VICTORY DAY

Happy Mother's Day to all of you, those who are mothers as well as those who have mothers.

The two biggest holidays in Russia are January 1 and Victory Day on May 9. Everything shuts down for those two days, even buses and many stores that operate 363 other days during the year. Victory Day  commemorates the day Russian forces marched into Berlin and defeated Hitler.

In the past May 9 has been a lock-down day where the missionaries went to a central location (like the senior couple's home in cities where there is a senior couple) and spent the day watching movies, eating, and visiting, and then going home about 7:00. This year it was a regular working day, but we were asked to avoid crowds and especially drunks. We did have all the missionaries come over for a couple of hours to celebrate Elder Прокопцев's birthday but other than that they were busy with missionary work. However, all the missionaries were asked to be back in their apartment by 7:00.

We've been told that spring hits, the weather starts getting warmer, and then always turns cold for Victory Day. This year was no exception. We had originally planned to go watch the parade, but it was snowing when we woke up so we changed our minds (since we've already sent our warm clothing home). We found out later than President Gibbons texted the all the missionaries that morning and asked them to stay away from the parades because of the crowds, so we were obedient and didn't even know it. Fortunately it was televised. It was the first time we've watched TV in Russia and we had to figure out how to hook up the cable to the TV, so we missed the first few minutes. It looked just as cold and miserable on TV as it did out our window. Looking at the crowds along the parade route, we weren't the only ones who stayed inside!

The parade was very different from our Days of '47 parade, and not just because Utah doesn't get snow in July. It was very much a military parade with lots of military groups (some goose stepped, others marched), tanks, jeeps, motorcycles with sidecars, bands, and flags. We think it lasted about an hour, and then ended with a program that included speeches by this memorial arch. This picture was taken the next day, and life was back to normal, like nothing special had happened the day before.

They released bunches of helium balloons with short banners attached (of course we couldn't tell what the words on the banners said). There was also a program with kids singing and dancing, and lots of video shots of what we assume were vets and widows of vets. At the end of the program the parade retreated, and lots of people filed by the eternal flame and placed flowers by it.

Many cities here have an eternal flame and war memorial.

One thing we've learned here is that for births you give an odd number of flowers, for deaths you do an even number. From what we could see, most people were putting down an even number of carnations, roses or other flowers, but occasionally we saw one flower set down.

That night there were lots of fireworks. The fireworks don't go very high (or maybe it's that the buildings are taller and we're not on a hill like at home), so we only saw the tops of a few of them, but we could see reflections on some of the apartment windows down the street. They shot off one right after another without pauses between. The show lasted about 15 minutes. Unlike New Year's Eve, there was only one fireworks show and no individuals shot off fireworks.

This week's Russianism:
Russians LOVE their heat in the winter. They walk around the stores (which are often heated to what feels to us about 85-90) wearing their warm hats and coats. They looked at us funny when we took of our coats because we were SO hot. I asked someone why they like things so hot, and he said they're afraid of freezing. Believe me, there is no danger of freezing inside their buildings. Now that the weather is getting warmer (except for Victory Day), we're hoping the buildings will be a little cooler.