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GOPNIK AND THE SLAV SQUAT
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What we would call ’tokkies’ or ‘gabbers’, and what elsewhere might be referred to as white trash or hooligans – in Russia, these are called gopniki. Folk culture in a tracksuit.
When you see the current Russian flag, it’s easy to also think of the Dutch one. This puts you immediately on the right track about the origin of the Russian tricolor: the white-blue-red of the Russian Federation directly stems from the red-white-blue of the Netherlands.
Russian Matryoshka Yes
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You need to know at least two things about one of the classic symbols of Russia. First, the
matryoshka (матрёшка) has only been made in Russia since the late nineteenth century (around 1890). There’s something Japanese in it too (some claim Chinese), and it was originally a children’s toy. Second, and take note, a matryoshka is a matryoshka.
Russia and LGBT etc.
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Russia doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to LGBT rights and acceptance. However, it’s not impossible or illegal to live your life with any orientation there. What is banned (since 2013) is propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships (
Wikipedia).
Russian Ruble (₽)
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In Russia, you pay with rubles. And kopeks. Which you’ve probably never seen if you’ve never been to Russia. But now we have the internet, and soon planes will be flying again. Here’s an overview of the money you’ll need then. And where the words for the currency come from.
In
Chess in Russia Is Like Baseball in America (Big Think, 2011, 2 m),
Anatoli Karpov (1951) describes the status and position of chess in Russia. “Chess became a national game,” he says. “Like you have here in America, you have baseball. And so, Russia has chess.”
Russian Superstitions
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Don’t whistle in the house. Sit down before embarking on a journey. Look in the mirror when you have to return home because you’ve forgotten something. Just a few random rules to bring good fortune or ward off misfortune. Russia has a whole arsenal of such beliefs.
As many non-Russians as there are in the world, there are just as many stereotypes about the Russians. They drink vodka like water and survive on pickles and beetroot soup. All women over fifty look like farmers or grandmothers, and men over fifty don’t exist. Oh yes. Russians love
Adidas, Russians
don’t smile, and Russia is
impossible to understand, and so on. More stereotypes here, and there’s much more to come.
Переверни Пластинку = flip the record. In English, Flipside. Documentary (2016) about vinyl in Russia. And about records when vinyl was either unavailable or banned: pressed onto X-rays. See
How X-rays were used to smuggle banned music into the Soviet Union (Vice/Noisey, 2017) and
When Rock Was Banned in the Soviet Union, Teens Took to Bootlegged Recordings on X-Rays (Smithsonian Magazine, 2015).
Russian National Anthem
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Admittedly,
God Save the Queen is not bad. And our own Wilhelmus could have become something, if at least that German blood and Spanish king had been left out. But the national anthem with the most grandeur is, of course, the Russian one. And to quote the closing words (так было, так есть и так будет всегда): so it was, so it is, and so it will always be.
Russian Tattoo Tour
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Tattoo artist Herman IX from Moscow (
website,
VK) and filmmaker Stepan Vetoshnikov (
Vimeo) travel in two months from
Kaliningrad to
Vladivostok (over 7000 kilometers), funded by the money Herman earns along the way. Documentary, art, and road movie: it’s all of these combined and never too much.
Smiling is for fools
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Russians are not known as a people who are generous with smiles. Smiling at people you don’t or barely know is more for fools, suspicious, or simply unnecessary. Смех без причины – признак дурачины (laughter without reason is a sign of foolishness). You could also say: Russians save their smiles for when they are truly sincere.
Adidas
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Russians love Adidas. This goes back to the
1980 Olympic Games (Moscow) – the reasons behind it can be read through the links below. Watch: Why Slavs wear Adidas, and two more about the brand with the три полоски (tri paloski) – three stripes.
Not in Russia
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Guidelines, advice, and warnings: clips about what not to do in Russia. Many common-sense tips and things you could probably figure out yourself. Still, it’s useful to take note of, especially for those traveling eastward.
Not to be understood
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Russians themselves say Умом Россию не понять: the mind cannot comprehend Russia. These are the words (and the title) of a
poem (1866) by
Fyodor Tyutchev (in Russian
Фёдор Тютчев):
Умом Россию не понять,
Аршином общим не измерить:
У ней особенная стать –
В Россию можно только верить.
