The variety of the territory and the multiplicity of peoples make the country very rich in popular traditions, often expressed in songs and dances evoked by folkloric ensembles that in the Soviet period were of the state and known all over the world. With the birth of the Russian Federation, the economic problems of the great crisis of the nineties having been partially overcome, even the republics furthest from Moscow have tried to awaken in a more authentic way some of their own cultural traditions. The great patrimony of customs and traditions is opened by the New Year’s Eve party or “Nonno Frost”, which is linked to an ancient pagan tradition and now translates into a completely popular festival, in which in the Kremlin, through the streets of Moscow and all the other cities and villages many “Grandparents Frost”, dressed in red and with a flowing white beard, they take gifts from a shopping basket and distribute them to the children. Even the first of May has retained its primitive meaning of spring festival, which is associated with that of labor day, both amalgamated in a common spirit of great village festival, which continues for three days. Every new birth, especially in rural districts, is still surrounded by ancient customs: the newborn is given a godfather and a godmother; parents, relatives and friends gather around a banquet cheered by dances, songs accompanied by the accordion or especially in rural districts, it is still surrounded by ancient customs: the newborn is given a godfather and a godmother; parents, relatives and friends gather around a banquet cheered by dances, songs accompanied by the accordion or especially in rural districts, it is still surrounded by ancient customs: the newborn is given a godfather and a godmother; parents, relatives and friends gather around a banquet cheered by dances, songs accompanied by the accordion or the balalaika: guests present their gifts. In the past, marriage took place with great pomp and copied the model of princely weddings: before lunch, the couple offered their parents, relatives and guests a glass of vodka and they then dropped some coins into the glass; the ceremony was interspersed with songs and wedding dances. Naturally, the ritual underwent variations from one place to another: in the N, for example, if the families or one of them could not bear the serious expenses, the rape of the bride or her buying and selling was simulated. Death brought uses interpenetrated by the sense of a prompt removal of the corpse. After the funeral the rite of commemoration began: we gave the pope to drink and eat, and when he had left, all the participants in turn feasted, ending with a prayer for the deceased.
According to estatelearning.com, the whole ceremony was accompanied by rigidly codified and handed down “lamentations”. The feasts have long preserved symbolic rituals, used both as a defense against evil forces and as a way of intercession for a happy success; in the two weeks before Christmas and New Year’s Eve, masked groups went from house to house to collect offerings, while at Carnival they built mounds of snow hardened with water, from the top of which people enjoyed going down with sleds; the end of the holiday period was celebrated by burning a mannequin amidst farewell songs and regret. At Easter the custom of visiting relatives to give and receive the “Easter kiss” returned and everyone could go to church to ring the bells at will: games, dances and rounds continued for seven Sundays and everything ended with the memory of the dead. For Pentecost the houses were decorated with birch branches, the eggs were colored yellow and the next day a girl or a birch branch or a rag doll, symbols of spring, was accompanied in procession. The patrimony of popular songs is immense: epic, lyric, song, stornelli, historical and religious songs (about 5000 texts); among them emerge the burlaki, once sung by the alators of the Volga, the short and incisive castuske allusive to current events; the epic byliny, handed down by the “tellers” and so on. Dance is still inseparable from singing: the ancient trepak, the perepljas, a five-a-side dance competition, the pridanie characterized by an unbridled momentum, the roundabouts, etc. The inevitable balalaika, tambourine etc. accompany the songs and dances. Even the craftsmanship is rich in centuries-old experience and features the famous matrëski, wooden dolls with elaborately painted decorations, inserted one into the other like Chinese boxes, the palekh, named after the town from which they originate, enameled wooden boxes with finely decorated lids, containers and spoons in lacquered wood (such as those painted in gold, red and black, from Khokhloma, a small town near Nizhny Novgorod ), artistic lacquers and enamels, the typical white and blue porcelain called gzhel, and babushka, the famous wool scarves decorated with floral motifs; gold and precious stones ( yantar is always very popular, amber, from the Baltic coast) abound in goldsmithing and the processing of precious stones is recent but already functional; The craftsmanship of leather and metals from the Caucasus, carpets from Dagestan, etc. is always active. § Very varied and adapted to the climate of the regions, Russian cuisine presents different dishes and is an important part of the national culture, acting as a “daily spokesperson” for the immensity of the Russian territory, the alternation of the seasons, the succession of peoples and multiple customs. Cereals, noble but poor, such as wheat, wheat, rye, oats and millet have for centuries fed the local people who have learned and taught how to cook them for every dish. Livestock farming, as well as hunting, have brought meat to every table, as much as rivers,ikra chyornaya, both red salmon, ikra krasnaya ), the woods berries and mushrooms.
All flavored with some traditional aromatic plants such as mustard and grated horseradish, but also with a great variety of sauces and condiments (a passion borrowed from the cuisine of other countries such as France), as well as the inevitable smetana, sour cream, which the Russians never forget neither in their famous and delicious soups almost all cooked with meat broth, nor in salads or appetizers ( zakusi ), nor in traditional sweet (like syrniki, filled with ricotta) and savory pancakes. Kasha is very common, a kind of porridge prepared with any cereal (for example, millet, buckwheat or semolina), but also tortellini with sour cream, omelettes with various jams, ricotta meatballs, lapsa, homemade and generally cooked pasta in chicken broth, borshch, beetroot soup, okroshka, cold versure soup cooked with kvass, solyanka, meat or fish soup with vegetables, saslyk, pieces of mutton cooked on a spit, besbarmuk, pieces of mutton mixed with very cooked pasta in a pimentata sauce based on onions, chicken cutlets with a side of chips and other vegetables etc. The national drink is tea, very strong and then diluted with hot water according to Russian custom; pouring boiling water over the tea leaves and then passing it and passing it over until the right alcohol content, according to Uzbek custom; another typical drink is kvasstaken from fermented cereals: non-alcoholic, refreshing, low-priced, is a favorite during the summer; the vodka with which one dines most often is the queen of the many toasts made during the most solemn lunches. Meals are generally distributed as follows: in the morning abundant breakfast with eggs and yogurt; at noon a vegetable soup with sour cream and a cutlet of meat or chicken (without forgetting the ice cream, morozhenoe, frequently eaten as a dessert); in the evening cold appetizers, a light second course and tea.
