Something New, Something Old: Women's Day

Historically, March 8 has been internationally associated with women's rights and a particular mass protest in New York on March 8, 1957. Women from sewing and shoe factories took to the streets, demonstrating for rights equal to men---> men had recently won a 10-hour workday. At that time, women worked 16-hour days! The protest was well publicized around the world, leading to yearly demonstrations on this date in the U.S. and Europe. It wasn't until 1910 that leading German, female socialist, Klara Zetkin, was struck with the fabulous idea of introducing a unique day to commemorate the struggle for women's rights, which eventually produced the spring holiday on March 8: International Women's Day! The holiday was first celebrated in St. Petersburg in 1913, but it was not an official holiday in Russia until 1965.

For Russia, this day is not so much about advocacy as much as it is about giving women gifts, flowers, and compliments to no end :D Flower shops prepare gigantic ready-made bouquets, stores stock up on chocolates, and all kinds of gifts, including real "medals of honor" for mothers, sisters, and friends, appear in every store. And don't forget about the champagne...

Here are some of my favorite images I found online:






(bwahhahahahahahaha!!!!)

Ahem.

In St. Petersburg this year, a very special event took place! But first, some history...



In 1903, a well-to-do family, the Eliseevs, opened a grand shop on the corner of Nevsky Prospect and Malay Sadovaya.



At that time, one could buy "colonial" goods: fresh truffles, oysters, unusual cheeses and fruit, wine, bakery products, and coffee. In the early days of the Soviet government, the store was nationalized. First, the lights, ornately designed lamps, were removed. Then, a hand-made carpet disappeared. In two days, all the products sold out as they were not being replenished. Soon, the store was renamed "Central Grocery #1." The store still sold specialty items like tangerines, bananas, eggs, sausage, and pineapples, but only the Leningrad Party elite shopped there. Starting from the 90's, the building just passed from one owner to another, starting afresh again and again. At one point, it was a cosmetics shop.

In 2010, businessman Eugene Prigogine purchased a 10-year lease on the building for 21 million rubles (a little over $710,000). He decided to restore the building to its original condition, which took two years and 130 million rubles (about $4.4 million).

The only difference from pre-revolutionary design is the giant palm tree/pineapple in the center of the store, surrounded by tables and open shelves of specialty chocolates, salts, liquor, and oils.



The store consists of four counters lining the walls, each selling its own specialty item: cheese, pastry, meat, and confectionary products. Suppliers come from as far as Italy, Spain, France, and Austria, but the pastries and pasta are from the ground floor. The mineral water and vodka is local as well, produced in specially-designed bottles for the store.







All sellers are specifically trained for their specialty items and are able to discuss at length the origin of everything available.

On the second floor (once offices) and in the basement (once a wine cellar), two restaurants are now open. French chef Julien Lasheno, winner of Michelin stars, supplies the menu with dishes of Russian, European, and Asian cuisine.

Anna Prozorov, the CEO of the Eliseev Brothers business is pleased with the store, believing that it has not radically changed at all since its original opening over a hundred years ago.



Above the back wall, a balcony protrudes with animatronic men waving:



These are the Eliseev Brothers, waving to all the new guests, welcoming them to explore their old store.

So.

When this opened, there was a line that rounded the corner. I was not there, but a couple days later, lines were still formed at the entrance. I waited, watching the guard at the door allow only a few people in at a time. It was the most enchanting building I have ever been inside, other than a museum.



Men on stilts have spent the last week roaming the sidewalks around the building, providing special balloons and simply drawing attention to the new store.







One day, I caught a band performing delightful band music outside the storefront.







It seems perfect for a luxurious store such as this to reopen on Women's Day. I imagine most of the people in that long line were women being treated or those buying women gifts. And I have to, have to wonder if there was someone in that line falling into nostalgia as those doors reopened.

масленица or---> Maslenitsa!!!!!

Every year, a week before Lent, Russia celebrates an old holiday that has its roots in Pagan and Christian traditions. In fact, it is the oldest holiday Russians celebrate. By this time in the year, meat is already forbidden to Orthodox Christians. Maslenitsa is the last week that cheese, milk, and other dairy products are permitted before Lent. Linguistically, the word is based on the Russian word for butter: Maclo(phonetically, the "c" is like an "s"). It literally means "butter week."



As in most European civilizations, Russia gathered and assimilated the beliefs and pagan traditions with its Christian equivalents, which were imported from the Byzantine Empire in the 10th century.
After the long winter, when the first signs of thawing were felt, the northern tribes coming out of their lethargy prepared a feast in honor of the Blazing Sun. Pancakes as round and golden as suns, made with mixed flours, were cooked and offered to Sun God for him not to forget to warm Mother Earth. This would in turn make the next harvest sprout. These pancakes (blini) were then eaten with butter, dried fish and meat. According to historians and archaeologists, the tribes celebrated a sort of costume party where the burning of an effigy of the Prince of Winter took place.
In the Christianized Russia, this feast was moved to the beginning of Lent (...) Blinis are served with smoked herring or caviar, but never meat.

-from Tatiana Maslenikoff's book La cocina rusa

I spent the morning of "Fat Thursday" making lots of blini for everyone, including a Russian guest, who enjoyed many servings---which is a very big compliment :D I've looked at a lot of recipes and I tell you it can be quite simple and pleasing for all:

1. Take three eggs and beat them with a tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt

2. Add a couple cups of milk

3. Add about a cup of flour and a dollop of oil

(It may become the lumpiest mess ever but KEEP STIRRING. It should be fairly runny---a bit more than American pancake batter.)

4. Then, fry 'em up in some oil! But remember the advice of Russian grandmothers everywhere: “Первый блин всегда комом.” It means, literaly, “the first blin always lumps up;” but is used in the context of “if at first you don’t succeed…”

5.Serve with jam, butter, or sweetened condensed milk--->YUM

Sunday is the largest part of the Maslenitsa week. Known as "Forgiveness Sunday," it is also a day of celebration. Across Russia, towns and cities gather in their centers for music, dancing, dogsledding, games, to buy and sell goods, and much much more. Following more pagan traditions, a large "Lady Maslenitsa" made of wheat, which represents winter, is burned to represent the passing of time, winter, sins, and so on. Blini are heavily eaten during this week because they represent the sun and include rich dairy products of milk, egg, and butter.

The Maslenitsa fair in St. Petersburg was incredible, to say the least. The day was frigid cold though. Snowing almost all day, we shuffled over a thick layer of ice and snow all the day long, suffering from frightfully cold toes. Approaching the fair was almost surreal because one could hear the sounds of old Russian songs, which only provincial towns or Old Believer colonies still practice. It seemed so strangely out of place in the urban setting of St. Petersburg.

The fair was located behind the Peter and Paul Fortress, which houses a number of museums and the famed Peter and Paul Cathedral, where almost all the emperors and empresses from Peter the Great to Nicholas II are laid to rest.






There was a HUGE ice slide for adults. One could rent a tube for 100 rubles($3) and a deposit of ID. We explored for quite a long time before venturing into the long, cold line for the slide.

We watched dancers.






We saw women and children with straw dolls.




We saw children rolled in giant, clear spheres.




We saw games, games, games.




We danced.



We ate hot corn that instantly became cold in the frigid wind. Some of us pet owls. We saw dogsledding. I saw a large trained raven do tricks and shopped for spices. There was honey from the Altai region, known to be some of the best honey in the world. There were homemade jams from berries I've never heard of and dried mushrooms from last summer's season.

Eventually, we did, indeed, slide!





People were joyous. It was just as joyous as any painting I have ever seen of the provincial towns.

Boris Kustodiev painted these in the early 20th century:









He was a highly popular artist, even after the revolution, because his paintings depicted such exaggerated joy. His father died when he was just a boy, forcing the family to move to a provincial town. This heavily influenced all of his works. After becoming paraplegic at the age of 38, he painted some of his most famous works, focusing on the memories of his childhood to inspire him.

In 1978, his works were put onto postal stamps.



(See the one with the woman eating lunch next to the cat? A nice luscious meal. A sunny, warm day. Luxury.)

Other painters have painted about Maslenitsa as well:

Vladimir Makovsky:


Aleksandr Viktorovich Shevelev




Later in the day, we went to a cafe for a while to "thaw out," so to speak. In the evening, snowboarders played on the giant slide for a while until it was time for the final act of Maslenitsa: the burning of Lady Maslenitsa! In provincial towns, this still happens, but in the urban setting of St. Petersburg, the giant slide represented the big Lady. She shot out a mass of fireworks and smoke for a quite a beautiful time, while characters from throughout the day sled down the slide.

The Russian Apartment

To set the mood for what you may feel upon approaching the building, I have asked Victor Pelevin to share some thoughts:

The wide boulevard and the houses standing along both its sides were like the lower jaw of an old Bolshevik who, late in life, has arrived at democratic views. The oldest houses were from the Stalinist period—they towered up like wisdom teeth coated with the brown tarnish produced by many years of exposure to coarse shag tobacco. For all their monumental quality they seemed dead and brittle, as though the nerves in them had long ago been killed off by arsenic fillings. The sites where the buildings of former years had been destroyed now bore the crudely protruding prostheses of eight-story apartment blocks. In short, it was a gloomy spectacle. The only bright spot against this background of gloom was a business center built by the Turks, its pyramidal form and neon glitter transforming it into the likeness of some immense gold fang covered in drops of fresh blood. Up in the sky the full moon blazed brightly like a dentist’s lamp poised on its extending arm to throw all of its light into the patient’s mouth.

The Tarzan Swing
Victor Pelevin

Oh, well, Victor kind of got carried away there, didn't he? Let's just walk up the stairs and not get in that elevator. Ah, here is our door. Welcome, welcome to my home! Come inside, please...No, really, Victor is just a fiction author. He has no idea what he's talking about.


Please, hang your coat on the coat rack here, and be sure to remove your shoes as they are covered in snow.


The first room to your left here is the room I share with my roommate, Emily.


Oh, I know! It's so tiny! There are about six inches between our beds, but the room is quite tall, which helps.


Don't you just love our view? I actually really do because of the brick and stone facades, the old windows, and collection of wires and chimneys that somehow attract magpies. One time, we woke up and saw an old man standing on the roof there, shoveling snow. He hovered right over the edge with ease.


Let's check out the rest of the apartment! We have a little couch here in our hall/living room. The next room to the left is a large room with a television, where Alexandra and Liz sleep. I don't know where they are right. Hopefully, they will be home soon. You will really like them.


Please, take note of the closet here. Jorge usually sleeps in here as it is the most private room in the house. I have spent an afternoon in the dark, quiet, isolated luxury that is the "cave," as we call it. It's also a guest room. Would you like to stay the night?


We have a lovely bathroom. The water temperature is difficult to control, but the room itself is rather warm.


Here is the highlight of our apartment: the beautiful kitchen!!


I know, we do have a lot of modern appliances! I feel very lucky. Here, sit down at our table. Have some cookies. I'll make you a cup of tea.