The Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin considered the holiday the primary form of human culture. Indeed, it is difficult to rest from everyday work, just sitting at the festive table (stone, or skin). One way or another, in the days when primitive people did not hunt or did not care about food in any other way, they should have begun to develop communication skills that are not directly related to survival. Legends, songs, and other forms of creativity gradually began to appear. Holidays began to differentiate, expanding and deepening the cultural layer.
Holidays also influenced the emergence of science. The exact determination of certain days or periods of time required knowledge of astronomy, and from there it was not far before the creation of the calendar. The rituals of the holidays needed a semantic content that was different from the natural one, therefore, holidays appeared that were not outwardly related to natural phenomena. Their meaning was in need of interpretation - now it is not far from an organized systematized religion.
And let's not forget about cooking. It is unlikely that it will be possible to trace the processes of the appearance of most of the "festive" dishes, but it is logical to assume that already in ancient times our ancestors tried to diversify the table on days of rest by eating something rare or prepared in a special way. With the passage of centuries and the strengthening of the property stratification of society, culinary traditions have become slightly detached from the essence of the holidays. However, no one will argue with the fact that in the home of a billionaire and in the homes of the poor, holiday dishes are different from everyday ones.
1. In terms of their inner content, South American carnivals are holidays similar to our Shrovetide, only slightly meaningless with the transfer to the Southern Hemisphere. Shrovetide for the Orthodox means seeing off winter, ending the winter holidays with their abundant food and festivities, and preparing for Great Lent. In the same Brazil, the carnival also takes place on the eve of Lent - it always ends on Tuesday, and fasting begins on Wednesday, which is called Ash. But in the Southern Hemisphere, carnival marks the arrival of winter, not the end of it. By the way, the largest carnival in terms of the number of participants takes place not in Rio de Janeiro, but in the city of Salvador da Bahia.
2. Another analogue of Maslenitsa takes place in the USA and annually gathers thousands of participants. It's about Mardi Gras - a festival in New Orleans. The colorful event is led by the king and queen of the celebration, throwing coins and sweets from a huge platform. The tradition with the king appeared after the Russian Grand Duke Alexei visited Mardi Gras in 1872, and the organizers gave him a special platform with the inscription “King”.
3. Carnival can be compared to Halloween. Both celebrations are held after the harvest and symbolize the transition from summer to winter. At least among the pagans living in the British Isles, Halloween had no other meaning. With the advent of Christianity, the celebration took on a new meaning. October 31 is the eve of All Saints Day. Halloween traditions have gradually changed. They began to beg for refreshments somewhere in the 16th century, pumpkin lamps appeared in the second half of the 19th century (before that lanterns were made from turnips or beets), and they began to arrange costume processions even later.
4. “Abduction” of the bride before the start of the wedding celebration is not at all the exclusive prerogative of the mountain peoples. The current procedure, when the groom and his friends call in to her home for the bride and pay a symbolic ransom, has the same roots. Just before, the role of limousines was played by horses and troika, on which the brides were taken away from their home.
5. In Great Britain and its former colonies, an amazing situation has developed with the celebration of the birthday of the queen (or king). In the British Isles, it is celebrated not on the actual birthday of the ruling person, but on one of the first three Saturdays in June. Which one - the monarch himself decides, it usually depends on the weather forecast. Edward VII started the tradition at the beginning of the 20th century. He was born in November and did not want to host the traditional parade in the chilly London fall. In Australia, the holiday takes place in the second half of June, in Canada - on the third Monday in May, and in New Zealand, the Queen is congratulated on the first summer Monday.
6. The Guy Fawkes Night Festival (November 5) in Great Britain is widely known thanks to films and books, and everyone has seen the so-called “Anonymous mask” at least once. It is less known that in the first years of celebrating the anniversaries of the deliverance of the king and parliament from a monstrous explosion, in addition to fireworks, stuffed animals of the Pope were necessarily burned, and once such a stuffed animal was stuffed with live cats.
7. The most “celebrating” country in the world is Argentina, where 19 non-working days, considered public holidays, are officially fixed in the calendar. And in neighboring Brazil there are only 5 public holidays, together with the Indians, the Brazilians can consider themselves the most hardworking nation. Russia shares 6-7 places with Malaysia with 14 official public holidays.
8. The decision to establish March 8 as International Women's Day was adopted in 1921 at the II Communist Women's Conference. The date was set in honor of the first massive anti-government demonstrations in 1917 in the Russian capital of Petrograd. Subsequently, these performances led to the abdication of Nicholas II and the emergence of Soviet Russia. Women's Day was widely celebrated in countries close to the USSR. March 8 became a day off in the USSR in 1966. In addition to Russia, International Women's Day is now non-working in Kenya, North Korea, Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Uganda, Mongolia, Zambia, some of the post-Soviet states. In Laos, only the fairer sex is given a day off, and in China, on March 8, women work part-time.
9. Christmas is celebrated in most countries of the world, but the number of days off is different. In 14 countries, including Russia, they rest for one day. In another 20 states, two days are non-working on Christmas. In 8 European countries, Christmas is celebrated in 3 days. At the same time, in Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova, Catholic Christmas (December 25) and the Orthodox holiday on January 7 are considered holidays.
10. Birthday can really be a sad holiday. A study by researchers at the University of Chicago a few years ago found that an average of almost 7% more people die on their own birthday than on other days. Moreover, increased mortality is observed not only in the segment of accidents associated with celebrations and alcohol consumption, but also among suicides. Apparently, it is especially difficult to endure loneliness on a holiday.
11. The Old New Year in Russia has existed since time immemorial, because the New Year itself is a rather unstable holiday in the calendar plan, and there are always people who do not accept changes. From the time of the baptism of Russia and until Ivan III, the New Year was celebrated on March 1, but Maslenitsa, during which the New Year was celebrated earlier, also remained an important holiday. Ivan III postponed the celebration to September 1, and, of course, the supporters of the March date remained. And even under Peter I, who could not endure disobedience, the postponement of the holiday to January 1 was accepted with a murmur. The present Old New Year appeared in 1918 after the change of the calendar.
12. Victory Day in the USSR / Russia is annually celebrated on May 9, but this day was not always a day off. From 1948 to 1965, May 9 was a working day, and the reasons for this are not clearly understood. The version that Stalin was jealous of the glory of G.K. Zhukov looks anecdotal - in the realities of those years, Stalin and Zhukov were incomparable figures in terms of popularity. Perhaps, they decided to make the celebration less ambitious after realizing the enormity of the people's losses and the destruction of the economy. And only 20 years after the Victory, when the wounds of memory healed a little, the holiday began to acquire a decent scale.
Traditional parade in honor of Victory Day
13. From 1928 to 2004, May 2 was a day off - a kind of "trailer" to the Day of International Workers' Solidarity on May 1. Then the holiday date of November 7 - the Day of the Great October Socialist Revolution - ceased to be. May Day remained a festive day, but lost its ideological flavor - now it is just Labor Day. This holiday is quite popular all over the world - May 1 is a public holiday in dozens of countries on all continents.
May Day demonstration in the USSR
14. Contrary to popular belief, the Bolsheviks did not immediately cancel the weekend on church holidays. Until 1928, non-working days were three days at Easter, the Ascension of the Lord, the Day of Spirits (June 4), the Transfiguration of the Lord and Christmas. But then church holidays disappeared from the secular calendar for a long time. I must say that there were few holidays in general until 1965: New Year, May Day, the anniversary of the revolution and Constitution Day. Since 1992, Christmas has returned to the calendar, and the day after Easter has become a day off.
15. 174 professional holidays are celebrated in Russia. They are distributed very unevenly on the calendar. So, in January there were only 4 holidays, in February 3, and October is a festive occasion for workers of 29 specialties. It is clear that with so many holidays it is difficult to avoid coincidences. There are two professional holidays for several days, and, for example, on August 1, 2018, there were three holidays at once: the Day of the Rear, the Day of the Collector and the Day of the formation of the special communications service. And the Day of the accountant somewhat ambiguously coincides with the Day of the employee of the tax inspection.
