Mother's Day/Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

In Russia they don't celebrate Father's Day or Mother's Day, even on a different day like in some countries. Instead they celebrate Women's Day on March 8 and Men's Day on February 23. Supposedly we celebrate them in the US, too but only in certain circles and often on different days. These two holidays started out in socialist countries as a political event.

Women's Day apparently came first. It has lost much of the political overtones and (according to Wikipedia) is now sort of a blend of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, showing appreciation and love to women. And yes, they do celebrate Valentine's Day here but generally it's only observed between couples. Young children don't trade valentines at school.

Men's Day came along in order to give men equal appreciation for their work.

On March 8 Mary (we've talked about her a lot in the past--our FHE coordinator) got the men to the branch on a variety of made-up excuses and surprised them with a party. We had food, games, and a kind of card for each man.

The men reciprocated a few weeks later and threw a party for the women with games for everyone that often crossed stereotypical activities, like tying a tie or threading a needle. They gave a box of delicious candy to each woman.

Many people get the day off, both men and women, but then they have to work the following Sunday to make up for it.

A few Russians insisted that we celebrate these holidays in the US, and there are even websites showing that we do, but it isn't very widespread. Have you ever heard of them or celebrated them?


Last week in Russia:
For several weeks some of the Russians talked about making Окрошка or "cold soup" as refreshments at FHE, but there kept being reasons why it didn't work out. Finally Mary and Kirill made it for us. The easiest way to describe it is a tossed salad (potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, radishes, cucumbers, shredded wild garlic, and kolbasa [kind of a salami], all chopped finely and mixed together). Then they pour either buttermilk or kvas over the top. Kvas is, well, sort of like bread-flavored unsweetened soda pop. The Russians love their kvas. We were glad we got to try another authentic Russian dish. However, it isn't something we'll try at home, and not just because we can't get kvas. :) Mary also made a tasty salad with wild garlic, salt and sour cream.