1. Congratulating each other after a bath/shower
“S legkim parom!” If you hear this phrase it means a Russian wants to congratulate you for taking a shower or a bath. Literally it means “with light steam” but its roots – and meaning – go back to antiquity. A “banya” used to be considered a special place, and people went there not only to wash but also to cleanse their souls. Washing oneself in a banya is a kind of ritual during which both body and soul are cleansed. If a person went to a banya to cure diseases, remove negativity and the evil eye, then upon leaving the banya he was certainly told: “S legkim parom!” This wish was previously akin to wishing someone a happy birthday because after getting rid of negative energy, a person was considered to be reborn.
2. Sitting down before a trip
When Russians are getting ready to travel, they don’t rush out the door, but they take a moment to sit down, just for a couple of minutes. This tradition is rooted in a pagan belief that the house spirit - domovoi - will follow those who have left, and the house left unattended will perish. To avoid it, people pretended not to leave so that neither he nor the evil spirits would join those leaving their homes. If domovoi is not your thing, you may sit down before your trip as then you have a chance to ask yourself if you’ve forgotten anything important.
3. Drinking birch sap
“What? How is it collected? Is it even possible?” you may ask. A notch is cut into the birch bark, then a metal chute is inserted and the tree sap – the juice – flows into a collecting can or jar. It’s a little cloudy and tastes sweet. You can drink it straight or add lemon, honey, and raisins. It’s pretty widely available and you can buy it at almost every store, though Russians don’t drink it very often.
4. Celebrating “old-style” New Year
Though Russia switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar a long time ago (in 1918), people still remember that the “old-style” New Year was celebrated on January 13th. It’s a great reason for a holiday, isn’t it?
5. Keeping a bag with bags
It’s an old Soviet habit, and it’s a great one. Every self-respecting Russian family has a bag with plastic bags at home. People rarely buy special trash bags and Ziploc bags for storing goods. Instead, they reuse the bags from the supermarket. It’s eco-friendly. And if I tell you that a lot of Soviet grandmas also washed plastic bags, would you be delighted?
6. Drinking a lot of tea
It’s known that England is a country of tea. But how about Russia? Did you know that Russians drink a lot of tea as well? Unlike the USA, they drink it hot here more often. In Russia, people always drink tea: they drink it with any dish, they warm up with it, they cool down with it during hot summers, they have fun with it, they calm down with it, they cheer themselves up with it. You don’t even have to be thirsty at all to drink a cup of tea.
7. Earning a Bachelor’s degree
This is a stereotype that many Russians believe. It’s like an adult must-have. Even more unintelligible is the fact that not all university education in Russia is good quality and often has practically no relation to real life career and prospects. It is simply necessary for every Russian to have a Bachelor’s degree – like a patronymic, for example. If you have a degree – you’ve already achieved something, if not – you may seem uneducated because, as I said, almost every Russian high school graduate goes to university if they don’t want to be disrespected.
So now you know these unique traditions and habits that may surprise you in Russia. I hope that you enjoy them, maybe they will seem attractive to you and they will encourage you to visit Russia to find out even more.
Written by Vladimir Goncharov
ITMO Digital Journalism student
Soft Skills 2021
