Former USSR Culture Workshop
2. Overview
Eastern Europe
|
Baltics
|
Caucasus
|
Central
Asia
|
USSR Nationalities 1982
- 82% are "Russian" (Tables
8, 9, 10: Ethnic Groups, Autonomous Republics, Designated
Jurisdictions)
Compare to Native American tribal lands/reservations.
- 126 dialects, most also speak Russian
- 1.8 times the size of US
- 11 time zones
- Distance from end to end equal to distance from Moscow to Chicago
- 1/6 of the earth's inhabited land area
- Western portion, 25% of Russia, is more than half of all
Europe
- 45% forest, 10% swampland
- Lake
Baikal largest fresh water lake in world, 20% of all fresh water,
more than all North American Great Lakes.
- People: Blue-eyed, blond-haired little, Koreans, Eskimos, looked like Cherokees, but were not.
- Religion: 75% Orthodox, 19% Muslim, 7% other.
- 98% literate
- Moscow subway of worlds best, 3 million capacity
- Photos: isba (cabin), pechka (oven), drying herbs, samovar 1, samovar 2, city
appartments, house 1,
house 2, house 3, house 4, kitchen 1, kitchen 2, kitchen 3, mailboxes, ...
Rise of Corporatist State in Russia (The 2006 Long Telegram), A. Illarionov, Cato Institute, March 7, 2006. Slide 55
Rise of Corporatist State in Russia (The 2006 Long Telegram), A. Illarionov, Cato Institute, March 7, 2006. Slide 40
| January 1-5 January 7 February 23 March 8 May 1 May 9 June 12 November 4 |
New Year Holidays Christmas (Russian Orthodox church follows the Julian calendar) Protector of Motherland Day (USSR: Day of the Soviet Army and Navy) International Women’s Day Spring and Labor Day (USSR: International Workers' Day) Victory Day (Over German Nazism in the WW2) Day of Russia (USSR: Independence Day, 1994: Day of the adoption of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian Federation) Day of National Unity (Peoples Unity Day, October Revolution) |
Westernization has crept in. Some people allow Halloween for kids and a first Christmas on December 25.
Other holidays
- Saturday volunteer work days for civic improvement
- January 13 — Old New Year
- January 25 —Tatiana Day
- — Maslenitsa (a week before the Great Lent)
- — Easter
- April 12 — Cosmonautics Day
- May 7 — Radio Day
- July 7 — Ivan Kupala Day