Friday, 23 February 2018. Defender of the Fatherland Day. A Russian Public Holiday. Officially, as the name suggests, the holiday celebrates people who are serving or were serving the Russian Armed Forces (both men and woman, both military and civilian personnel), but unofficially, nationally it has also more recently come to include the celebration of men as a whole and to act as a counterpart of International Woman’s Day on March 8.
Woman give small gifts to the men in their lives (husbands, boyfriends, fiancés, sons, fathers, brothers, uncles and grandfathers) This all just basically meant that I had a nice long weekend. Oh and much needed! With my new semester’s timetable, it’s been going a bit hectic. Longer class hours (Classes on Thursdays are from 10:00-18:00), 2 more subjects added (History and Social Science), making time for homework, studying, eating healthy, going to the gym, ballet classes and somewhere in between all that, also trying to relax as well. It can eventually make you burn out.
So, to say the least, I just chilled and literally pulled a ‘lazy bum’ the whole Friday and I enjoyed it very much! I’m looking forward to the next long weekend! You might think, shame it’s probably going to be a long stretch again before I probably will be able to have another one. But my dear friends and family, my next ‘very’ long weekend is in fact in less than two weeks! Remember you read something about March 8, International Woman’s Day in the beginning of this post? Yes, that’s right! That’s my next long weekend. This time it will be one day longer than this long weekend because the 8th is a Thursday. Just one more full week and three normal days, then I’m “holidaying” again. It might sound like a lot, but we don’t really “relax” if it’s not for the odd celebrations.
I’m not trying to rub it in your faces, okay maybe a teeny, tinny, weeny bit. 😀
Okay, all silliness aside. I think it’s great that Russians are so cultured and celebrate things like this. I think that this is something I wish we would also have back in South Africa. Have true meaningful celebrations that’s true to our cultures and history. We are such a big mix of cultures, but yet so many of us ‘lose’ our heritage and forget where we came from. Simple example: I’m Afrikaans but only recently got to experience the Volkspele. Lots of you might not even know what this is. It’s scary how unheard of it is today and one reason is, because somewhere along the generations it got left behind and now it’s seen as weird, uncool and odd. It’s only because it was never exposed to us, that it looks old fashioned and “not like our thing”. I wish you all could see how proud the people are here about their cultures and traditional dances and songs. Whenever there’s a chance to celebrate, the traditional dances, songs and costumes come out. And it’s beautiful!
I think if Volkspele never “died” out (luckily there is still a very little flame burning), it could have slightly developed through the years, while staying true to the culture. Then it could also be as extraordinary like those of Russia.
From some of the first traditional dances of Russian culture:
And how it developed the last few years, to today:
See what we also could have had? I think it’s time to bring Volkspele back in all it’s glory and be proud of it.
Friends, go and do your research, find out about your heritage and culture. Celebrate who you are and where you come from. Be proud of your culture!!! So, you might not be South African but everyone has a heritage and a culture, it should be celebrated. The world is a very artful, expressive and festive place, let’s celebrate who we are! And yes, as cliché as this is… eart would not exist without (E)ART!!!
Dance, live, love and celebrate!
Have a very wonderful week everyone!
To Live is To Dance
xoxo
