С 13 на 14 января в России отмечают старый Новый год — неофициальный, но любимый в народе праздник.

19 августа - Яблочный Спас. Это оди́н из пра́здников в наро́дном календаре́ славя́н. Он символизи́рует нача́ло я́блочного сезо́на. В э́тот день едя́т я́блоки...

19 января Русская православная церковь отмечает Крещение, день, когда Иоанн Креститель крестил Иисуса Христа в реке Иордан.

January in Russia is the most magical and joyful time, full of hopes and expectations. At all times it has been treated as a border zone between the Old and ...

"Shchedryk" (from Ukrainian «Щедрий вечiр», "Bountiful Evening") is a Ukrainian Christmas carol, which was arranged by composer and teacher Mykola Leontovych...

'Kolyada' is an ancient pagan winter ritual, which was later incorporated into Christmas. The word is still used in many modern Slavic languages such as Ukra...

The Twelve Days of Christmas (Svyatki – Свя́тки) begin after Christmas and last until January 19, Epiphany Day. This period of Christmas festivities includes...

Most of Russians are Orthodox Christians, and celebrate Christmas (Рождество́) on January 7th (according to the Gregorian calendar). In Kievan Rus, Christmas...

On Christmas Eve (Sochelnik – Соче́льник), the Christmas service in Russian Orthodox churches starts and lasts until early morning. On Christmas Eve, the ent...

Шампа́нское и икра́ | Champagne and Caviar While these items were in shorter supply during the Soviet period, it was then that they became part of the New Ye...

New Year celebration just isn’t right without traditional New Year salads. These are not light green salads, but mayonnaise-infused and protein-thick works o...

Ded Moroz (Дед Моро́з) or Father Frost, the Slavic version of Santa Claus, is a symbol of Russian winter and New Year’s holiday season. He is usually accompa...

Unlike Americans who think of a decorated holiday tree as a Christmas tree (рожде́ственская ёлка), Russians always call it a New Year tree (нового́дняя ёлка)...

The tradition of sending holiday cards came to Russia from England. Illustrated cards that were in trend at the end of the 19th century in Western Europe, qu...

How could America get through the holiday season without the sparkling romantic music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" (Rus. Щелкунчик / Schelkunch...

Introduced to Russia in the 17th century, tea has become one of the most popular beverages. Nowadays, it is considered the national beverage and closely asso...

‘Russian Samovar’ is a little Russian island one block away from Broadway, where culture and tradition stay untouched. Joseph Brodsky (Ио́сиф Бро́дский, a Ru...

The podstakannik (подстака́нник, literally means "thing under the glass") is a holder with a handle, most commonly made of metal that holds a drinking glass....

Samovar (самова́р) is a Russian word that consists of two roots – sam (сам), meaning ‘self’, and var (вар), derived from varit’ (вари́ть), meaning ‘to boil’....

Are Russians superstitious? Do they believe in superstitions and omens? In fact, Russian culture has a lot of superstitions. Most of them sound silly, but ma...