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I thought it would make a nice compliment to my site to include some essays written by true Russian people. I know them personally and they have written down their views for me at my request. Naturally, they have also given me permission to edit and publish their work. Their essays follow in standard blue, with my own observations and or additions included in dark blue. These essays appear in the order that I have received them, and can be found through the contents above. In terms of editing, I avoid making adjustments wherever possible, so as not to spoil the authentic feel to their writing, and I make only basic changes to errors that could otherwise be distracting for my readers. When I am not certain that a change will not affect the meaning, I make the change in square brackets [thus].
By Maia Zupnik
20th century Russian History influenced my family very dramatically. In return my family influenced a lot of its events.
In the beginning of the last century one could find among my ancestors a Russian orthodox priest, a Jewish rabbi, some active revolutionaries and peaceful peasants, so all those guys would have been very surprised ... if they had found that all of them were to unite in one common person - me.
My grandmother told me that she had survived through two revolutions, three waves of famine, two epidemics of terrible typhus, two waves of Stalin repressions and two World Wars. She lost her father in World War I and both her husband and elder son in World War II.
During World War II under German-Nazi occupation in Western-Ukraine my father was the witness of the execution of his grandmother and her two sisters. He was a three year old child and till the end of his life couldn’t bare any sounds of German Language. Two of my father’s uncles were taken to concentration camps.
All my grandparents were devoted communists and Stalinists. Still in Lvov-city you can find a deeply scratched graffiti "Stalin" that my mother made at the age of 7. Once she couldn’t believe that Stalin also went to a toilet as all the others. He was a sort of a God for them. Poor things!
My parents were representatives of that hippie life of the 60s. As well as in the West, everything became very different then. My father invented the first Soviet microchip, opening the new era of space investigations and war race. At 23 he was invited by the Academy of Science to lead a microelectronics lab in Zelenograd.
Zelenograd has always been a very liberal place. Our bright scientists and engineers were taken very easily by the KGB and seldom had real problems with it. I remember my parents reading some forbidden literature at night, and then in the morning we found it and read it too. It all was very exiting.
As for me, my favourite years were the late 80s. They were my university years and we were so overwhelmed by the sudden stream of western culture resulting from the iron curtain damages that [we] could hardly see our own empty pockets and empty shop-shelves. We read Kafka and Kamu, Joyce and Broch, Musil and Nabokov, and saw films by Godar and Antonioni, Truffo and Fellini, Gilliam and Kusturista. So [we discovered] all the world's cultural achievements, which had been stored for 70 years behind that opaque border called the "iron curtain".
Now my friends no longer discuss Herman Hesser or Thomas Mann. They are talking about bank interest and credits, the dollar/euro rate, and realty. And that is one of this capitalist world's features. Goodness - how sad!
My younger son was born in March 2004. How will he influence Russian history in the 21st century? Let’s wait and see.
By Pavel
I would like to tell you about Russian traditions; particularly how we celebrate our traditional holidays. Russia is an orthodox country and the main religious holidays are celebrated here in a big way. At the beginning of the year on the night of January 7, everybody celebrates Christmas. Usually people use this night to tell fortunes. Girls remember the fortunes they were told by their mothers and grandmothers, and they see their promised husband on this night. Christmas tides follow after Christmas night. This is a period of time before the Epiphany. Fortunetelling and Christmas carols take place all week long. Christmas carols are a very funny thing. People dress themselves up in fur coats and go from house to house with songs and performances. The masters of the house give them fare. Little by little those traditions are being forgotten in big cities. But in remote places, they are still widespread.
There is one holiday which people like to celebrate no matter where they live. This holiday is Shrove-Tide, and it is celebrated in the last week before Lent. Shrove-Tide is a time when people are seeing off winter. All week long people go on the spree. Everybody bakes pancakes with different fillings like varenje (something like jam), honey, cheese, and of course caviar, and they treat each other. At all large city squares long tables are placed and pancakes are baked. Everybody can come and taste them. Music and Russian folk songs are heard everywhere. In the streets there are many skomorokhs with bears and many gypsies in bright cloth who sing and entertain everybody around. Fisticuffs are organized. The last day of Shrove-Tide is the culmination. In the middle of the square a big man of straw is put up. He symbolizes winter. In the end he is burnt down. It is thought that spring comes after that.
My Family's Own Experience
Maia is a Russian English-Language Teacher at my school in Zelenograd. She reads my site, and I appreciate her feedback, which always helps me to put my thoughts in perspective.
Essay added: 13 Feb 2005
Russian Traditions
Pavel was a student in my Elementary group on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until I was asked to take some other Advanced classes.
Essay added: 13 Feb 2005
From here, start Russia