiday. We usually get together, we like celebrate this holiday at home.
We celebrate the first day of Cristmas on the 7th of January. On the 6th of January people tidy the whole house, cook much tasty food because the day after we must not work, we must have a rest. On this day we have a sacred supper. It begins when the first star lights up. As the legend says, this star announced the birth of the God's Son. We celebrate Christmas for two days. In the evening a group of boys comes. They sing songs. By these songs they congratulate on holiday, wish good crops, long life, no illness and so on. It is interesting to know that only boys must congratulate.
Women's Day is on the 8th of March.
Then on the 1st of May goes next holiday the Day of Labor.
Another religious holiday is Easter. It is movable. It is usually the first Sunday after the first fullmoon after the begining of spring. In Russia we have special attributes of Easter: Easter eggs, and Easter "paska" that are baked according to the special recipe. It is a very nice spring holiday.
Victory Day is on the 9th of May. It is a sacred holiday for every Russian citizen. We are thankful to our grandfathers for the victory in the World War II.