May 19, 2021

Take This to Your Grave


Take This to Your Grave
Perhaps this competition is the only time that it's a good thing to take to an early grave.  Photo by Lukas via pexels.com

Cemetary work is usually seen as a rather glamourless job, but now there is some grave competition in the industry.

Recently, Novosibirsk's crematorium hosted a timed gravedigging tournament for diggers from all over the Siberian region. Each team of two had to dig a proper 200-centimeter-long, 80-centimeter-wide, and 160-centimeter-deep burial pit in the fastest time possible.

Participants were graded on how fast they worked, as well as on the technique and accuracy of their creation. In the end, it was the team from Omsk that took first place, followed by the home team from Novosibirsk, with Tomsk and the Altai region close behind. 

As seen in the video detailing the event, the competition even had spectators (creating what may have been the most lively crematorium audience ever). 

The real purpose of the event was to encourage current grave diggers to develop their skills and to help attract young people to the otherwise morbid career path. 

You Might Also Like

Omsk: Siberia's Southern Outpost
  • September 01, 2000

Omsk: Siberia's Southern Outpost

Founded on bloodshed, a crossroads for exiles and a crucible of the Civil War, this Siberian city is now a model of diversity and perserverence.
Don't Diss the Dog Days
  • May 10, 2021

Don't Diss the Dog Days

As spring heats slowly to the rapid days of summer, the canines of Russia are kept on their paws with special challenges of their own.
Equus Asinus Asinus
  • March 15, 2021

Equus Asinus Asinus

Evidently, sick burns can get you into trouble in Russian legal court— even if they are delivered in a dead language.
Rapping for Russia
  • March 09, 2021

Rapping for Russia

With Russian teenagers in mind, plans are being made for "The First All-Russian Festival of Patriotic Rap." 
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Marooned in Moscow

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.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
The Samovar Murders

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.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

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.
Survival Russian

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.

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