1. Reindeer galore! March 30 was the Day of the Reindeer Breeder, an important holiday for the indigenous peoples of Russia’s Far North (as you may have read in the Mar/Apr issue of Russian Life, or online {digital sub required}). A holiday marking the passage from winter to spring, it features reindeer sledding, snowmobile racing, wrestling, and a competition for the best children’s clothes, among other activities. This year, the city of Salekhard did a modern take on old traditions. Usually, the city exhibits a chum, or traditional tent made from reindeer hides, but the city displayed a “smart chum” — a chum equipped with internet, television, and smoke detectors. Even if spring didn’t arrive, at least there’s wifi in the tundra.
2. When all the world isn’t a stage. Elsewhere in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, one driver encountered a badly parked car and got so mad that he took out a sledgehammer and wrecked the other car. Don’t worry – the video was entirely staged; the guy wrecked his own car to create the meme. However, it wasn’t all no harm, no foul: the prankster was arrested and charged with “hooliganism with the use of weapons or objects used as weapons.” When a car prank takes a bit of a handbrake turn.
Is it legal to smash in your own car? Apparently not. / Vkontakte
3. Luke, I am your mayor. Someone on the Belgorod city council is a huge fan of Star Wars. So huge a fan that, when incoming mayor Yuri Galdun had his swearing-in ceremony, the Imperial March began to play as he walked in. The city council didn’t seem to find this as entertaining as we did: a few days later, an official resigned, and the council issued a statement apologizing for having played something “foreign” at the ceremony. Sure, playing a space opera theme song at an inauguration is a little unprofessional. But still, fun it is.
Only thing missing? A lightsaber. / Screencap from edited video: МБХ Медиа
“Me, work, Twitter”: One tweeter’s take on the moment. / Я к вам из твитора
Sleeping seal pups. / Спасение тюленей 699-23-99
“Still, the taste of victory is impossible to describe. It is pleasant for the soul.”
— Lev Ezyngi, local champion of peretiagivaniye palki (a tug-of-war with sticks), a game traditionally played on Day of the Reindeer Herders
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