| Half of Russians don’t know what they will celebrate on November 4th On the eve of the only autumn all-Russian holiday, it turned out that Russians do not really know what kind of memorable day replaced the traditional “November” ones, firmly associated in the minds of compatriots with demonstrations and Olivier salad. National Unity Day, which is celebrated on November 4 for the first time this year, did not remain in the minds of more than half (51%) of Russians surveyed by sociologists from the Yuri Levada Analytical Center. Only 8% of respondents remembered the correct name of the holiday. A third of the study participants (33%) “played, but didn’t guess” - they believe that they will have a rest in honor of the Day of Accord and Reconciliation (as the day of November 7 was called in recent years), and 5% are convinced that they will be released from work to celebrate Day of liberation from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. 3% of respondents even named various other options.
But on one thing the majority of Russians are unanimous: they regret the lost “November”. 63% of Russians surveyed by sociologists consider last year’s abolition of the November 7 celebration a government mistake. Just over a quarter (27%) of respondents support this decision of the State Duma and the government. Moreover, as one might expect, opinions were divided along age lines. According to Oleg Savelyev, a representative of the Levada Center press service, if among young people under 25 the number of opponents and supporters of this decision is approximately the same, then among Russians over 55 years of age there are almost eight times more supporters of moving the day off from November 7 to 4 and renaming the holiday less than opponents.
However, it is no secret to anyone, and this has been repeatedly confirmed by numerous studies by sociologists, that some national holidays in Russia have long been associated not with specific events, but with crops and harvests. This is precisely what explains the dissatisfaction with the loss of “November”: after all, this is the time of covering roses and storing vegetables. In the same way, Russians resisted with all their might the deprivation of one of the “May” days: the time for digging up the garden and spraying the apple trees.
The current register of holidays is now as follows: in accordance with last year’s amendments to the Labor Code, non-working holidays in Russia are January 1-5 - New Year holidays, January 7 - Christmas, February 23 - Defender of the Fatherland Day, March 8 - International Women's Day, May 1 - Spring and Labor Holiday, May 9 - Victory Day, June 12 - Russia Day and November 4 - National Unity Day.
But if it is unlikely that the lost autumn day will be recaptured from the authorities, then there is hope for the spring one. Literally a couple of months after the calendar reform, Speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov already spoke about the need to revise the list of existing official holidays. The fact is that Russians, suffering from a lack of free time in the spring, found themselves with catastrophically nothing to do during the long winter holidays. At a time when the harvest had long been harvested and it was still too early to plant seedlings in the window, all that was left to do from idleness was to drink bitters. Mr. Mironov was not the only supporter of continuing the “holiday reform”: by the fall, many similar proposals from the regions had already accumulated in the Federation Council. Legislators are talking about revising the law before the end of the year, reducing New Year's festivities and returning May 2 to summer residents.
And it seems that the government is ready to support this initiative. The other day, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, speaking at a meeting of the Russian Tripartite Commission for the Regulation of Social and Labor Relations, said that the White House would consider a draft law providing for the restoration of the May 2 day off by reducing the New Year holidays by one day. The bill, as noted at the commission meeting, was submitted for analysis to the government apparatus and the presidential administration. Irina BELASHEVA |
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