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Published: February 1st 2006
So, today on Saturday, Jacqueline and I woke up quite early to go to the Russian Winter Festival. It began at 11 am and continued all through the night to celebrate the Russian New Year. You all are probably wondering why? Didn't they celebrate the New Year two weeks ago like the rest of the world? Well, and the answer for that is Yes they did. But you see, under the rule of the Czar's Russia was Orthodox in religion. Therefore, when the Catholic Church, and quite frankly, the rest of the western world adopted the Gregorian Calendar hundreds of years ago, Russia did not. They stay on the Julian Calendar, which oddly enough is where the names of our months are from. The Gregorian calendar was instituted by Pope Gregory, hence Gregorian. Julian for Julius Caesar, he was also the man that gave us July and August for the corresponding Caesars. However, the months were not equal which led to the new calendar. The Julian calendar only differed by 15 days. And it survived up until the Russian Revolution, for it was during Communism when they switched. This is also why the Russian celebrate the October Revolution in early November!
But, anyways we went, and first we walked around and just looked at all the various booths and what not. There were TONS of people. It was absolutely crowded. Then we decided to have a see of what was on the stage. At first there was a folk group. And they were in what looked like traditional dress and they were singing in Russian. Unfortunately I was unable to make out exactly what they were saying...Oh well! Next came out a Russian Boys Ballet. They were so adorable and very good dancers. I was amazed by some of their moves. They were out for almost and hour! Very good entertainment. After the ballet group there was a fashion show by Russian Designers. It was like being at a runway in Paris, but not really. But it was quite an experience. I loved every minute of it. After them a Russian pop group came out but, we were getting cold and hungry and decided to find food and drink. I had a pint of Russian Beer, and it tasted like beer, gross! And I had Kielbasa with beats and cabbage. It was pretty good!
Then we took a break and went
Violinist
Close up from the screeninto the National Gallery because Jacqueline was really cold and she wanted to see more of it. However, I was disappointed because we missed the best dancing group. But I caught the tail end of their performance while I was waiting for Jacqueline to finish...
Then we went back outside and faced the crowds! And there was quite a crowd...I am glad that I do not suffer from claustrophobia! Well, after that we stood around. And then Ken Livingstone came out. He is he mayor of London and he made a speech about how much Londoners love Russians and Russia. He was accompanied by Yuri Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow. They talked, and the people cheered, it was kind of like a political rally. But then, the best thing ever happened! The Kremlin guard performed. And to get the Kremlin guard to come, President Putin had to sign a special declaration, because this was the first time they have been outside of the country! It was so super cool! It is very interesting because every guard is the same height---180cm---whatever that is!!!
But after their showing, there really wasn't much else to see, so we decided to look at all the
booths again. I bought of loaf of Russian rye bread and a diptych. The booth I bought it from said that all the proceeds are going to the renovation of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in London. I think I may attend a service on a Sunday or Saturday or whenever they go...But it was pretty cool. All in all a great day!
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Rita Heitman
non-member comment
Amazing
It's great that you could enjoy Russia in London! So if you don't get to Russia, you will have had this to enjoy. Not too many people get to hear the mayor of London and one from Russia give speeches! MOM