“Nations in many ways repeat the destinies of individual people. They also have their own home, work, live better or worse, but the main thing is that, like people, they are unique individuals with their own habits and character, with their own way of understanding things. History has made peoples like this, all the circumstances of their long, difficult life,” the Russian philosopher Ilyin spoke figuratively about the national character of the people.
IN in a broad sense national character is a natural phenomenon. Its bearers, ethnic groups, come and go; with them come and go various types of ethno-national character. In the narrow sense, national character is a historical phenomenon; national character changes over time as the people self-organize, the historical situation changes and the historical tasks facing society. Thus, the circumstances of the peaceful coexistence of various ethnic groups on the territory of European Russia gave rise, in the words of the writer F.M. Dostoevsky, national tolerance and “worldwide responsiveness” of Russians.
An important feature of the Russian character was patience, which ensured survival in natural and climatic conditions. Eastern Europe. Added to this were constant wars, upheavals, and the hardships of life under the 250-year-old Tatar-Mongol yoke. In Rus' they said: “God endured and commanded us,” “For patience God gives salvation,” “Patience and labor will grind everything down.” The main condition for patience was its moral validity.
The life of a Russian man required unification into labor collectives, in the artel, in the community. A person’s personal interests and his well-being were often placed below the well-being of the community and the state. A harsh life required fulfillment of duty, endless overcoming of difficulties; Circumstances often acted not on the side of a person, but against him, so the fulfillment of what the Great Russians planned was perceived as rare luck, luck, a gift of fate. Due to low productivity and riskiness, unpredictability of results, work for the Russian peasant became a natural, God-given occupation, rather, a punishment (suffering - from the word “suffering”).
Open borders and constant external threat fostered in Russian people feelings of self-sacrifice and heroism. The consciousness of the people connected foreign invasions with the sinfulness of people. Invasions are punishments for sins and a test of perseverance and pleasing to God. Therefore, in Rus' it has always been righteous “not sparing your belly” to defend your land from the “infidels”.
The soul of the people was largely nurtured by Orthodoxy. The philosopher S. Bulgakov wrote: “The people’s worldview and spiritual way of life are determined by the Faith of Christ. No matter how far the distance between ideal and reality may be here, the norm is Christian asceticism. Asceticism is the whole story, with the Tatars oppressing him, standing at the post of guarding civilization in this cruel climate, with eternal hunger strikes, cold, suffering.” The values of Orthodoxy merged with moral values and formed the moral core of the people.
Traits of the Russian national character include irrationality of thinking, when figurative, emotional forms prevail over conceptual ones, when practicality and prudence recede into the background. This is also one of the sides of Russian “dual faith,” that is, the preservation and mutual integration of paganism and Orthodoxy.
Patience and humility went hand in hand with love of freedom. Byzantine and Arab authors wrote about the love of freedom of the Slavs in ancient times. The cruelest serfdom could easily coexist with the love of freedom as long as it did not encroach on the inner world of man or until boundless violence ensued. Protest resulted in uprisings and, more often than not, retreat to undeveloped lands. The geopolitical realities of Eastern Europe and Siberia allowed this to be done for many centuries.
At the same time, the best features of the national character crystallized within subethnic groups. In the minds of the Cossack, military valor and fulfillment of duty were elevated to the absolute level, in the minds of the Siberian - inflexibility, perseverance and perseverance.
Thus, the partially examined traits of the Russian character make it possible to highlight duality, the struggle of opposites. According to the philosopher N. Berdyaev, Russia itself is “dual”: it has united different cultures, “Russia is East-West.”
Academician D.S. Likhachev wrote: “We need to understand the traits of the Russian character... Correctly directed. These traits are an invaluable quality of a Russian person. A revival of self-esteem, a revival of conscience and the concept of honesty - this is, in general terms, what we need.”
IN. Klyuchevsky:“The prudent Great Russian sometimes loves, headlong, to choose the most hopeless and imprudent solution, contrasting the whim of nature with the whim of his own courage. This inclination to tease happiness, to play with luck is the Great Russian maybe. No people in Europe are capable of such intense labor. short time, which a Great Russian can develop, ... we will not find such a lack of habit of even, moderate and measured, constant work, as in Great Russia.
He is generally reserved and cautious, even timid, always on his own mind... self-doubt excites his strength, and success weakens it. The inability to calculate in advance, figure out a plan of action and go straight to the intended goal was noticeably reflected in the mentality of the Great Russian... he became more cautious than prudent... Russian people are strong in hindsight...”
N.A. Berdyaev:“In a Russian person there is no narrowness of a European person, concentrating his energy on a small space of the soul, there is no this prudence, economy of space and time... The power of breadth over the Russian soul gives rise to a whole series of Russian qualities and Russian shortcomings. Russian laziness, carelessness, lack of initiative, and a poorly developed sense of responsibility are associated with this. The land rules over the Russian man... The Russian man, the man of the earth, feels helpless to take possession of these spaces and organize them. He is too accustomed to entrust this organization to the central government...”
Alfred Goettner:“The severity and stinginess of nature, devoid, however, of the wild power of the sea and high mountains, taught him the passive virtues of contentment with little things, patience, obedience - virtues further strengthened by the history of the country...”
We are Russians...
What a delight!
A.V. Suvorov
Reflections on the character of the Russian people lead us to the conclusion that the character of the people and the character of an individual do not have a direct correlation. The people are a conciliar, symphonic personality, therefore it is hardly possible to detect in every Russian person all the features and properties of the Russian national character. In general, in the Russian character one can see the qualities of Peter the Great, Prince Myshkin, Oblomov and Khlestakov, i.e. both positive and negative properties. There are no nations on earth that have only positive or only negative traits character. In reality, there is a known relationship between the two. Only in the assessment of some peoples by others does a false idea arise, giving rise to stereotypes and myths, that another (not our) people has mainly negative character traits. And, conversely, there is a desire to attribute all sorts of positive characteristics to superlatives own people.
In the character of the Russian people, such properties as patience, national fortitude, conciliarity, generosity, immensity (breadth of soul), and talent are often noted. BUT. Lossky, in his book “The Character of the Russian People,” begins his study with such a trait of the Russian character as religiosity. “The main, deepest character trait of the Russian people is their religiosity, and the search for absolute good associated with it... which is feasible only in the Kingdom of God,” he writes. “Perfect good without any admixture of evil and imperfections exists in the Kingdom of God because it consists of individuals who fully implement in their behavior the two commandments of Jesus Christ: to love God more than yourself, and your neighbor as yourself. Members of the Kingdom of God are completely free from selfishness and therefore they create only absolute values - moral goodness, beauty, knowledge of truth, benefits that are indivisible and indestructible, serving the whole world" [ 1 ].
Lossky puts emphasis on the word “search” for absolute good, thereby he does not absolutize the properties of the Russian people, but seeks to designate their spiritual aspirations. Therefore, in the history of Russia, thanks to the influence of the great holy ascetics, the ideal of the people became not powerful, not rich, but “Holy Rus'”. Lossky cites the insightful remark of I.V. Kireyevsky, that in comparison with the businesslike, almost theatrical behavior of Europeans, one is surprised by the humility, calmness, restraint, dignity and inner harmony of people who grew up in the traditions of Russian Orthodox Church. Even many generations of Russian atheists, instead of Christian religiosity, showed formal religiosity, a fanatical desire to realize on earth a kind of kingdom of God without God, on the basis of scientific knowledge and universal equality. “Considering that the main property of the Russian people is Christian religiosity and the search for absolute good associated with it,” wrote Lossky, “in the following chapters I will try to explain some other properties of the Russian people in connection with this essential feature of their character” [ 2 ].
Lossky calls such derived traits of the Russian character the ability to higher forms experience, feeling and will (powerful willpower, passion, maximalism), love of freedom, kindness, talent, messianism and missionism. At the same time, he also names negative traits associated with the lack of the middle area of culture - fanaticism, extremism, which manifested themselves in the Old Believers, nihilism and hooliganism. It should be noted that Lossky, when analyzing the features of the Russian national character, has in mind the thousand-year experience of the existence of the Russian people and in fact does not give assessments related to the trends characteristic of the Russian character in the 20th century. For us, what is important in Lossky’s works is the basic feature of the national character, the dominant that determines all other properties and sets the vector for the analysis of the problem posed.
Modern researchers of this topic take more into account the trends in the development of the Russian national character of the 20th century, without denying the tradition that, over the course of the thousand-year history of Russia and the Russian people, has shaped these properties. So, V.K. Trofimov in his book “The Soul of the Russian People” writes: “Acquaintance with the national-physical and spiritual determinants of the psychological properties of the Russian people allows us to highlight the fundamental internal qualities national psychology. These fundamental qualities, which constitute the essence of the national psychology and national character of the Russian people, can be designated as the essential forces of the Russian soul" [ 3 ].
Among the essential forces he considers the paradoxical nature of mental manifestations (the inconsistency of the Russian soul), contemplation with the heart (the primacy of feeling and contemplation over reason and understanding), the immensity of life's impulse (the breadth of the Russian soul), the religious desire for the absolute, national resilience, “We-psychology” and love of freedom. “The essential forces inherent in the deep foundations of the Russian soul are extremely contradictory in the possible consequences of their practical implementation. They can become a source of creation in economics, politics and culture. In the hands of a wise national elite, for centuries the emerging features of national psychology served prosperity, strengthening of power and Russia's authority in the world" [ 4 ].
F.M. Dostoevsky, long before Berdyaev and Lossky, showed how the character of the Russian people combines the base and the sublime, the holy and the sinful, the “ideal of Madonna” and the “ideal of Sodom,” and the battlefield of these principles is the human heart. In Dmitry Karamazov’s monologue, the extremes and boundless breadth of the Russian soul are expressed with exceptional force: “Moreover, I cannot bear that another person, even higher in heart and with a lofty mind, begins with the ideal of the Madonna, and ends with the ideal of Sodom. It is even more terrible who is already with the ideal of Sodom in his soul does not deny the ideal of the Madonna, and his heart burns from it and truly, truly burns, as in his young, blameless years. No, the man is broad, too broad, I would narrow it down" [ 5 ].
The consciousness of their sinfulness gives the Russian people the ideal of spiritual ascent. Characterizing Russian literature, Dostoevsky emphasizes that all the timeless and beautiful images in the works of Pushkin, Goncharov and Turgenev were borrowed from the Russian people. They took from him his simplicity, purity, meekness, intelligence and gentleness, in contrast to everything that was broken, false, superficial and slavishly borrowed. And this contact with the people gave them extraordinary strength.
Dostoevsky highlights another fundamental need of the Russian people - the need for constant and unquenchable suffering, everywhere and in everything. He has been infected with this thirst for suffering from time immemorial; a stream of suffering runs through its entire history, not only from external misfortunes and disasters, but wells up from the very heart of the people. For the Russian people, even in happiness there is certainly a part of suffering, otherwise happiness for them is incomplete. Never, even in the most solemn moments of his history, does he have a proud and triumphant look, but only a look of tenderness to the point of suffering; he sighs and lifts up his glory to the mercy of the Lord. This idea of Dostoevsky found clear expression in his formula: “Whoever does not understand Orthodoxy will never understand Russia.”
Truly, our shortcomings are a continuation of our strengths. The polarities of the Russian national character can be represented as a whole series of antinomies expressing positive and negative properties.
1. breadth of soul - absence of form;
2. generosity - wastefulness;
3. love of freedom - weak discipline (anarchism);
4. prowess - revelry;
5. patriotism - national egoism.
These parallels can be increased many times over. I.A. Bunin gives a significant parable in “Cursed Days”. The peasant says: the people are like wood, from it you can make both an icon and a club, depending on who processes this wood - Sergius of Radonezh or Emelka Pugachev [ 6 ].
Many Russian poets sought to express the total immensity of the Russian national character, but A.K. succeeded especially fully in this. Tolstoy:
If you love, so without reason,
If you threaten, it’s not a joke,
If you scold, so rashly,
If you chop, it’s too bad!
If it's too bold to argue,
If you punish, that's the point,
If you forgive, then with all your heart,
If there is a feast, then there is a feast!
I.A. Ilyin draws attention to the fact that immensity for a Russian person is a living concrete reality, his object, his starting point, his task. “Such is the Russian soul: passion and power are given to it; form, character and transformation are its historically vital tasks.” Among Western analysts of the Russian national character, these features were most successfully expressed by the German thinker W. Schubart. The greatest interest in contrasting two diametrically opposed types of worldview - Western (Promethean) and Russian (Johnnian) - is a number of positions proposed by Schubart for comparison, which are saturated with diverse specific material. Let's reproduce one of them. The culture of the middle and the culture of the end. Western culture- culture of the middle. Socially it rests on the middle class, psychologically on the mental state of the middle, balance. Her virtues are self-control, good manners, efficiency, discipline. “The European is a decent and diligent, skilled worker, a flawlessly functioning cog in a large mechanism. Outside his profession, he is hardly taken into account. He prefers the path of the golden mean, and this is usually the path to gold.” Materialism and philistinism are the goal and result of Western culture.
The Russian moves within the framework of a peripheral culture. Hence the breadth and immensity of the Russian soul, the feeling of freedom right up to anarchism and nihilism; feelings of guilt and sinfulness; an apocalyptic worldview and, finally, sacrifice as the central idea of Russian religious morality. “Foreigners who came to Russia for the first time,” wrote Schubart, “could not get rid of the impression that they found themselves in sacred place, set foot on the holy land... The expression “Holy Rus'” is not an empty phrase. A traveler through Europe is immediately carried away by the noisy rhythm of its active forces; the high melody of labor reaches his ears, but this - with all its greatness and power - is a song about the earth" [ 7 ].
However, a simple listing of certain qualities of the Russian national character will be very incomplete or haphazardly redundant. Therefore, in further analysis, one should take a different path: to determine sufficient grounds (criteria) according to which it is possible to summarize the characteristics of the Russian character. In modern scientific literature, there has long been a discussion about what is the determining principle in the study of national identity: “blood and soil”, or “language and culture”. And, although most researchers pay attention to language and culture, nevertheless, the national genotype and natural and climatic conditions are directly related to the formation of the qualities and properties of the national character.
In my opinion, the following basic factors should be considered as the initial formative foundations of the Russian national character:
1. Nature and climate;
2. Ethnic origins;
3. The historical existence of the people and the geopolitical position of Russia;
4. Social factors(monarchy, community, multi-ethnicity);
5. Russian language and Russian culture;
6. Orthodoxy.
This order is not at all random. The analysis of factors should begin with external, material, physical and climatic ones, and end with spiritual, deep ones, defining the dominant character of the national character. It is the religiosity of the Russian people (N.O. Lossky), rooted in Orthodox Christianity, that most researchers of this issue consider as the deep basis of the Russian character. Consequently, the order of importance of these factors is arranged in an ascending line.
Threats and challenges to existence national identity and Russian character undoubtedly exist. As a rule, they have objective and subjective content and multiply their negative impact during periods of unrest, revolutions, social breakdowns and crisis situations. The first objective trend leading to a threat to the existence of Russian national identity is associated with the collapse of the USSR ( historical Russia) at the end of the 20th century, it was she who called into question the very existence of the Russian people, and, consequently, their national identity. The second objective trend is associated with the “reform” of the economy, which, in fact, was a complete collapse of the economy of the entire country, the destruction of the military-industrial complex, a huge number of research institutes that had provided priority areas development of the country. As a result, the economy of post-Soviet Russia has acquired an ugly, one-sided character - it is entirely based on the production and export of hydrocarbons (oil and gas), as well as on the export of other types of raw materials - ferrous and non-ferrous metals, wood, etc.
The third objective trend is the depopulation of the Russian people, associated with a low birth rate, a high number of abortions, low life expectancy, high mortality from road accidents, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide and other accidents. Over the past 15 years, the population of Russia has been declining by 700-800 thousand people annually. The depopulation of the Russian people is a consequence of the above objective trends and leads to sharp increase migration flows, often uncontrolled, from the Caucasus, Central Asia and China. Already today, 12.5% of students in Moscow schools are Azerbaijanis. If migration policy is not strictly controlled, then in the future this process will lead to the replacement of the Russian people by migrants, to the displacement and extinction of Russian national identity. Depopulation is largely a consequence of the crisis processes of the 90s. XX century.
Subjective tendencies leading to threats to the existence of Russian national identity can be summed up as a loss of identity. However, this provision requires decoding and detailing. The loss of identity is associated with the invasion of the world of Russian national self-awareness by external influences alien to the Russian person, aimed at transforming national self-awareness and Russian character according to the Western model: in the field of education - accession to the Bologna Charter; in the field of culture - replacing traditional examples of Russian culture with pop culture, pseudoculture; in the field of religion - the introduction of various sectarian movements associated with Protestantism, occult and other anti-Christian sects; in the field of art - the invasion of various avant-garde movements, emasculating the content of art; in the field of philosophy - the frontal offensive of postmodernism, which denies the originality and specificity of national thinking and tradition.
We see how diverse the ways of denying national identity are every day in various media programs. The most dangerous among them is Russophobia - denial and contempt for Russian culture, national identity and the Russian people themselves. It can be assumed that if the Russian national identity is replaced by the Western mentality that has been introduced in our country for a decade and a half, then the Russian people will turn into a “population”, into ethnographic material, and the Russian language and Russian culture, in the future, may share the fate of dead languages ( ancient Greek and Latin). The denationalization of culture, the suppression of national consciousness, its transformation into a comic-clip consciousness, the distortion of Russian history, the desecration of our Victory, the lulling of defense consciousness is becoming an everyday phenomenon.
Dysfunctional economic situation countries, the permanent political crisis of the late 20th century, and the crime situation led to a “brain drain” - the mass emigration of scientists to other, more prosperous countries. Scientists who went abroad filled research centers and universities in the USA, Canada, Germany and other Western countries. According to the Russian Academy of Sciences, over 15 years, about 200 thousand scientists have left the country, including 130 thousand candidates of science and about 20 thousand doctors of science. In fact, this is a catastrophe, almost a complete loss intellectual property countries. Talented graduates best universities Russians tend to go to rich business corporations or go abroad. This led to the loss of the middle-aged level of RAS research workers. Today, the average age of doctors of science at the Russian Academy of Sciences is 61 years. There is a “brain drain”, the steady aging and impossibility of replenishing scientific personnel, the disappearance of a number of leading scientific schools, and the degradation of topics scientific research [8 ].
How can we counteract these negative trends leading to the erosion of Russian national identity?
Firstly, we need a balanced program (ideology) for a long-term historical perspective, which must correspond to the national interests of Russia, take into account the limits of national security in the development of Russian culture, school and university education, science, and the protection of the moral, religious, and ethnic values of the people. At the same time, such an ideological program should outline the prospects for the development of the economy, agriculture, military-industrial complex and other spheres of production that could ensure the independence of our country at the proper level. The so-called “national projects” developed and implemented by the administration of President D.A. Medvedev, are very fragmented and do not have the character of a universal national program. As I.A. wrote Ilyin, Russia does not need class hatred or party struggle, tearing apart its single body, it needs a responsible idea for the long term. Moreover, the idea is not destructive, but positive, state-owned. This is the idea of cultivating a national spiritual character in the Russian people. “This idea should be state-historical, state-national, state-patriotic, state-religious. This idea should come from the very fabric of the Russian soul and Russian history, from their spiritual happiness. This idea should speak about the main thing in Russian destinies - and past and future; it should shine for entire generations of Russian people, making sense of their lives, pouring cheerfulness into them" [ 9 ]. Today there is already experience in developing such promising programs [ 10 ].
Secondly, it is necessary to educate the Russian national elite, whose aspirations would correspond to the national interests of Russia and the Russian people. The foreign national and heterodox elite will always push the country either to another revolution (in essence, to a redistribution of power and property), or, in the words of F.M. Dostoevsky, will once every few decades “let go of a convulsion,” i.e. carry out the next crisis situation. As the experience of the tragic 90s for Russia shows. XX century, such an elite - the "Chicago boys" - were directed and controlled by external forces hostile to Russia, contrary to the national interests of the country.
Thirdly, it is necessary to educate new generations of Russian people in the spirit of love for the Motherland, in the spirit of patriotism, and this requires a fundamental restructuring of the entire system of education and upbringing. Only in this case can you overcome negative consequences modern national nihilism and Russophobia. “The Pepsi generation”, brought up under the motto - “Take everything from life!” is a social product of the destructive processes of the 90s.
Fourthly, it is necessary to fight the negative features of the Russian national character - anarchism and extremism, disorganization and "hoping for chance", lack of formality and hooliganism, apathy and loss of the habit of systematic work, which was largely the result of the crisis of the last year and a half. decades. This struggle should not be waged through “outbursts of revolutionary spirit,” but through the development of persistent self-discipline, continuous self-control, patience and endurance, spiritual sobriety and obedience. S.N. Bulgakov spoke about Christian asceticism, which is continuous self-control, the fight against the lower sinful sides of one’s self, asceticism of the spirit. Only on this path can the negative tendencies of the Russian national character be neutralized to some extent, which in an era of historical unrest lead to the destruction of the essential forces of the people, when the “underground” comes to the fore human soul"When a people is on the verge (and even beyond) of physical existence, it is difficult to demand from them compliance with highly moral behavior. This requires measures of a social, political, economic nature, but, above all, spiritual ones. Only in this case is there hope for a prosperous, positive result in the development of Russia, the Russian people and their national identity.
If the Russian people have sufficient national and social immunity, then they will again return to their own national identity. Historical experience gives us enough grounds for an optimistic scenario for the development of events. Russia and the Russian people overcame the most difficult situations and found a worthy Answer to the Challenge of History. Such an analysis of the Russian national character by Dostoevsky, who revealed the deepest contradictions, gives hope that the abyss of fall in which the Russian people find themselves today will sober them up, and they will overcome the stage of yet another self-destruction, going through repentance and suffering.
Here the question involuntarily arises: how did the Russian people, who have positive qualities along with negative ones, become seduced at the beginning of the 20th century? ideas of the revolutionary reorganization of Russia and atheism, which resulted in regicide, destruction of churches, renunciation of the faith of their ancestors and impoverishment of the people's soul. We find the answer to this question in Dostoevsky. For a Russian person, in his opinion, it is typical to forget every measure in everything. Whether it is love, wine, revelry, pride, envy - here some Russian people give themselves up almost selflessly, ready to break everything, renounce everything, family, custom, God. “This is the need to reach over the edge, the need for a frozen sensation, having reached the abyss, hang halfway into it, look into the very abyss and - in special cases, but very often - throw yourself into it like a crazy person upside down.
This is the need for denial in a person, sometimes the most non-denying and reverent, the denial of everything, the most important shrine of his heart, his most complete ideal, the entire people's shrine in all its fullness, which now he was only in awe of and which suddenly seemed to have become unbearable to him somehow a burden, - this is how Dostoevsky characterizes the traits of self-denial and self-destruction characteristic of the Russian folk character. - But with the same strength, the same swiftness, with the same thirst for self-preservation and repentance, the Russian man, as well as the entire people, saves himself, and usually when he reaches the last line, that is, when there is nowhere else to go. But what is especially characteristic is that the reverse impulse, the impulse of self-restoration and self-salvation, is always more serious than the previous impulse - the impulse of self-denial and self-destruction. That is, it always happens on the account of petty cowardice; whereas the Russian person goes into restoration with the most enormous and serious effort, and looks at the negative previous movement with contempt for himself" [ 11 ].
In conclusion, let us once again turn to the listing of the main features of the Russian national character. The natural and climatic conditions of Russia have formed such traits in the character of the Russian people as patience, endurance, generous nature, and hard work. This is where the passionarity and “native” character of the people come from. The multi-ethnicity and multi-confessional nature of Russia have instilled in the Russian people brotherhood, patience (tolerance) towards other languages and cultures, selflessness, and the absence of violence. The historical existence of the Russian people and the geopolitical position of Russia forged in its character such properties as national resilience, love of freedom, sacrifice, and patriotism. The social conditions of existence of the Russian people - the monarchy, the community - contributed to the formation of a monarchical sense of justice, conciliarity, collectivism, and mutual assistance. Orthodoxy, as the main dominant of Russian national identity, formed in the Russian people religiosity, the desire for absolute goodness, love for one’s neighbor (brotherhood), humility, meekness, awareness of one’s sinfulness and imperfection, sacrifice (readiness to give one’s life for one’s friends), conciliarity and patriotism. These qualities were formed in accordance with the gospel ideals of goodness, truth, mercy and compassion. In this we must see the religious source of Russian fortitude and patience, endurance and strength of sacrifice of the Russian people.
Every Russian person should clearly know the negative properties of his national character. The breadth and immensity of the Russian soul is often associated with maximalism - either everything or nothing. Weak discipline leads to revelry and anarchism; from here lies a dangerous path to extremism, rebellion, hooliganism, and terrorism. The immensity of the soul becomes the source of a daring test of values - atheism, denial of tradition, national nihilism. Absence in everyday life ethnic solidarity, the weakness of the “tribal instinct”, disunity in front of “outsiders” makes the Russian person defenseless in relation to migrants, who are characterized by cohesion, arrogance, and cruelty. Therefore, migrants in Russia today feel like masters to a greater extent than Russians. Lack of self-discipline often leads to the inability to work systematically and achieve your goals. The above-mentioned shortcomings increase many times during periods of unrest, revolutions and other crisis social phenomena. Gullibility, a tendency to temptation, makes the Russian people a toy in the hands of political adventurers and impostors of all stripes, leads to the loss of the immune forces of sovereignty, turns them into a mob, into an electorate, into a crowd led by a herd mentality. This is the root of all social unrest and disasters.
However, negative properties do not represent the fundamental, dominant traits of the Russian character, but rather are the flip side of positive qualities, their perversion. A clear vision of the weak traits of national character will allow every Russian person to fight them, eradicate or neutralize their influence in himself.
Today, the topic related to the study of Russian national character is extremely relevant. In the conditions of a permanent social crisis at the end of the 20th century - beginning of the XXI centuries, when the Russian people have been humiliated, slandered, and have largely lost their vital forces, they need confirmation of their merits, including at the level of research into the Russian national character. Only on this path can the connection of times be realized by turning to tradition, to the deeds of our great ancestors - heroes, leaders, prophets, scientists and thinkers, to our national shrines, values and symbols. Appeal to national tradition like touching a healing source, from which everyone can extract faith, hope, love, willpower and an example for serving the Motherland - Holy Rus'.
Kopalov Vitaly Ilyich, Professor of the Department of Philosophy, IPPC at USU. A.M. Gorky, Doctor of Philosophy
Notes:
1 - Lossky N.O. The character of the Russian people. Sowing. 1957. Book. 1. P.5.
2 - Ibid. P.21.
3 - Trofimov V.K. The soul of the Russian people: Natural-historical conditioning and essential forces. - Ekaterinburg, 1998. P.90.
4 - Ibid. P.134-135.
5 - Dostoevsky F.M. Brothers Karamazov // Dostoevsky F.M. Full collection op. In 30 volumes. T. XIV. - L., 1976. P.100.
6 - Bunin I.A. Damned days. - M., 1991. P.54.
7 - Schubart V. Europe and the soul of the East. - M., 1997. P.78.
8 - Fourteen knives in the body of Russia // Tomorrow. - 2007. - No. 18 (702).
9 - Ilyin I.A. creative idea our future // Ilyin I.A. Collection op. V. 10 vol. T. 7. - M., 1998. P.457-458.
10 - See: Russian Doctrine ("Sergius Project"). Under the general editorship. A.B. Kobyakov and V.V. Averyanova. - M., 2005. - 363 p.
11 - Dostoevsky F.M. Writer's Diary. Featured Pages. - M., 1989. P.60-61.
Recent events such as the overthrow of the government in Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea and its decision to join Russian Federation, the ensuing military campaign against civilians in Eastern Ukraine, Western sanctions against Russia, and most recently the attack on the ruble - all this caused a certain phase shift in Russian society, which in the West is very misunderstood, if understood at all. This misunderstanding puts Europe at a serious disadvantage in terms of its ability to negotiate an end to the crisis.
And if before these events they tended to perceive Russia as “another European country,” now they remembered that Russia is another civilization with other civilizational roots (more likely Byzantine than Roman), which once or twice a century became the object of an organized Western attempt to destroy it, because it was attacked by Sweden, Poland, France, Germany or alliances of these countries. This in a special way influenced the Russian character, which, if misunderstood, could lead the whole of Europe and even the whole world to disaster.
If you think that Byzantium had little cultural influence on Russia, then you are mistaken: its influence was actually decisive. It began with the advent of Christianity - first through Crimea (the birthplace of Christianity in Russia), and then through the Russian capital Kyiv (the same Kyiv, which is today the capital of Ukraine) - and allowed Russia to “skip” an entire millennium of cultural development. This influence also determined the opaque and clumsy bureaucracy of the Russian state apparatus, which, along with many other things, irritates the West, which so loves transparency, especially among others. Russians often like to call Moscow the Third Rome, after the real Rome and Constantinople, and this is not entirely unfounded. But this does not mean that Russian civilization is something derivative. Yes, she managed to absorb the entire classical heritage, which was looked at primarily through the “eastern prism”, but the vast northern expanses turned this heritage into something radically different.
This topic is generally very complex, so I will focus on four factors that I consider fundamental to understanding the transformations we are witnessing today.
1. Reaction to attack
Western states were born under conditions of limited resources and unrelenting population pressure, which largely determines how these states react when targeted. For quite a long time, when the central government was weak, conflicts were resolved by bloody means, and even the most insignificant prick from a former friend immediately turned him into a rival with whom they fought with swords. The reason was that in these conditions, protecting the territory was the key to survival.
On the contrary, Russia extends over an almost endless territory over which resources are dispersed. In addition, Russia skillfully took advantage of the bounty of the trade route that led from the Varangians to the Greeks, and was so active that Arab geographers were confident in the existence of a strait that connects the Black and Baltic Sea. In these conditions, it was important to avoid conflicts, and people who grabbed weapons at every side glance would have had a hard time living in such an environment.
Therefore, a very different conflict resolution strategy was formed, which has survived to this day. If you offend or harm a Russian in any way, it is unlikely that a fight will break out (although this is exactly what happens during demonstrative confrontations in public or during the expected settling of scores through violence). More often than not, the Russian will simply send you to hell and will want nothing to do with you. If the situation is complicated by physical proximity, then the Russian will think about moving - in any direction, but most importantly, away from you. In ordinary conversation, all this is formulated with the one-syllable statement “Pshel,” a form of the verb “to send.” With an almost endless amount of free land on which to settle, this strategy works great. Russians live sedentary lives, but when they need to move, they behave like nomads, among whom the main way to resolve conflicts is voluntary movement.
This reaction to insult is something of a permanent aspect of Russian culture, and therefore the West, which does not understand this, can hardly achieve the results it desires. For people from the West, an offense can be redeemed with an apology, something like “I am sorry!” But for a Russian, to a certain extent, this is nothing, especially in the case when the apology was made by the one who was sent to hell. A verbal apology, which is not accompanied by anything tangible, is one of the rules of good manners, which for Russians is a kind of luxury. Just a few decades ago, the usual apology sounded like “I’m sorry.” Today Russia is much more polite, but the basic cultural patterns are preserved.
And while a purely verbal apology is priceless, tangible restitution is not. “Getting things right” could mean parting with a rare possession, proposing a new and significant commitment, or announcing a fundamental change in direction. The main thing is to do everything, and not only in words, because at a certain stage words can only aggravate the situation, and the call to “go to hell” can be supplemented by the less pleasant phrase “let me show you the way there.”
2. Tactics against invaders
Russia has a long history of invasions from all sides, but primarily from the West, thanks to which Russian culture I came to a certain type of thinking that is difficult to understand from the outside. First of all, we must realize that when the Russians repel invasions (and the fact that the CIA, along with the US State Department, is ruling Ukraine through Ukrainian Nazis is considered an invasion), they are not fighting for territory, at least not directly. They are rather fighting for Russia as a concept. And the concept is that Russia has been attacked many times, but no one has ever conquered it. In the Russian consciousness, conquering Russia means killing almost all Russians, and as they like to say, “You can’t kill us all.” The population can be restored over time (22 million were killed at the end of World War II), but once the concept is lost, Russia will be lost forever. To people in the West, the words of Russians about Russia as “a land of princes, poets and saints” may seem nonsense, but this is precisely the line of thought we are talking about. Russia has no history, it itself is history.
And since the Russians are fighting for a concept rather than a specific piece of Russian territory, they are always willing to retreat first. When Napoleon invaded Russia, he saw the land scorched by the retreating Russians. Finally he reached Moscow, but it also died in the flames. He stopped there for a while, but in the end he realized that he could not do more (did he really have to go to Siberia?), so he finally left his retreating, hungry and frozen army, leaving it to the mercy of fate. As he retreated, another aspect of the Russian cultural heritage became increasingly clear: every peasant in every village burned during the Russian retreat had participated in the Russian resistance, which created many problems for the French army.
The German invasion during World War II also moved very quickly at first: a large territory was occupied, and the Russians continued to retreat, evacuating the population, entire factories and other institutions to Siberia, families moved inland. But then the German march stopped, turned around and eventually turned into a complete defeat. The standard model was repeated when the Russian army broke the will of the invaders, and most of the local residents who found themselves under occupation refused to cooperate, self-organized into partisan detachments and inflicted the maximum possible damage on the retreating aggressors.
Another Russian method in the fight against an invader is to rely on the Russian climate to do its job. In the village, people usually get rid of all unnecessary living creatures in the house by simply stopping heating: in a few days at minus 40, all the cockroaches, fleas, lice, nits, as well as mice and rats will die out. This also works with occupiers. Russia is the northernmost country in the world. And although Canada is further north, most of its population lives along the southern border, and no major cities are located above the Arctic Circle. And in Russia there are two such cities at once. Life in Russia in some respects resembles life in space or on the high seas: you cannot live without mutual assistance. The Russian winter simply will not allow us to survive without cooperation with local residents, so to destroy the aggressor it is enough to simply refuse cooperation. And if you are sure that the occupier can force cooperation by shooting several locals in order to scare the rest, see point 1.
3. Tactics in relations with foreign powers
Russia owns almost the entire northern part of the Eurasian continent, which is almost a sixth of the land. On the scale of planet Earth, this is enough. This is not some kind of exception or historical accident: throughout their history, Russians have sought to ensure their collective security by developing as much territory as possible. If you're wondering what prompted them to do this, go back to Tactics Against Invaders.
And if you think that foreign powers have repeatedly tried to attack and conquer Russia in order to gain access to vast natural resources, then you are mistaken: access has always been there - all you have to do is ask. Typically, Russians do not refuse to sell their natural resources - even to potential enemies. But the enemies, as a rule, wanted to “suck in” to Russian sources for free. For them, the existence of Russia is a nuisance, which they tried to get rid of through violence.
But they only achieved that after their failure the price for themselves increased. This is a simple principle: foreigners want Russian resources, and to protect them Russia needs a strong, centralized state with a large and strong army, so that foreigners must pay and thereby support the Russian state and army. As a result, most of the Russian state's finances come from export tariffs, primarily oil and gas exports, rather than from taxation of the Russian population. In the end, Russian population paid dearly fighting constant invaders, so why burden it with even more taxes? This means that the Russian state is a customs state, which uses duties and tariffs to obtain funds from enemies who could destroy it, and also uses these funds for its own defense. Due to the fact that there is no replacement for Russian resources, the principle works: the more hostile the outside world behaves towards Russia, the more money it will pay for Russia’s national defense.
But this policy is used in relations with foreign powers, not with foreign peoples. Over the centuries, Russia has “absorbed” a mass of immigrants, say from Germany, during the Thirty Years’ War, and France, after the revolution there. Later people migrated from Vietnam, Korea, China and Central Asia. Last year, Russia accepted more migrants than any other country except the United States. In addition, Russia accepted almost a million people from war-torn Ukraine without much difficulty. Russians are a displaced people more than many others, and Russia is a bigger melting pot than the United States.
4. Thank you, but we have our own
Another interesting cultural trait is that Russians always see the need to be the best in everything - from ballet and figure skating, hockey and football to space flights and microchip production. You may think that “Champagne” is a protected French brand, but recently on New Year’s I was convinced that “Soviet Champagne” is still selling out at the speed of light, and not only in Russia, but also in Russian stores in the USA, because, understand, French things may be good, but they don’t taste Russian enough. For almost everything you can think of, there is a Russian version, which the Russians consider the best, and sometimes they directly say that it is their invention (for example, Popov, not Marconi, invented the radio). Of course, there are exceptions (for example, tropical fruits), which are acceptable provided that they are from a “brotherly people,” which, for example, is Cuba. This model already worked in Soviet times, and it seems that to some extent it has survived to this day.
During the ensuing “stagnation” of the era of Brezhnev, Andropov and Gorbachev, when Russian ingenuity truly declined along with everything else, technologically (but not culturally) Russia lost ground in relation to the West. After the breakup Soviet Union the Russians coveted Western imports, which was completely understandable, since Russia itself at that time produced practically nothing. In the 90s, the time came for Western managers who flooded Russia with cheap imports, setting themselves the long-term goal of destroying local industry and Russian production, turning Russia into a simple exporter of raw materials, which would be defenseless against the embargo, and which could easily be forced to lose sovereignty. It would all end in a military invasion, against which Russia would be defenseless.
This process got quite far before it hit a few snags. First, Russian production and non-hydrocarbon exports have recovered and increased several times over the course of one decade. The growth also affected the export of grain, weapons and high-tech products. Secondly, Russia has found quite a few friendlier and more profitable trading partners in the world, however, this in no way diminishes the importance of its trade with the West, or more precisely with the EU. Thirdly, the Russian defense industry was able to maintain its standards and independence from imports. (The same can hardly be said about defense companies in the West that depend on Russian titanium exports).
And today, a “perfect storm” has broken out for Western managers: the ruble has partially depreciated due to low oil prices, which displaces imports and helps local producers. Sanctions have undermined Russia's confidence in the West's reliability as a supplier, and the conflict in Crimea strengthens Russians' self-confidence. The Russian government has taken the opportunity to support companies that can immediately replace Western imports with other products. The Russian Central Bank was entrusted with financing them at a lending rate that makes import substitution even more attractive.
Some compare the current period to the last time the price of oil fell to $10 a barrel, which to a certain extent brought the collapse of the USSR closer. But this analogy is wrong. At that time, the USSR stagnated economically and depended on Western grain supplies, without which it would not have been able to feed the people. The collapse was led by the helpless and controlled Gorbachev - a peacemaker, capitulator and phrase-monger on a global scale, whose wife loved to go shopping in London. Russian people despised him. Today, Russia is again becoming one of the world's largest grain exporters, led by an exemplary President Putin, who enjoys the support of more than 80% of the population. By comparing the USSR before the collapse with today's Russia, commentators and analysts are only demonstrating their ignorance.
This passage literally writes itself. This is a recipe for disaster, so I’ll write everything down, point by point, as in a recipe.
1. Take the people who respond to attacks by sending you to hell, turning away from you and not wanting anything to do with you - instead of fighting with you. Realize that these are the people whose natural resources necessary to keep your homes light and warm so you can produce transport planes, military fighter jets, and much more. Remember that a quarter of the light bulbs in the United States come on from Russian nuclear fuel, and cutting off Europe from Russian gas would mean a real disaster.
2. Introduce economic and financial sanctions against Russia. Watch in horror as your exporters lose profits and the Russian response blocks agricultural exports. Remember, this is a country that has suffered a long chain of attacks and traditionally relies on unfriendly countries to fund Russian defense, directed precisely against these enemies. Or Russia turns to methods such as the already mentioned winter. “No gas for NATO countries” sounds like a great slogan. Hope and pray that Moscow doesn't like him.
3. Organize an attack on their national currency, which will lose part of its value, and do the same with oil prices. Imagine how Russian officials chuckle as they go to the Central Bank when the low ruble exchange rate means filling the state budget despite the low oil price. Watch in horror as your exporters go bankrupt because they can no longer take a place in the Russian market. Remember that Russia has no national debt worth discussing, that it is run with a miniscule budget deficit, and that it has large gold and foreign exchange reserves. Remember your banks, which “lent” hundreds of billions of dollars to Russian companies - those companies to which, by imposing sanctions, you cut off access to your banking system. Hope and pray that Russia doesn't freeze debt payments on the West Bank when they impose new sanctions, because that will blow your banks out of business.
4. Watch in horror as Russia rewrites gas export agreements that now involve everyone except you. And when they start working, will there be enough gas left for you? But it seems that this is no longer Russia’s concern, because you offended it, because the Russians, so and so, sent you to hell (and don’t forget to take Galich there). Now they will trade with countries that are more friendly to them.
5. Watch with horror as Russia actively seeks ways to exit its trade relationship with you, seeks suppliers in other parts of the world, and sets up production to replace imports.
And then a surprise appears, by the way, underestimated by everyone, euphemistically speaking. Russia recently proposed a deal to the EU. If the EU refuses to sign the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the US, it could join a customs union with Russia. Why freeze yourself when Washington can freeze? This would be restitution for the past aggressive behavior An EU that Russia would accept. And this is in highest degree generous offer. And if the EU accepts it, it will prove a lot: that the EU does not pose any military or economic threat to Russia, that European countries very cute and small, produce delicious cheeses and sausages that the current crop of politicians are worthless, dependent on Washington and that great pressure needs to be created in order to understand where the interests of their peoples actually lie... So will the EU accept such a proposal or will it accept Galich as a new member and “freeze” ?
For a Russian person, the concept of hard work is far from alien, as a result of which we can talk about a certain talent of the nation. Russia has given the world many talents from various fields: science, culture, art. The Russian people have enriched the world with various great cultural achievements.
Love of freedom
Many scientists note the special love of Russian people for freedom. The history of Russia itself has preserved a lot of evidence of the struggle of the Russian people for their independence.
Religiosity
Religiosity is one of the deepest features of the Russian people. It is no coincidence that ethnological scientists say that a corrective feature of the national self-awareness of the Russian person is. Russia is the main recipient of the Orthodox culture of Byzantium. There is even a certain concept “Moscow is the third Rome”, reflecting the continuity of the Christian culture of the Byzantine Empire.
Kindness
One of positive traits The essence of the Russian person is kindness, which can be expressed in humanity, cordiality and spiritual gentleness. In Russian folklore there are many sayings that reflect these traits of national character. For example: “God helps the good,” “Life is given for good deeds,” “Don’t rush to do good.”
Patience and Fortitude
Russian people have great patience and the ability to overcome various difficulties. This conclusion can be made by looking at historical path Russia. The ability to endure suffering is a unique ability to exist. You can see the resilience of a Russian person in his ability to respond to external circumstances.
Hospitality and generosity
Entire parables and legends have been written about these characteristic features of the Russian national character. It is no coincidence that in Russia the custom of presenting bread and salt to guests is still preserved. This tradition demonstrates the cordiality of the Russian people, as well as the wish for good and prosperity to one’s neighbor.
The Russian people are representatives of the East Slavic ethnic group, the indigenous inhabitants of Russia (110 million people - 80% of the population of the Russian Federation), the largest ethnic group in Europe. The Russian diaspora numbers about 30 million people and is concentrated in countries such as Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, the countries of the former USSR, the USA and EU countries. As a result of sociological research, it was found that 75% of the Russian population of Russia are followers of Orthodoxy, and a significant part of the population does not consider itself to be a member of any particular religion. The national language of the Russian people is Russian.
Each country and its people have their own importance in modern world, concepts are very important folk culture and the history of the nation, their formation and development. Each nation and its culture are unique in their own way, the flavor and uniqueness of each nationality should not be lost or dissolved in assimilation with other peoples, the younger generation should always remember who they really are. For Russia, which is a multinational power and home to 190 peoples, the issue of national culture is quite acute, due to the fact that in recent years its erasure has been especially noticeable against the background of the cultures of other nationalities.
Culture and life of the Russian people
(Russian folk costume)
The first associations that arise with the concept of “Russian people” are, of course, breadth of soul and strength of spirit. But national culture formed by people, it is these character traits that have a huge impact on its formation and development.
One of distinctive features the Russian people have always had and still have simplicity, in former times Slavic houses and property was very often subjected to looting and complete destruction, hence the simplified attitude towards everyday issues. And of course, these trials that befell the long-suffering Russian people only strengthened their character, made them stronger and taught them to get out of any life situations with their heads held high.
Another trait that prevails in the character of the Russian ethnic group can be called kindness. The whole world is well aware of the concept of Russian hospitality, when “they feed you, give you something to drink, and put you to bed.” A unique combination of such qualities as cordiality, mercy, compassion, generosity, tolerance and, again, simplicity, very rarely found among other peoples of the world, all this is fully manifested in the very breadth of the Russian soul.
Hard work is another one of the main traits of the Russian character, although many historians in the study of the Russian people note both its love of work and enormous potential, as well as its laziness, as well as complete lack of initiative (remember Oblomov in Goncharov’s novel). But still, the efficiency and endurance of the Russian people is an indisputable fact that is difficult to argue against. And no matter how much scientists around the world want to understand the “mysterious Russian soul,” it is unlikely that any of them can do it, because it is so unique and multifaceted that its “zest” will forever remain a secret to everyone.
Traditions and customs of the Russian people
(Russian meal)
Folk traditions and customs represent a unique connection, a kind of “bridge of times” connecting the distant past with the present. Some of them have their roots in the pagan past of the Russian people, even before the baptism of Rus'; little by little their sacred meaning was lost and forgotten, but the main points have been preserved and are still observed. In villages and towns, Russian traditions and customs are honored and remembered to a greater extent than in cities, which is due to the more isolated lifestyle of city residents.
A large number of rituals and traditions are associated with family life (this includes matchmaking, wedding celebrations, and the baptism of children). Carrying out ancient rites and rituals guaranteed successful and happy life, the health of descendants and the general well-being of the family.
(Colorized photograph of a Russian family at the beginning of the 20th century)
Since ancient times, Slavic families were distinguished by a large number of family members (up to 20 people); adult children, having already gotten married, remained to live in home, the head of the family was the father or older brother, everyone had to obey them and unquestioningly carry out all their orders. Typically, wedding celebrations were held either in the fall, after the harvest, or in the winter after the Epiphany holiday (January 19). Then the first week after Easter, the so-called “Red Hill,” began to be considered a very successful time for a wedding. The wedding itself was preceded by a matchmaking ceremony, when the groom's parents came to the bride's family together with his godparents, if the parents agreed to give their daughter in marriage, then a bridesmaid ceremony was held (meeting the future newlyweds), then there was a ceremony of collusion and hand-waving (the parents decided on the dowry and the date of the wedding festivities ).
The rite of baptism in Rus' was also interesting and unique, the child had to be baptized immediately after birth, for this purpose godparents were chosen, who would be responsible for the life and well-being of the godson all his life. When the baby was one year old, they sat him on the inside of a sheep's coat and cut his hair, cutting a cross on the crown, with such meaning that evil spirits would not be able to penetrate his head and would not have power over him. Every Christmas Eve (January 6), a slightly older godson should bring kutia (wheat porridge with honey and poppy seeds) to his godparents, and they, in turn, should give him sweets.
Traditional holidays of the Russian people
Russia is truly a unique state where, along with the highly developed culture of the modern world, they carefully honor the ancient traditions of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, going back centuries and preserving the memory of not only Orthodox vows and canons, but also the most ancient pagan rites and sacraments. To this day, pagan holidays are celebrated, people listen to signs and age-old traditions, remember and tell their children and grandchildren ancient traditions and legends.
Main national holidays:
- Christmas January 7
- Christmastide January 6 - 9
- Baptism January 19
- Carnival from 20 to 26 February
- Forgiveness Sunday ( before the onset of Lent)
- Palm Sunday (on the Sunday before Easter)
- Easter ( the first Sunday after the full moon, which occurs no earlier than the day of the conventional vernal equinox on March 21)
- Red Hill ( first Sunday after Easter)
- Trinity ( on Sunday on the day of Pentecost - the 50th day after Easter)
- Ivan Kupala July 7
- Peter and Fevronia Day July 8
- Elijah's day August 2
- Honey Spas August 14
- Apple Spas August 19
- Third (Khlebny) Spas August 29
- Pokrov day October 14
There is a belief that on the night of Ivan Kupala (July 6-7), once a year a fern flower blooms in the forest, and whoever finds it will gain untold wealth. In the evening, large bonfires are lit near rivers and lakes, people dressed in festive ancient Russian attires lead round dances, sing ritual chants, jump over the fire, and let wreaths float downstream, in the hope of finding their soul mate.
Maslenitsa - traditional holiday Russian people, celebrated during the week before Great Lent. A very long time ago, Maslenitsa was more likely not a holiday, but a ritual when the memory of departed ancestors was honored, placating them with pancakes, asking them for a fertile year, and spending the winter by burning a straw effigy. Time passed, and the Russian people, thirsty for fun and positive emotions in the cold and dull season, turned a sad holiday into a more cheerful and daring celebration, which began to symbolize the joy of the imminent end of winter and the arrival of long-awaited warmth. The meaning has changed, but the tradition of baking pancakes remained, exciting winter entertainment appeared: sledding and horse-drawn rides down hills, a straw effigy of Winter was burned, throughout the entire Maslenitsa week relatives went to pancakes with their mother-in-law and sister-in-law, an atmosphere of celebration and fun reigned everywhere , various theatrical and puppet shows with the participation of Petrushka and other folklore characters. One of the very colorful and dangerous entertainments on Maslenitsa was fist fights; the male population took part in them, for whom it was an honor to take part in a kind of “military affair” that tested their courage, boldness and dexterity.
Christmas and Easter are considered especially revered Christian holidays among the Russian people.
Christmas - not only bright holiday Orthodoxy, it also symbolizes the revival and return to life, traditions and customs of this holiday, filled with kindness and humanity, high moral ideals and the triumph of the spirit over worldly concerns, in the modern world they are rediscovered by society and rethought by it. The day before Christmas (January 6) is called Christmas Eve because the main dish festive table, which should consist of 12 dishes, is a special porridge “sochivo”, consisting of boiled cereal, drizzled with honey, sprinkled with poppy seeds and nuts. You can sit down at the table only after the first star appears in the sky, Christmas (January 7) - family holiday, when everyone gathered at one table, ate a festive treat and gave each other gifts. The 12 days after the holiday (until January 19) are called Christmastide. Previously, at this time, girls in Rus' held various gatherings with fortune telling and rituals to attract suitors.
Easter has long been considered a great holiday in Rus', which people associated with the day of general equality, forgiveness and mercy. On the eve of Easter celebrations, Russian women usually bake kulichi (festive rich Easter bread) and Easter bread, clean and decorate their homes, youth and children paint eggs, which, according to ancient legend, symbolize drops of the blood of Jesus Christ crucified on the cross. On the day of Holy Easter, smartly dressed people, when meeting, say “Christ is Risen!”, answer “Truly He is Risen!”, followed by a three-time kiss and an exchange of festive Easter eggs.