Tatyana's Day

This day is special not only as the name day of all Tatyanas but also as a day on which Russian students cast their cares to the wind and celebrate. This year, the holiday will be 242 years old.

It all started on January 25, 1755, when Russian Empress Elizabeth Petrovna signed a decree prepared by Ivan Shuvalov establishing the University of Moscow. Shuvalov did not choose this day on a whim – he wanted to congratulate his mother Tatyana Rostislavskaya on her name day. The University Church of Saint Tatyana, located next door to the university, was also dedicated to Tatyana – an early Christian martyr.

The decree led to large-scale preparations in which Russia’s leading scientific figures – including the well-known renaissance man, Mikhail Lomonosov – participated.  As early as 1754, Lomonosov expressed his opinion on establishing the university in a letter to Ivan Shuvalov, advising that it should be created on a large scale, without sparing funds and “looking ahead,” in order that “the plan of the university should serve future years.” And Shuvalov heeded the advice of the great scholar. Departments were set up for all the most important branches of science, the best scientific staff was attracted and the university building itself, designed by the top architects of the day, spread over several city blocks in central Moscow (Mokhovaya street).

Not surprisingly, Ivan Shuvalov became the first head of this first Russian university. Shuvalov was a remarkable personality. The last lover of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, he was far from a typical favorite, as he had a passionate love for science, mixed with an unusual modesty and fairness. He came to court at the age of 15 (in 1742) and seven years later became a nobleman and favorite of the Empress. Elizabeth tried to make him a count, but he refused the title (unlike his unscrupulous brother Peter, whose corrupt ways helped to bring about a financial crisis in the country).

Such a dizzying ascent could turn anyone’s head, but Shuvalov used his almost limitless power to further the arts and sciences. He helped Lomonosov with many a scientific undertaking and generally patronized scholars, writers and artists. His mansion, one of the most beautiful on St. Petersburg’s Italian street, was a meeting place for creative people of the Elizabethan era: Mikhail Lomonosov, Duchess Lashkova and poets Alexander Sumarokov, Gavrila Derzhavin and Ippolit Bogdanovich. Russian rulers Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter III and Catherine the Great also graced his quarters.

Ivan Shuvalov corresponded with Voltaire and Gelvetsy. It was on his initiative that the Russian Academy of Artists, of which he became the first president, was founded in 1757. Historians say that even the proudest of Russian tsars, Pavel I, deferred to Shuvalov. When passing by Shuvalov’s home after his death in 1797, the emperor stopped his carriage, removed his hat and bowed.

Russia’s students also remember Shuvalov – if only as an excuse to party – and Tatyana’s Day has been a time for unrestrained joking (and drinking) among Russian students for almost two centuries. On this day, even the police turn a blind eye and pretend not to notice the pranks. Nineteenth-century writer Anton Chekhov wrote that, on Tatyana’s Day, usually “everything was drunk except the Moscow river,” because at the height of winter, of course, it was covered with ice.

After the October Revolution, Tatyana’s day was “forgotten,” that is, renamed Proletarian Students’ Day. Only in 1995, after repair and restoration, was the University Church of Saint Tatyana finally reopened and Tatyana’s Day once again celebrated among students in both a religious and secular manner. This will be the fourth year in a row that Moscow University’s best students have been awarded the Shuvalovsky and Lomonosovsky prizes in the old university building on Mokhovaya street.

And this comes in spite of the fact that students, along with most of Russia, are living through hard times. At state universities, the monthly stipends are so low that most students have to earn money on the side. Prestigious universities and institutes, as in the United States, have become accessible only to those well-off students who can afford the tuition. But nonetheless, Russians, both old and young, always find a way to celebrate a holiday. And Tatyana’s Day surely has a future in Russia, for students are the most optimistic people on earth.

In Brief

The month of February contains the anniversaries of some of RussiaÕs most talented creative figures. To begin with, February 4 marks 125 years since the birth of writer Mikhail Prishvin (1873-1954) -- a subtle connoisseur of Russian nature. Prishvin defined talent, of which he had plenty, as Òthe ability to do more than is needed for oneself alone: it is the ability to honor the dawn, without honoring oneself.Ó

On February 9, 215 years ago, the great Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky (1783-1852) was born. He went down in Russian literary history not only as the author of a multitude of lyric poems and the ballads Lyudmila and Svetlana, but also as the brilliant translator of HomerÕs Odyssey, as well as the works of Schiller and Byron.

On February 15, 165 years ago, another Russian poet and Homeric translator Nikolai Gnedich (1784-1833) died. He was best-known for translating the Iliad, along with the works of Schiller, Voltaire and Shakespeare.

On February 27, 1853, 145 years ago, Russian writer and public figure Alexander Gertsen founded an unrestricted Russian printing house in London (it existed there until 1865). This was the first publishing house where Russian literature, books and proclamations were published uncensored as individual publications, as in the famous journals Kolokol (Bell), Polyarnaya Zvezda (Polar Star) and others.

February 13 marks the birthday of two more artistic Russians -- Fyodor Shalyapin (see story, p. 26) and Yevgeny Vakhtangov. Shalyapin (1873-1938) -- a talented Russian singer -- was born 125 years ago on this date, while Vakhtangov (1883-1922) -- a director, actor and thespian -- laid the basis through his methods and discoveries for the work of many of the worldÕs leading theater directors.

Delving further back into history, on February 20, 170 years ago, a monument sculpted by Ivan Martos (1754-1835) of Russian heroes Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, who led a popular militia movement against the occupying Polish forces from 1611-1618, was unveiled.

Speaking of occupations, on February 11, 760 years ago (1238), Mongol-Tatar troops under the leadership of Khan Batu began to besiege the rich and flourishing town of Vladimir [which will be featured in next month’s issue of Russian Life]. The capture and looting of Vladimir marked the beginning of almost two and a half centuries of Mongol-Tatar rule in Russia [which, among many other things, as this month’s cuisine column notes, brought pickled cabbage to Russia].

February 7 marks 305 years since the birth of Russian empress Anna Ioannovna (1693-1740), the niece of Peter the Great. Over almost a decade in power (1730-1740), this empress went down in Russian history as an autocratic and reactionary ruler. This was mainly due to her patronage of Germans and other foreigners who detested all things Russian. In particular, the empressÕ lover, Duke Ernst-Johan Biron from Courland, gained exceptional power and gave his name to the period of Bironovschina -- Bironism -- referring to the political persecution that took place during AnnaÕs reign. Namely, several thousand Russians were executed during this time and twenty or thirty thousand more exiled to Siberia.

On February 14, 80 years ago, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in Russia, doing away with the discrepancy between the Russian and European calendars (the Gregorian calendar was introduced in Europe at the end of the 16th century).

Finally, on February 24, 400 years ago, the Zemsky sobor (land council) in Moscow elected Boris Godunov (circa 1552-1605) as ruler. During the seven years of his rule, Godunov significantly centralized power and strengthened the process of tying peasants to the land through serfdom.