Russians Celebrate New National Holiday

AP via Yahoo! News ^ | 04.11.2005 | MIKE ECKEL

[lizol]

Russians Celebrate New National Holiday

By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW - Russia celebrated a new national holiday Friday, although many people did not even know its name or what it stood for.

With the Kremlin trying to balance strong nostalgia for the Nov. 7 Soviet holiday marking the Bolshevik Revolution with efforts to inspire patriotism in the fractious and sprawling nation, President Vladimir Putin signed an order last year establishing the "Day of People's Unity," designed to commemorate Moscow's liberation from Polish invaders in 1612.

State-run TV led newscasts with explanations of the holiday and showed footage of people performing traditional music and dances, followed by broadcasts of classic Soviet-era films and children's cartoons showing folk traditions and fairy tales.

In central Moscow, about 500 people protesting illegal immigration marched along several streets, along with other right-wing political groups, Ekho Moskvy radio reported. Some participants chanted "No to Occupiers!" and "Throw Out the Occupiers!" the station reported.

Human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyevna lamented the fact that the anti-immigrant groups were being allowed to hold rallies on a holiday ostensibly intended for national unity.

"Recently, I've gotten the impression that Moscow, and federal, authorities are infected with xenophobia, or are afraid of these people or are trying to hoping to use them for their own purposes," she said in comments on Ekho Moskvy.

The Day of People's Unity is the second holiday set up to replace the Great October Socialist Revolution holiday, one of the Soviet Union's most important celebrations.

In 1996, President Boris Yeltsin re-christened the Bolshevik holiday, which was celebrated on Nov. 7 but took place in October under the old calendar in use during the 1917 revolution, as the Day of National Reconciliation and Accord.

In a poll conducted by the respected Levada Center, 63 percent of respondents opposed the decision to scrap the Nov. 7 holiday. When asked what holiday Russia would celebrate Friday, 51 percent did not know and only 8 percent referred to it by the correct name.

The Oct. 14-17 poll of 1,600 people nationwide had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A Russian Orthodox Church leader earlier this week compared the holiday to Victory Day, the major holiday marking the World War II defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 — a holiday many Russians see as the proudest moment in the nation's history.

"It is a day of victory, an undeservedly forgotten day of victory," Metropolitan Kirill told a news conference Wednesday. "Moscow was liberated."

The new holiday comes amid Kremlin efforts to strengthen patriotism, warning that separatism could tear the multiethnic country apart.

Ultranationalist demonstrators march in downtown Moscow, Friday, Nov. 4, 2005, to mark a new state holiday, the Day of People's Unity, designed to commemorate Moscow's liberation from Polish invaders in 1612. The banners read: Russians forward, bottom, Russia is against occupants, top. The small banners at right read: DPNI, the Russian acronym, which identifies one of the ultranationalist organizations, The movement against illegal immigration, which participates in the march. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

[x5452]

Absolut is Swedish. o_o



Further:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodka

The origins of vodka (and of its name) cannot be traced definitively, but it is believed to have originated in the grain-growing region that now embraces Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and western Russia. It also has a long tradition in Scandinavia. Little is known about the early history of the drink in Europe. The first written record of vodka in Poland dates from 1405 in the Sandomierz Court Registry, although it is uncertain whether this refers to the drink of today. In Russia, the first written usage of the word vodka in an official document in its modern meaning is dated by the decree of Empress Catherine I of June 8, 1751 that regulated the ownership of vodka distilleries.

[jb6]

"Recently, I've gotten the impression that Moscow, and federal, authorities are infected with xenophobia, or are afraid of these people or are trying to hoping to use them for their own purposes," she said in comments on Ekho Moskvy

Watching France burn...why on earth would they be Xenophobic?

[jb6]

Poland was once an empire, now it is a backwater province of the EuroFascist state. Times change. It comemorates a fight against a powerful Poland some 400 years ago. Again, times change. Just like the British are a second rate power now.

[jb6]

That's where your history is rather lacking. The final occupation of Moscow was ended by national peasant armies raised by a minor noble and by a butcher. Thus they were national armies. The high nobility was actually in the Kremlin along with the Polish garrison and all were killed. That's how a minor noble family became tsars, the Romanovs.

[jb6]

What's interesting is that the slavik national drink was mead. Vodka didn't develop till about 1,000 years ago when the wheat germs finally got big enough to contain enough sugars for distilling. A major I served under was a real history buff, he'd pick a subject and just start reading. Vodka was one such subject, which was interesting because he was a Baptist who drank very little.

[ZULU]

I like beer with a shot of vodka. Also Vodka with a shot of vodka.

[iva]

Well I'm not really understand the core & aim of the Holliday. And 80% of my compatriots too. We have already the "unity day" for ALL the nations & religions in Russia, MAY 9. I almost sure that this Holliday will not settle down in the country.

[lizol]

Actually - can you imagine some national holiday declared in Poland today to celebrate victorious Battle of Grunwald (with Teutonic Knights), or driving the Swedes out of Poland??????????

[lizol]

Well, I'm affraid, they must be taken very, very seriously.

[lizol]

Well I'm not really understand the core & aim of the Holliday.

Hmmmm... - people would never forgive Putin, if they lost a day off. :-)

[jb6]

They went to a foreign land with hostile intentions and they got a proper reward.

Ehh? It was the Russian high nobility in the Moscow Kremlin locked in with the Poles.

[jb6]

The reason that particular war is celebrated as opposed to the countless others that the nobility fought, is because it was won by peasant armies raised by the common people and the poor, lesser nobility not by the grand princes.

[jb6]

The Greeks celebrate Marathon by having marathons, where they won a battle to defend their lands. The Russians freed their capital and triumphed over the main enemy of the day. It is not an offensive war but a struggle of national survival. Every example you sight is an offensive war.

[x5452]

Yorsh.

[Thunder90]

Too bad that the individual Russian states celebrate that Boslevek holiday.

[Thunder90]

Also, Putin seems to be trying to distract us for some reason (talk of burying Lenin, new national holidays, ect) He, however, never puts much effort to getting these things done. And airing old Soviet films did not do much to make him look less like a communist, it made him look more like one.

[Freelance Warrior]

Good posts!

[Freelance Warrior]

President Vladimir Putin signed an order last year

Small lie #1. Putin didn’t sign a decree. He signed a bill adopted by the parliament. A mistake, but probably an intended one.

Human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyevna lamented the fact that the anti-immigrant groups were being allowed to hold rallies on a holiday ostensibly intended for national unity.

"Recently, I've gotten the impression that Moscow, and federal, authorities are infected with xenophobia, or are afraid of these people or are trying to hoping to use them for their own purposes," she said in comments on Ekho Moskvy.

Correction: Lyudmila Alexeyeva. That’s a surname not a patronymic name. On the topic: protests against illegal immigration isn’t something these people can swallow. Moreover, while “human rights activists” are richer (because they receive much money from the Fond of Ford or from Soros) they have marginally few public support. They tend to defend interests of everyone at expense of the rights of the citizens of Russia. Last spring a human rights defending activist was convicted for holding an art exhibition insulting Christians.

A Russian Orthodox Church leader earlier this week compared the holiday to Victory Day, the major holiday marking the World War II defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 — a holiday many Russians see as the proudest moment in the nation's history. "It is a day of victory, an undeservedly forgotten day of victory," Metropolitan Kirill told a news conference Wednesday. "Moscow was liberated."

This day marks the day of liberation from Polish-Lithuanian occupation. This was achieved by a popular uprising funded on public donation. The victory lead to electing a new dynasty by a congress of deputies of gentry and of cities’ dwellers. That’s why the war had a special meaning for Russia unlike for Poland.

The new holiday comes amid Kremlin efforts to strengthen patriotism, warning that separatism could tear the multiethnic country apart.

Small lie #2. Laughable. Why are Caucuses’ islamists people expected to loose the support they have because of this public holiday?

DPNI, the Russian acronym, which identifies one of the ultranationalist organizations. The movement against illegal immigration, which participates in the march.

Small lie #3. Sorry, that’s not an ultra-nationalist organisation. They just want stopping illegal immigrations with legal measures.