Hey - Happy International Women's Day! This is a holiday we don't really celebrate here in the U.S., except as part of "National Women's History Month," but it's widely celebrated in Russia as a day to honor women, especially working women. One of the consequences of Communism was that a large number of women work outside the home. I've seen estimates that about 90% of Russian women have paid employment. On International Women's Day working women get presents, flowers, and sometimes the day off of work.

It's actually kind of ironic we don't celebrate this holiday in the U.S.... more

I am a little bit late on this, but this past week has been Maslenitsa in Russia, or blini week. It's a celebration of spring and fun and food, especially blini (thin buckwheat pancakes) and anything made with butter. It's also the week before Russian Orthodox Lent, so it's similar in some ways to Mardi Gras, but it has its own set of traditions and foods, and none of these involve beads or floats. Most of the traditions involve eating vast piles of blini.

Mmmm. Blini.

The word, Maslenitsa, comes from the Russian word for butter, maslo. Maslenitsa=butter... more