Buryatia

Martyn Andrews explores Buryatia, the republic in Siberia along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal. Personally testing the possible benefits of Tibetan medicine, learning from Old Believers how to make biscuits and joining traditional Buryatian athletic contests, he concludes that the republic is one of Russia's most multi-cultural.

HOW THE CITY BEGAN

In the spring of 1703, on May 16th, on the day of the Holy Spirit, the construction of the fortress on the Zayachy Island began. Legend has it that when the first ditch was ready, Peter I took a stone box containing a gold ark with particles of the holy remains of Saint Andrew the First Called, and put it into the ditch. Then he cut two slender birch-trees, tied their crowns together and put the trunks into holes dug in the ground. The birch-trees marked the place where the gates of the future fortress were supposed to be. At that moment an eagle flying over the island came down and perched on the birch-trees. Peter, who saw it as a good omen, ordered to catch the eagle. He tied a kerchief around its legs and, holding the eagle in his hand, boarded a yacht and sailed off to the sounds of gun salute.

Peter named the fortress after his heavenly patron Apostle Peter. At first the name was pronounced in the Dutch manner – Sanct-Peterburh but was eventually changed into Sanct-Peterburg and remained such until the early 20th century.

Construction of the fortress proceeded smoothly and took just four months to complete. A rampart and bastions protected it from the outside. Inside a church was laid in honor of Apostles Peter and Paul. The church came to be known as Petropavlovskaya and so did the fortress, while the city springing fast around it took the fortress’s initial name – St.Petersburg.

When King Charles XII of Sweden learnt that the Russians were building a new city in the Baltics, he said: “Let Czar Peter do this useless job – build cities, and we will do better — capture them.”

August 1703 saw a landmark event for St.Petersburg as a future seaport: the first merchant ship from Holland dropped anchor in St.Petersburg’s harbor. It brought salt and wine. Peter, overjoyed, bid his guests a rousing welcome and lavished them with gifts. He realized how desperately the city needed a port and ordered to speed up its construction. Up to 20 thousand workers from all over Russia St.Petersburg. Admiraltywere brought in annually. Working in shifts for two months in terribly hard conditions, they were building the city. Things were complicated by a swampy soil and frequent floods, and the workers did all they could to save the fruits of their labor. They built embankments and dug drain canals.

As the Swedes were still hoping to recapture the area, Peter built a naval fort on the island of Kotlin just where the Neva emptied into the sea. The Kronslot fort, which eventually turned into a powerful sea fortress Kronstadt, had an enormous part to play in defending the naval approaches to the city. Peter instructed the fort’s commandant to maintain everything in strict order and fire warning shots as a signal for passing neutral ships to lower the sails and drop anchor, and in case they disobey, to open attack fire.

Now that Russia had an outlet to sea, it was only natural that it should have a navy. Peter used his architectural and engineering genius to design a shipyard. Construction began on November 5, 1704, and in just a year the Admiralty Shipyard, the cradle of the Russian Navy, was put into service. In the first quarter of the 18th century it accounted for half of all Russian battleships, 23 out of the 48. The ships had excellent combat characteristics, they were fast and maneuverable, a fact that even Russia’s enemies dared not deny. The Russian influence in the Baltic was rapidly increasing.

In 1709 the Russian army defeated the Swedes in a crucial battle at Poltava. Weakened by the protracted war with Russia, Sweden no longer posed a threat to St.Petersburg. This made Peter even more confident of the plan he had been cherishing ever since he started building the new city — to transfer the capital from Moscow to St.Petersburg. In 1712 he made an ultimate decision…

Source:link

History pages:The siege of Leningrad

900 Days In Hell:The Church shared the burden of life under siege with its people


Mikhail Shkarovskiy

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, foreign policy circumstances made it necessary for Soviet authorities to abandon their plan to totally destroy the Russian Orthodox Church in the country. Looming war forced government bodies to re-evaluate the role of the Church within the country and in the international arena. However, its position remained tragic, many prohibitions complicated its activity, hundreds of priests languished in prisons and labor camps. Towards the end of the 1930s, only 4 ruling bishops remained at liberty in the Soviet Union. By 1941 in one of the country's largest dioceses, Leningrad, only 21 Orthodox temples survived; monasteries and educational institutions were closed; there was no church press. Severe burdens of war and a city under siege increased these difficulties.

During this period, the Leningrad diocese was headed by the well-known churchman, Metropolitan Alexiy (Simansky), later Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. In the encircled city and its northern suburbs, there remained under his rule the St. Nicholas Episcopal Cathedral and the St. Prince-Vladimir Cathedral and the following churches: St. Nicholas - Bolsheokhotinskaya, St. Job cemetery - Volkovskaya, St. Demetrius - Kolomyazhskaya, and the Savior - Pargolovskaya.



The Savior/Transfiguration Cathedral, St. Seraphim Cemetery and the churches in the Lisy Nos settlement, administered by Protopresbyter Alexiy Abakumov, belonged to the renovationist movement. Moreover, one working Josephite temple remained in the city - Holy Trinity in Lesny, served by hieromonk Pavel (Ligor). The total number of Orthodox clerics in the city did not exceed 25.

The Church calls for the defense of the Homeland

Since the first days of the war, the Russian Orthodox Church was devoted to the defense of the homeland. Already on June 22, 1942, the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergiy (Stragorodskiy), addressed a message to the faithful. It was read in Leningrad's temples, and people departed for the front as for an ascetic feat [podvig] with the Church's blessing. On June 26, the head of the diocese, Metropolitan Alexiy, wrote his appeal to the clergy and faithful "The Church calls for the defense of the Homeland". His sermon given on August 10 gained special renown. It referred, first of all, to a Russian's patriotism and devoutness. At this time the Leningrad Metropolitan's authority and influence were so great that on October 12, 1941, the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, in his will, appointed him his to be successor.

At Metropolitan Alexiy's suggestion, Leningrad's parishes started collecting donations for the city's defense. The Metropolitan supported the believers' desire to donate existing parish savings to this cause, at times these were very significant savings. The parish council of St. Prince-Vladimir Cathedral offered to open, at their expense, an infirmary for wounded men and sick soldiers, and on August 8 transferred 710 thousand of the 714 thousand rubles belonging to the parish community.

However, concrete charitable activity was forbidden even after the war began. Parishes were allowed to transfer money only to public funds: the Red Cross, defense, and others. This restriction did not dampen the enthusiasm of either the faithful or the clergy. Parishes refused to make all but the most necessary expenditures. Warm articles for soldiers were collected everywhere; the faithful donated food for the sick. During the first days of the war, St. Nicholas Cathedral allocated 385 thousand rubles, and by the end of 1941 all of Leningrad's parishes gave a total sum of 2 million 144 thousand rubles.


the Dimitriy Donskoy tank column

text in full.

National Russian Dress: Footwear

Russian peasants used to wear lapti (bast shoes), whereas in towns high boots were the most common footwear. Heeled boots appeared in Russia somewhat in the 14th century. The high boots were usually square-tipped, whereas the nobles were distinguished by upturned toes. The tops of the boots were comparatively short and angularly cut towards the knees. They were sewn of coloured leather, morocco, brocade or velvet and were often decorated with embroidery and even gems. In the late 17th century under the influence of western fashions the nobility started to wear low shoes.

Lapti, Traditional Bast Shoes

In Russian self-perception the braided footwear known as lapti is one of the most important symbols of the traditional national mode of living.

The lapti made of bast or birch bark were the main type of peasant footwear in Russia till the mid 19th century.

The lapti were worn with the onucha, i.e. a puttee, a strip of cloth wrapped round the foot. The onucha was fastened to the leg with a bast lace fixed to the shoe and was twined up around the shin in the manner of the Old Greek sandal. Nevertheless, when walking for a long time one had to rewind the onuchas.

The lapti making was a peasants’ winter occupation, when they had no field works to do. The laying-in of bast took place in summer, when bast had all the required strength properties. The newly braided lapti were stretched on a single last, so the right and the left one were the same.

To make one lapot one needs seven bast stripes two meters long each. One bast stripe was to be as wide as a thumb of the man who gathered it and then made the bast shoes. For making the shoes they needed bast from the even part of a linden trunk, without any defects along the full length. It means that mature, tall and even linden trees were chosen for barking. Frequently after the summary loss of its bark the tree would die and remain to stand with its naked “stripped” trunk. The sorrowful fact found its reflection in the Russian figurative expression: “to strip like a linden”, which means to deprive somebody of all the needed resources and thus endanger his/her life.

Since leather boots were always expensive and only well-to-do people could afford it, while the poor wore lapti, so the bast shoes came to symbolize poverty, and low birth, as well as lack of culture and backwardness.

Hence is the number of set expression in the Russian language: * “lapot” as a trope stands for a simpleton, an ignorant person; * the derivative attribute “lapotny” of the same meaning; * “Methinks, we don’t sup soup with a lapot”, (rough translation) means “we are not just out of the trees, so don’t you teach us how to live”.

Bakhily (aka bredni, brodni, butyli, lovchagi, ostashi, sapogi cherepanskie) are men’s working and fishing footwear made of leather. These were soft leather jackboots with high tops to the knees or thighs. The bakhily were usually made on the straight last, i.e. the same for the right and the left foot. Soft leather soles were stitched to the boots with an axed thread, and then the boots were turned out. The tops were also made of soft leather, with one seam behind, and were fastened onto the leg with a strap. The strap was put through a small loop or a ring stitched to the back part, and was twined up round the leg and tied under the knee. To make them more durable and protect feet from moist the bakhily were dubbed with tar and fish oil, and soaked in slated water; additional straps of leather were lined to the toe and the back part.



In some parts of Russia “bakhily” was also the name of working footwear on solid nailed soles or footwear made of skins of sea animals or calves, but with soles of seal skin. The tops in all the cases were also soft and long and fastened onto the leg with straps.

Bakhily were usually put on woolen socks or stockings. Insoles of soft hay were put inside.

The bakhily were usually worn for fishing, hunting or any other crafts. Soft turned-out jackboots were typical footwear in Russian villages. They were known as far back as 10th century as footwear of the townsfolk.

Valenki (aka valentsy, volnushechki, vykhodki, pimy, katanki, or felt boots) are men’s and women’s winter footwear fulled of sheep wool.



These are felt footwear with high tops, round toes, and flat soles without high heels. As a rule they were made on one last, the same for the right and the left foot. The tops reaching knees were usually not turned down but slightly cut for more comfortable walking. The soles were often lined with leather to prevent the boots from soaking wet.

The valenki could be grey, brown, black, or, more rarely, white. White felt boots were embroidered with coloured worsted or beads. They were fooled by special masters, called katali or pimokaty. In every province there were a few villages that specialized in felting boots. Along with that there were large centres of felt boots manufacturing; their products were distributed far beyond the limits of one province. Thus, for example, in the north-east of European Russia and in Siberia the so-called kukhmorski valenki were famous; those white embroidered felt boots were made by masters of Malmyzhsky District of Vyatka Province.

In spite of being very famous as Russian national footwear the valenki are comparatively young footwear in Russia. They appeared in Siberia in the mid 18th century, and came to European Russia in the early 19th century. In the 19th century the valenki were holiday footwear of wealthy peasants. White embroidered valenki were holiday footwear only of very rich peasants. In the late 19th and early 20th century felt boots got widely spread, becoming basic winter footwear of peasants in European Russia.

Source:www.russia-ic-com

Victory Day

«9 МАЯ ! ДЕНЬ ПОБЕДЫ !!!» на Яндекс.Фотках

War chronicles: day-by-day. May 8

From an address by the Supreme Commander in Chief Joseph Stalin:

“In Berlin the representatives of the German High Command have signed the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of the German armed forces. The Great Patriotic War, which the Soviet people have fought against the Nazi invaders, has been triumphantly won, and Germany has been routed. Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in action for the freedom and independence of our Motherland!”.

Troops of the First Ukrainian Front captured Dresden on May 8th. Soviet tankmen advancing from the west defeated a German tank unit in a head-on battle and forced their way into the western outskirts of Dresden. Other Soviet units captured the northern part of the city. The Nazis suffered heavy casualties in the fighting for Dresden. Up to 2,000 German officers and men were wiped out on the city’s western outskirt, and also 27 tanks and armoured personnel carriers were put out of action.

Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov recalled years later that…

“After signing the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender Keitel said that when driven in a car he was shocked by the destruction that he saw in the streets of Berlin. One of our officers retorted by asking: “Herr Feldmarschall, why weren’t you shocked when thousands of Soviet cities and villages were being wiped off the map on your orders, when millions of our people, including thousands upon thousands of children, died under the wreckage?” Keitel grew pale, nervously shrugged his shoulders but said nothing”.

On that day the US President Harry Truman wrote this in a letter to Joseph Stalin:

“You have shown the ability of a freedom-loving and a most courageous people to defeat the evil forces of barbarity, however powerful these were. On the occasion of our common victory we welcome the people and the armies of the Soviet Union, and their excellent leadership”.

Historical detail…

King George VI of the United Kingdom addressed the nation on the occasion of the Victory Day. He paid tribute to the memory of all men and women who served in the various armed forces and sacrificed their lives, and expressed his gratitude to those who had courageously carried arms, and also to the entire civilian population, which had staunchly and in all humility shouldered such an enormous burden.

Source:The Voice of Russia

Traditional russian beverage and meal-kisel

Its name is derived from a Slavic word meaning "sour" (cf. Russian кислый kisly), as sour fruits are preferred.
Kisel (kee-‘sel) is a thick, starchy drink made mostly of fruit and berries. Kisel can be also made of oats or wheat or peas, which I wouldn’t dare to try. I do admit that this can be really healing for a diseased stomach though. What’s interesting is that oatmeal kisel is one of the oldest Russian dishes ever. There’s a legend telling about an ancient Russian city besieged by nomadic tribes and suffering from famine until an old sage told the citizens to collect all remaining oats and all honey they could still find in their cellars. The citizens did as the wise man told them and brewed kisel from the oats, and sweet drink from the honey. They made two new water wells and filled them with kisel and honey drink, then invited a delegation of nomads, showed them the wells full of drink and kisel, and assured the guests that they had enough food to survive. The nomads were astonished at the fact that Russians obtained food directly from their land and told their king about the miracle. The situation seemed pretty hopeless. The siege was raised, and the nomads went away in search of a different city to conquer.


Russian pea kisel-syt.The favourite dish of russian сoachmen

There’s also the expression “Milk rivers and kisel shores” in the Russian language, which is used to describe carefree and prosperous life.


Oats kisel

You see how important this drink is in Russian culture?

You can have kisel as a soothing drink or serve it with cream of rice, rice pudding, oatmeal cream, or with all kinds of mousse, cream, and custard.

Source:www.russianseason.net,wikipedia.org