Culture & Customs

It was with mixed feelings of bitter guilt and disgust, overcome with shameful and cowardly thoughts, that I joined the Children of 1917 project.

Our producer, Misha, wanted us to row across the Volga River to visit 100-year-old Tatyana Semyonovna. He felt it would be epic and symbolic. We disagreed...

A family of animal defenders gets burned out of their home. All they want is to return, to help more animals.

Early morning police raids and the conundrum that Kirill Serebrennikov and his Gogol Theater are facing.

It is surprisingly simple (in certain circumstances) to mix up homebrew with other, less harmful things.

In which we consider the less than humble cabbage and its history in village life, and offer a quick sauerkraut recipe.

Bikes, restoring VDNKh and a church, merchant life and space travel.

As told in two letters, two certificates and the autobiography of one centenarian, who turned 100 on June 16 and is the oldest person in her village of 100.

On the eve of our visit, the ambulance came for Maria Nikolayevna Ryabtsova: there was something wrong with her neck. The doctor examined her, but found nothing serious. He did an EKG and was surprised: “if only everyone had a heart like yours,” he said.

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

Since we will be asking lots of questions of our interview subjects, we thought it only fair to answering some questions about ourselves, so that readers can get to know us all a bit better.

Where we discuss seven outstanding Soviet movies from the 1960s dealing with rural Russia, humaneness, and the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution that, instead of contributing to the revolution’s legacy, gathered dust for decades.