A colorful mix of pagan and Christian traditions influenced 19th century rural Russian Zimniye Svyatki (Winter Holidays). While many of these traditions did not survive the 20th century, they nonetheless tell us much about Russian culture today.
Where we visit a craggy outpost in the White Sea, meet a colorful lighthouse keeper and get a taste of real solitude and self-reliance.
The massive reconstruction of Moscow's iconic Bolshoi Theater has been underway for four years and looks to stretch for another two. Some question if anything original will be left of the landmark when it finally reopens in 2011.
"Elizabeth couldn't take her eyes off herself," wrote historian Vasily Klyuchevsky. Indeed, Peter the Great's narcissistic granddaughter (born 300 years ago this month) was infamous for being a tyrannical fashionista.
Readers comment and correct.
The latest from the travel front.
All the news that fits from all across Russia.
Russians have learned to fear August, and this year it delivered the Sayano-Shuchenskaya dam disaster, which could be a harbinger of things to come.
After a three-year absence, Olympic champion Yevgeny Plyuschenko is staging a comeback.
Editor Tamara Eidelman reminisces about how little the Berlin Wall was part of Soviet life.
Thirty years ago, the name "Admiral Kolchak" was only mentioned in negative terms; today it is exactly the opposite. Neither interpretation gets it right.
In November 1864, Alexander II introduced jury trials to Russia. It had countless unintended effects and led to a 70-year hiatus in the practice, only recently resurrected.
Where we examine the linguistic conventions of sparring with one's spouse.
An official visit to the Solovetsky Islands in the retinue of the Patriarch offers an intimate glimpse at the resurgence of the Orthodox Church.
A look at how Soviet propaganda made it onto people's plates.
Reviews of In the First Circle, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the documentary How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin, and four other books: There is no Freedom Without Bread!, by Constantine Pleshakov, Brief Lives: Alexander Pushkin, by Robert Chandler, Privet Amerika, and Terrible Tsarinas, by Henri Troyat.
When governments or their agents bully citizens, it is everyone's responsibility to speak up.
Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.
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