September 11, 2021

Don't Forget Your Flowers and Bows


Don't Forget Your Flowers and Bows
Those bows! The first day of school in 2011 – but don't worry, the outfits have not changed since then. Panoramio user aadmitriew

The first day of school is a national holiday in Russia. Called the Day of Knowledge, every September 1 is met with great fanfare and the biggest bows you will see anywhere in the world.

The holiday is the biggest deal for children entering first grade and their families. After typically three years of daycare/preschool/kindergarten (detsky sad), six- and seven-year-olds head to school on September 1 as if they are starring in a beauty pageant. Boys wear their first suits (with ties!), girls wear black-and-white dresses with big white bows – the bigger the better – and all pupils bring bouquets of flowers for their teachers. We have no idea how teachers are supposed to get 30 bouquets home and into vases.

Those fancy clothes become the uniform for the rest of the year. According to statistics bureau Rosstat, a full set of school supplies for first-graders costs about 18,800 rubles ($255) for boys and 23,200 rubles ($315) for girls. For some families with one working parent, that is close to one full month's salary.

In the Soviet Union, the first day of school was elevated to the status of a religious holiday in another country. The Day of Knowledge became an official holiday in 1984. But a standardized first day of school, the first of September, was codified in the Soviet Union as early as 1930.

If September 1 falls on a Sunday, then the holiday will be observed on the following day. September 1 also marks the first day of fall, with government decrees choosing when the seasons change rather than the planet's cycles.

We just hope that you feel as positive about the start of school as this 1st grader, here.

You Might Also Like

Finding Her Russian Roots
  • July 18, 2021

Finding Her Russian Roots

How a conversation led one of 60,000 Russian adoptees in the United States on a journey to her past.
Tourism for Tykes
  • July 10, 2021

Tourism for Tykes

Youthful tourism ambassadors might be coming to a Russian region near you.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals
[INVALID]
[INVALID]

Some of our Books

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
October 01, 2013

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.

 
Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

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.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

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.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, 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