January 1st till January 8th and all of Russia literally comes to a halt. I kind of like it and have grown use to it. When I first came to Russia many years ago, I was taken back by the fact that the whole country shut down and people partied until they ran out of money and or booze. Russians have lots of extra spending money and the ones who drink? This is the holiday of all holidays….plus Russians shoot fireworks like no tomorrow and this shooting of fireworks will last about the whole week they are off. Once again, the limitations is when everyone runs out of money, booze and fireworks…
Though as the title suggests….this holiday is sleepy and quiet. You can walk the daytime streets of Moscow and find at best 25% of the normal people out and about. Svetochka and I take advantage of such moments in life and go see things…
Yes I like the holidays in Russia and below is a table of the 2018 holidays to come…
| Date | Weekday | Holiday Name | Holiday Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 1 | Monday | New Year’s Day | National holiday |
| Jan 2 | Tuesday | New Year Holiday Week | National holiday |
| Jan 3 | Wednesday | New Year Holiday Week | National holiday |
| Jan 4 | Thursday | New Year Holiday Week | National holiday |
| Jan 5 | Friday | New Year Holiday Week | National holiday |
| Jan 7 | Sunday | Orthodox Christmas Day | National holiday, Orthodox |
| Jan 8 | Monday | New Year Holiday Week | National holiday |
| Jan 14 | Sunday | Old New Year | Observance |
| Feb 14 | Wednesday | Valentine’s Day | Observance |
| Feb 23 | Friday | Defender of the Fatherland Day | National holiday |
| Feb 27 | Tuesday | Special Operations Forces Day | De facto holiday |
| Mar 8 | Thursday | International Women’s Day | National holiday |
| Mar 20 | Tuesday | March equinox | Season |
| Apr 8 | Sunday | Orthodox Easter Day | Observance, Orthodox |
| Apr 28 | Saturday | Spring and Labor Day Holiday | Working day (moved weekend) |
| Apr 30 | Monday | Spring and Labor Day Holiday | National holiday |
| May 1 | Tuesday | Spring and Labor Day | National holiday |
| May 9 | Wednesday | Victory Day | National holiday |
| Jun 9 | Saturday | Working day – moved weekend | Working day (moved weekend) |
| Jun 11 | Monday | Russia Day Weekend | National holiday |
| Jun 12 | Tuesday | Russia Day | National holiday |
| Jun 21 | Thursday | June Solstice | Season |
| Sep 1 | Saturday | Day of Knowledge | De facto holiday |
| Sep 23 | Sunday | September equinox | Season |
| Nov 4 | Sunday | Unity Day | National holiday |
| Nov 5 | Monday | Unity Day observed | National holiday |
| Dec 21 | Friday | December Solstice | Season |
| Dec 29 | Saturday | Working day – moved weekend | Working day (moved weekend) |
Have a nice day…
WtR