January 01, 2020

Happy New Year! Enjoy Your Bath!


Happy New Year! Enjoy Your Bath!
The mayor's office response to this penis-shaped ice rink in Novosibirsk: "Real art should excite you!" Govorit Moskva | Telegram

“People discussed whether Nadya and Ippolit had sex.”

– One of the FAQ’s about the beloved Soviet New Year’s film Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!, according to the daughter of the director. 

Unfortunately for Russia, UNESCO refused to accept the iconic film Irony of Fate, along with other Russian New Year’s traditions – like visiting the banya on December 31st (a key component of the film) and Salad Olivye – as items of intangible cultural heritage. Maybe they’ll have better luck next year, if Russia actually ratifies UNESCO’s convention on protecting items of intangible cultural heritage. In the meantime, we hope all Russians still enjoyed their New Year’s baths!

In addition to mayonnaise-based salads, Russians met the New Year with pastry-shaped ornaments and a penis-shaped ice rink. Unlike skating rinks and Irony of Fate, though, New Year’s icons Ded Moroz (Father Frost) and his helper Snegorochka remained solidly PG. Officials in St. Petersburg did not let the two fairy-tale characters get married. 

Ded Moroz and Snegorochka wedding
They were denied because they were not dressed for the occasion. But she is still wearing a white dress! / Fontanka.ru

Most importantly, Russians met the New Year with their family, the life priority of 90% of Russians. 

We wish you a New Year full of family – and happiness, health, and all the other things to which Russians love to toast.

С новым годом! 

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Driving Down Russia's Spine
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Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

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Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Marooned in Moscow
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Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Survival Russian
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Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

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Faith & Humor
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The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
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The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 

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