Easter Holidays
May 6, 2013 11:51:03 GMT -5
Post by neilmcgowan on May 6, 2013 11:51:03 GMT -5
Due to Byzantine complications in the construction of ecclesiastical calendars, Russia has only just managed (yesterday) to celebrate Pascha - the Easter festival.
I take no interest either the life or death of the Judean Woodworking Enthusiast - nor even the conundrum that neither Catholic nor Orthodox churchmen can decide on which actual date he met that death, and why its date dances round the calendar like a scalded cat.
Easter, of course, takes its name from the earth-spirit of renewal and fertility, Oestre. And after five months of ice and snow, the prospect of green grass, and pleasant weather is very welcome indeed
By a peculiar coincidence this year the Russian calendar celebrates not only May 1st - Labour Day and May 9th - V.E. Day - but also the Death-Day of the Judean Cupboard-Maker (May 5th) in quick succession.
This means we get a huge swathe of national holidays, and the chance to scamper off somewhere is too good to miss. We shall be going to Veliky Novgorod tomorrow for a few days - the C8th capital of the nascent state of Rus... which went on to become Russia rather later.
I doubt I will be online much this week, but will be back with you by the weekend
NOVGOROD is very sensibly arranged - directly adjacent to the huge medieval Kremlin is the city's sandy river beach. You can do your sightseeing and relaxing in one fell swoop. It lay sufficiently far north that the Mongols missed it on their way to Central Europe - it's the oldest castle structure in Russia. The eminent good sense of its people was evinced in another important way too - it was a Republic. It remained a monarchless realm until the mid-C16th, when Ivan the Terrible grew jealous of its economic success, and sacked the city. The arrival of monarchy, and the stupidity which accompanies it, caused Novgorod's thriving economy to collapse. The town became an economic backwater, and was then eclipsed by the Imperial port of St Petersburg when it was built in 1703. Yet being sidelined turned out to be a blessing for Novgorod - its medieval architecture was never modernised, and it remains there to be enjoyed today.
The former Guard Hall in the city walls has been made into a restaurant that serves dishes prepared to recipes recorded in medieval manuscripts - it's slightly naff, of course, but it makes an unusual experience. There's also an elegant Swedish-run bar and restaurant called Holmgard.
I take no interest either the life or death of the Judean Woodworking Enthusiast - nor even the conundrum that neither Catholic nor Orthodox churchmen can decide on which actual date he met that death, and why its date dances round the calendar like a scalded cat.
Easter, of course, takes its name from the earth-spirit of renewal and fertility, Oestre. And after five months of ice and snow, the prospect of green grass, and pleasant weather is very welcome indeed
By a peculiar coincidence this year the Russian calendar celebrates not only May 1st - Labour Day and May 9th - V.E. Day - but also the Death-Day of the Judean Cupboard-Maker (May 5th) in quick succession.
This means we get a huge swathe of national holidays, and the chance to scamper off somewhere is too good to miss. We shall be going to Veliky Novgorod tomorrow for a few days - the C8th capital of the nascent state of Rus... which went on to become Russia rather later.
I doubt I will be online much this week, but will be back with you by the weekend
NOVGOROD is very sensibly arranged - directly adjacent to the huge medieval Kremlin is the city's sandy river beach. You can do your sightseeing and relaxing in one fell swoop. It lay sufficiently far north that the Mongols missed it on their way to Central Europe - it's the oldest castle structure in Russia. The eminent good sense of its people was evinced in another important way too - it was a Republic. It remained a monarchless realm until the mid-C16th, when Ivan the Terrible grew jealous of its economic success, and sacked the city. The arrival of monarchy, and the stupidity which accompanies it, caused Novgorod's thriving economy to collapse. The town became an economic backwater, and was then eclipsed by the Imperial port of St Petersburg when it was built in 1703. Yet being sidelined turned out to be a blessing for Novgorod - its medieval architecture was never modernised, and it remains there to be enjoyed today.
The former Guard Hall in the city walls has been made into a restaurant that serves dishes prepared to recipes recorded in medieval manuscripts - it's slightly naff, of course, but it makes an unusual experience. There's also an elegant Swedish-run bar and restaurant called Holmgard.