Trinity (Pentecost) Sunday in Russia

Trinity Sunday (also called Trinity Day, or Descent of the Holy Spirit) is the Sunday of Pentecost, one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church, celebrated fifty days after Pascha (thus always falling on a Sunday).  
In Russia the feast is known as Troitsa (Троица - the Trinity). The liturgical color used at Pentecost is green, and the clergy and faithful carry flowers and green branches in their hands during the services.
Read more on orthodoxwiki

К ТРОИЦЕ. СЕРГЕЙ КОРОВИН (1902) via fotki.yandex

Old New Year

The Old New Year (Russian: Старый Новый год) is a traditional holiday, celebrated as the start of the New Year (Новый год) by the Julian calendar (Юлианский календарь). In the 20th and 21st centuries, the Old New Year falls on January 13/14.

Although the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic officially adopted the Gregorian calendar (Григорианский календарь) in 1918, the Russian Orthodox Church (Русская православная церковь) continued to use the Julian calendar. The New Year became a holiday which is celebrated by both calendars.

As in most countries which use the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day in Russia is a public holiday celebrated on January 1. On that day, joyous entertainment, fireworks, elaborate and often large meals and other festivities are common.

The New Year by the Julian calendar is still informally observed, and the tradition of celebrating the coming of the New Year twice is widely enjoyed: January 1 (New New Year) and January 13 (Old New Year).

Usually not as festive as the New New Year, for many this is a nostalgic family holiday ending the New Year holiday cycle with traditional large meals.

via wiki

President's New Year's Address to the Nation and Russian National Anthem

Photo: the Presidential Press and Information Offices address to the nation. 

December 31, 2010

Ever since the late 90’s, watching the New Year’s message from the President minutes before midnight has become a tradition everyone actually waits for. Usually, the President talks about the past year: what went wrong, what was good. It is basically a wrap-up of the year past, and wishes for a good year to come. 

Interestingly, Vladimir Putin was the first President who took the New Year’s message “outdoors.” Previously, all of them were taped indoors, but Putin was the first one to escape the stuffy studio and deliver his message from inside Moscow’s heart – the Red Square.

-ytfiles.com

Russian most popular New Year movie - The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!

The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! DVD cover

The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (Russian: Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!; Ironiya sudby, ili S lyogkim parom!) is a Soviet comedy-drama directed by Eldar Ryazanov as a made-for-TV movie.
Simultaneously a screwball comedy and a love story tinged with sadness, the film is traditionally broadcast in Russia and some other former Soviet republics and satellite states every New Year's Day. It is as fondly viewed every year as is the American films It’s a Wonderful Life and Home Alone during the Christmas holidays. Many memorable quotes from the film have become catch phrases in the Russian language.


Plot summary
A group of old friends have a tradition of going to a public bathing house on New Years eve. Occasionally too much vodka and beer makes two of them unconscious. The problem is that one of them (Sasha) has to go to Leningrad but another one (Zhenya) goes. Zhenya wakes up at Leningrad airport. Believing that he is still in Moscow he takes a taxi and goes home. The street name, building and even apartment number, the way an apartment complex looks the same and the key coincide completely - just typical Soviet-type 'economy' architecture. Imagine the surprise of Nadya when she enters her apartment and finds a man without trousers in her bed. What's more - Nadya's fiancé also finds him there.
The movie starts with an animated prologue. The rest of the film a live-action.


Watch full movie online with English subtitles


The Irony Of Fate (1976) pt. 1 karimberdi



The Irony Of Fate (1976) pt. 2 karimberdi


The Irony Of Fate (1976) pt. 3 karimberdi


The Irony Of Fate (1976) pt. 4 karimberdi