RUSSIAN VICTORY DAY AND AMERICAN MOTHER'S DAY CELEBRATED

Flags flying everywhere

Two holidays, one Russian and one American, happened this week...in fact, within two days of each other...making our week busy and quite eventful.  Let's start with one of the biggest holidays of the year here in Russia. It is Victory Day, celebrating the day of Germany's surrender to the Allied Forces in World War II.  In Europe, it is celebrated on May 8th but because Russia is many times zones away, the day of victory was actually the 9th here....hence the day set for Victory day in Russia differs from that of the European countries.  It is a really beautiful holiday which honors the military and its veterans, especially the World War II veterans. This is the day of the big military parade of troops, tanks, and airplanes in Red Square. On this day, the Red Square is totally inaccessible to anyone who is not an invited guest. Vladimir Putin was there reviewing the parade, along with many high ranking military personnel. We watched the parade on television but did see the air show from our apartment. The whole thing was quite a display of might and power. 

The Military Band

Marching in straight lines with  all heads facing to the right

Just a few of the many tanks and military equipment displayed

This picture was taken from our apartment window.

It signified the end of the parade and air show.

This is the day of much patriotism and pride in this country for its citizens. We were especially impressed with the reverence in which the veterans of World War II are held. Many of them wear their medal adorned uniforms and walk around in public places on this day. People come up to them, shake their hands, and present them with flowers.  It was a wonderful sight to see.  Another way of honoring the veterans of all wars was the wearing of orange and black ribbons. We couldn't figure out if you had to be a veteran to wear one, but many people were wearing them on this day. The orange and black ribbon signifies something about being a brave warrior.  When we were in the room of the Kremlin Palace designed for the honoring of the country's soldiers, we noticed the benches were done in the same orange and black stripe.  

The same soldier being thanked

by a total stranger. 

This veteran was carrying the many

 flowers given to him as he walked

 around the park.

The entrance to the park

We had decided to stay totally away from the Red Square area as we are obviously not Russian and we didn't want to call attention to ourselves. Instead, we visited Tsaritsyno Park where Catherine, the Great, built a palace she never lived in. In fact, at one time she had it dismantled because she didn't like the architect's work. She, then, hired another architect who never finished the project due to bad economic times and Catherine's untimely death. Several people owned it after that but it wasn't until in the 1990's that it was totally restored according the the original plans. It is situated in a huge park, part of which are the palace grounds which are amazing. Beautiful fountains, lakes, manicured forests, stone bridges, and thousands of tulips greeted us. It was a delightful day for walking, and we did a lot of it in order to see everything. We also spent some time sitting and enjoying the fountains and the people passing by. When we got ready to leave, the park was becoming very crowded so we were glad we had come early. 

The map shows how very large the park is.

Some of the tulips

Enjoying the fountains, the music and the people

The fountains

One of several bridges

The palace

More Tulips

 

This says May 9th

The next day, Saturday, we decided to walk to Red Square to get a feel for what the celebration was all about. Things were being dismantled but it was still an impressive sight with all the huge banners hanging around the square. We walked to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and were amazed at the great number of flowers that had been laid all around the tomb, as well as along the pathways leading to the tomb....another sign of the great reverence these people have for their warriors.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Now for Mother's Day......

Of course the best thing was talking with each of our children. That is always a joy. In lieu of having family over to celebrate, we invited six of our missionaries over for a buffet of ham and  fold over rolls, mustard sauce, a fruit salad, a potato salad, vegetables and dip and chips. We wanted it to be an all American, typical Mother's day fare. These six were skyping home at 4, 5, 6 and 8 Sunday evening so we decided to set up the buffet at 7 for them all to enjoy. It was fun to talk with them after they had talked with their families.  They were so excited to have had that opportunity. Missionaries skyping home at our apartment actually started Saturday at 4 when the International sisters came to our apartment.  The East Zone leaders then came at 8:30 Sunday morning. We are glad we could help them get in contact with family.

Enjoying a quite minute to visit after dinner

A flower from the sisters and a homemade

card from the elders.  So sweet.

Also on Sunday, we squeezed in another sacrament meeting to hear one of our young single adults give her farewell talk before leaving for her mission.  Inessa was one of our Institute/Pathway students who opted to put in her mission papers instead of continuing her online education with BYU Idaho. Good choice as she will make a fantastic missionary. She is going to the St. Petersburg Mission, but first, she will be in Madrid, Spain for her MTC experience. 



Other than these two holidays, our week was pretty uneventful.  Monday we did our last apartment check for the quarter. Tuesday was a Zone training meeting which was very well done. We especially liked when each missionary was asked to share a mission miracle. Lots of miracles are happening here in the mission field. It was wonderful to be reminded that this is the Lord's work and he provides ways for it to get done. 


Wednesday was English group and Thursday was Institute and Gathering. Our lesson was on Alma's counsel to his sons.  We used the late Dean Conrad's 'Satan's Ball Court' concept.  He always talked about staying out of Satan's ball court by living the standards of the church.  We used that same idea as we discussed Alma's advice to his son Corianton on how to avoid Satan's temptations. We think it was effective.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

Canned applesauce is hard to find so this week I made my own. I wanted to make an applesauce cake so I peeled, sliced, cooked and blended the apples for a pretty good applesauce.  It doesn't compare to applesauce made with Utah apples but it made a good applesauce cake.

All over Moscow, we see these signs saying I Love Moscow.  We decided to take a picture in front of one as we, too, love Moscow.

When we walked to the Red Square on Saturday, we saw these men dismantling the grandstands.  We were concerned for the safety of the workers as they had taken no safety precautions that we could see.  It is a mighty hard cobblestone road below them.

A GREAT WEEK OF LEARNING

ABOUT RUSSIAN CULTURE AND TRADITIONS