Holidays and Special Occasions

Today i met two girls from Moscow that introduced me to a some of their countries popular traditions and holidays. As for us in the U.S we heavily advertise our yearly holidays such as Christmas, Fourth of July, New Years along with a few other popular days like Halloween and St. Patricks day. To highlight these days we often times make them memorable by having a parade, being around a lot family, enjoying a feast of food, giving and receiving gifts and dwelling on the meaning behind the actually day itself and what it represents.
Sasha and Katzin from Moscow said that a very popular holiday in their country is New Years, similar to the U.S in the name, but very different. New Years for the people of Moscow is a holiday that is enjoyed for two weeks!Below are some of the traditions and things they do:

• Like us they also go buy fireworks


• At 12 midnight they write a wish on a piece of paper and light it, as the paper burns they put it into their glass of Champagne and drink it. By doing this it is supposedly said that the wish will come true.


• A very common dish that is prepared throughout this time as well is the Russian salad which is called oliv'e, which is the name of the man who fist prepared the dish.


• Depending on what type of year it is, being the year of a horse or rabbit for example the people usually eat vegetables representing the animal.


• Christmas for this country is celebrated on the 6th of January and it starts at night on the 6th and goes through the 7th. On this holiday families often prepare a duck, like we would a ham or turkey.