Wrapping up Christmas

In Russia, the holiday situation (at least for religious holidays) is a bit complicated, due to the difference between the Orthodox calendar and the Western calendar. Basically, the Orthodox calendar runs 13 days later than the Western one (that's a bit simplified, but you get the idea), at least for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

What this means to the average Russian is that they get two holidays for the price of one. You'd like to celebrate Christmas, but Dec. 25th has come and gone? No problem! Just wait until Jan. 6th, when you can celebrate again. Same goes with New Years, with a "new" New Year's day, and an "old" New Year's day as well.

Steven looking cute for the partygoers

So, when our small group called and said that they were struggling to find a place to celebrate Christmas on Jan 9th, it wasn't a surprise that they were scheduling it then. Of course, since we have a big apartment in a reasonably central location for most of them, we volunteered that they come here. At first, we were told it would be 12 people or so. Then, the day before, someone hinted that it could be 15 or more. No problem, I thought. We have 17 chairs, if you count office chairs, folding chairs, and cases that make suitable seats, so I thought we were set. When the party actually arrived, though, we had 29 people! I don't know if our apartment was really designed for so many, but we had a great time.

It was the perfect way to host - B just whipped up a couple of desserts (an aside, if I may - Russians LOVE cheesecake!), and the guests insisted on bringing all the food and planning the program. And quite a program it was! There was a time for general chatting over tea, then we had a time where we just brought up and thought about different needs. Then, we broke up for the meal, which was, in the Russian custom, sliced breads, meats, and cheeses, with all kinds of little salads (and by "salads," I mean salads in the sense that Southerners do: mayonnaise-infused combinations of starches, not leafy green mixtures). Very tasty, and thoroughly enjoyed by all.


Then, we had some games, including one where everyone drew a paper out of a hat (see below) and then had to describe the item on it for everyone to guess what it was. The party planner ensured me that she would preselect me something easy so I wouldn't struggle with the vocabulary. As I listened to the others describe Christmassy topics like "shepherds" and "Bethlehem," I thought it wouldn't be a problem. Imagine my surprise when she handed me my "easy" topic: Advent. Yikes.


I struggled to get that concept across in Russian to a bunch of people who had never heard of it (the Orthodox liturgy doesn't have the specific concept of Advent as such). Not that it would have really mattered if they had been familiar with it. I'm a long way from knowing words like "liturgical calendar" in Russian, so I still might have struggled to explain. :)

Anyway, after the game, we were regaled with people quoting poetry. This is a really interesting aspect of Russian culture. Almost everyone, from childhood, memorizes poems, and a standard activity in gatherings is reciting them rote for the enjoyment of the other guests. One of our friends recited a poem, word-for-word, that must have taken him close to 10 minutes. Amazing!

Then, we listened to several songs sung by various performers (see below video). Finally, we closed with an extended session remembering the year to come to Him. It was really a great time for us to grow in our friendships with a bunch of people (and meet a few new ones) and our experience of their culture.

Get this many people together at this time of year and you end up with quite a pile of coats!

Other than that, what have we been up to? Well, "school" has started again, since our teacher has returned from her vacation. So, we've been back at our Russian studies. We've also had several chances to get out of the apartment and go visiting or just on some excursions: Last weekend we decided to go with our friend Julie out to the souvenir market on the other side of town. It was cold. Not Siberia cold (some of our friends out there report obscenely cold temperatures!), but really cold for us. I think that the low that day was -26° C, but it might have climbed up almost to -20° in the afternoon.

At any rate, that's pretty cold to be outside for 3 hours or so, walking around looking at things, and by the time we got back in the metro I was glad for the warmth of the crowded metro train. Poor little Steven, bundled up in 3 layers under a thick snowsuit and 2 blankets, got cold about 2 hours in and started to fuss. It was hard to blame him - the flannel-lined jeans I had on weren't cutting it at that temperature either.

The entrance to the souvenir market, which was deserted even by the Russians due to the cold

We did have a good walk around and saw a lot of interesting artifacts and Russian trinkets. Got a lot of ideas for what some of you will be getting whenever we see you next! We've also been able to get over to Andrey's and Iulia's (below pic is of Iulia in her kitchen) place a few times of late, which has been fun. I must admit, though, it's been a bit tough on B to get on board with the Russian habit of going for extended walks outside when it's so cold.


Last time we visited them, we went for an hour plus walk in the woods, again, at -20°. We enjoyed it, since we don't get to see a lot of woods in the city. However, when they announced at 8 pm that they'd like to go for a second walk in the dark, I think B started to question their sanity. Fortunately, we pleaded the "Steven's cold" defense (neglecting to mention his poor pregnant mother!) half an hour in to the second walk and went home a bit early.


I guess it's just something that we need to work on getting accultured to! Anyway, this has gotten really long already, so I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for stopping by. We leave you with this photo of someone who's even more of a glutton for cold - an ice-fisherman we spotted on one of our walks.