November 21, 2019

Ice, Ice, Baby Tigers


Ice, Ice, Baby Tigers
Baby tigers are the cutest image to come out of Russia this week, despite the unsettling circumstances. Amurtigercenter | Instagram

Quote of the Week

“This is a centuries-long dream of our people.” 

– The mayor of Yakutsk, the largest world city located in permafrost, about a new bridge over the Lena River. 

 

Father Frost, Mother tiger, and the freezing wrath of Mother Nature

1. A tigress did not earn her stripes as a mother. From a video published on Instagram by a conservation center, three tiger cubs appeared with no mother in sight. Specialists have been dispatched to the area to go around asking “Are You My Mother?” on behalf of the baby tigers. If they find mom’s tracks, the little ones are unthreatened, but if they don’t, the tigers are young enough to be very vulnerable without help. The entire species, actually, is vulnerable; there are only 500-600 Siberian Tigers in the wild, so the survival of these cubs could make a difference. Here’s hoping they catch the tiger mom by the trail. 

2. It’s Father Frost (Ded Moroz, aka Russian Santa) season in Russia. Here’s something to warm your heart: in their letters to Father Frost, Russian children most often ask for the health and happiness of their loved ones, according to his press service (yes, that exists). Ironically, though, the second most common request, a smartphone, could undermine the institution of writing letters in the first place… perhaps the future of Father Frost requests is cold calling? Meanwhile, Ded Moroz celebrated his birthday not only with his trusty sidekick Snegorochka, but also a hero from folk epics, Baba Yaga, and other fairytale figures. 

Ded Moroz birthday
Announcing the latest addition to the Russian Christmas (well, more like New Year’s) canon… a snow rabbit? / The Press Service of the Russian Father Frost | TASS

3. In February, 1959, ten young and experienced Soviet hikers died during a winter expedition, surrounded by very mysterious circumstances, like missing eyeballs and radiation on their clothes, leading to a variety of awkward explanations, from American spies to Yedi. The Russian government broke the 60-year-old ice and reopened this cold case, known as the Dyatlov Pass Incident, earlier this year. They were supposed to provide results in August, but the New York Times got there first, with groundbreaking new research on avalanches. Previously thought impossible, or at least unlikely, due to the relatively gentle slope of the mountain, creating the campsite might have triggered a delayed avalanche. Eyeballs and radiation can likely be explained by hungry critters and lanterns. If you still prefer Yedi-type explanations, though, the Times also published an original short story by Colin Dodds that was inspired by the incident.

 

In Odder News

  • A faucet factory in Tatarstan wants to make Russians thirsty. They recently released a video preview of their much-anticipated annual sexy calendar, with the goal of “not leaving a single viewer indifferent.” 
Russian factory sexy calendar
What does fishnet-factory erotica says about post-Soviet Russian aesthetics? / Youtube channel of the Naberezhnochelensky Faucet Factory | Rambler Novosti
  • The Night Wolves motorcycle club and All Worlds organization unfurled the globe-travelling world’s largest Russian flag in Antarctica. 
Russian flag in Antarctica
This achievement is sure to make Russia feel on top – erm, bottom – of the world. / All World Organization | RIA Novosti
  • One Moscovite’s message to the heavens – “Lord, help Russia” written in enormous letters in a field, – is visible not only from space, but also from your computer screen.
Lord Help Russia message visible from satellite on Yandex Maps
Two ways to achieve immortality: salvation, and being archived on Yandex Maps / Yandex Maps | Teleprogramma.pro

 

Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices
May 01, 2013

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

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.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

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.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955