Public holidays

There are some public holidays when people all over the country do not work. The major holidays are: New Year's Day, Victory Day, May Day, Constitution Day, the Women's Day, Independence Day.

New Year`s Day
There is one holiday which is loved by everybody: children and adults. This is New Year. People decorate New Year trees with toys and lights. On the New Year night people go to a dance, visit their friends or stay at home and watch TV. It's my favorite holiday.

THE 8th OF MARCH (The Women's Day)
It is a happy and nice holiday. It is a good tradition in our country to give presents and flowers to women on this day. Each family celebrates this spring holiday. In the morning men go to the shops or markets to buy some flowers. They try to clean flats and help women to cook a holiday dinner. Sons and daughters help their mothers too.
Some families celebrate the 8th of March going to the theatres and concerts. Others prefer to invite guests and stay at home.
All women try to be nice and happy on this day.

MAY DAY
The 1st of May is a spring holiday in our country. Usually it is warm during this day. The weather is fine. The trees are green. You can see some flowers in the parks and gardens. I don't go to school and my parents don't go to work on the 1st of May.

Victory Day
The greatest national holiday in our country is Victory Day. On the 9th of May we celebrate the anniversary of the victory over fascism in the World War II. Many veterans took part in the military parade.

Independence Day is a new holiday in our country. On the 12th of June, 1992, the first President of Russia was elected.
We also celebrate Day of the Defender of Motherland on the 23d of February, Easter, Day of knowledge and lots of professional holidays.

Russian traditions

Almost every nation and country has a reputation of some kind. The Englishmen are reputed to be cold, reserved, easy-going and fond of sport. They are the nation of stay-at-homes. «There is no place like home», they say. The English man’s home is his castle is a saying known all over the world. They prefer a small house built for one family, with a small garden are a fire in the centre of the house. They like animals very much and follow the traditions concerning food and meals. We know much about English traditions and customs but now I’d like to say a few words about the traditions of my native land - Russia.

To my mind, the main traits of their characters which differ them from other people are hospitality, their «open heart», «golden hands», wise Russian fairytales reflect this wisdom. Our people are hardworking, patient, never loosing hope for better life. The Russians are the talented nation. Russia gave the world beautiful names of Pushkin and Lermontov, Chaikovsky and Repin, thousands of names of world famous poets, writers, composers, scientists. All of them are the pride of the nation because they sand the beauty of our nature and people.

Besides these great names in literature and music, our country is famous for Russian traditional specific crafts its skilled craftsmen. Painted boxes of Palekh, coloured shawls of Pavlov Posad, clay toys of Dymkovo, laces of Vologda are known all over the world. The names of Gzhel and Khokhloma are considered to be the symbols of Russia as well as matryoshkas and samovars. The history of khokhloma goes back into the 17th century Producing of tableware-dishes, spoons, mugs was begun at that time in the villages of Suomino and Khokhloma in the Nizhniy Novgorod Province. On the banks of the great Russian river Volga. Many carpenters, painters have been working since then reviving traditions of old masters. The Khokhloma style is characterized by using plant elements in painting the tableware. The prevailing colours are black, yellow, golden, green and red. And nowadays this craft is sure to be saved, it will be developed and brought into the future by the new generation of painters. The reviving of old crafts is connected with the reviving of the traditional arts of all peoples inhabiting our big country. There are 100 of them. They revive their culture, costumes, dances and language. It is the revival of our souls. Now we celebrate the forgotten holidays - Troisa, Maslenitsa, Easter. We again sing Russian folk songs and chastushki, dance Barinya and perform khorovods, ride in troikas.

Traditional Russian cooking is world-famous for such dishes as okroshka, shi, pelmeny, kurnik, kvas.

We begin to build and reconstruct churches as well. The example of it is the building of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. It is the symbol of reviving human feelings, national pride and patriotism.