Lapti Photo from http://rnns.ru Lapti are the traditional bast shoes of the Russian peasants.

The word lapti apparently originated from the word lapa, which meant foot in old times, and now means paw. Until the beginning of the 20th century lapti were worn in every Russian village, but nowadays one can hardly find anyone wearing them save for the special occasions, like celebrations or costume shows. The popularity of lapti was easy to explain: they were very cheap, and not many peasants could afford other, better footwear. Even now, poor people are sometimes called lapotniki persons, who wear lapti or persons, who sell lapti. Lapti didn't last long, and frayed in a week or two, even faster in spring or fall due to the rainy weather. Taking to the long road, the peasant put several spare pairs of lapti in his bag. Lapti were made of bast a part of the tree bark, with the help of a wooden last and wooden or iron hook, a so-called kochedik. Every family owned these simple instruments, and every man in every village could make lapti, while women usually did not have this skill. A woman, who could make bast shoes, was reputable among homefolks. Lapti were made in winter, when peasants had more free time, as they didn't have to work in the fields.

Photo from

http://www.newslab.ru/blog/328488 Plaiting lapti was considered a very easy task. This is why Russians often say about drunk people lyka ne viazhet meaning they are so drunk they are even unable to perform an easy task. Doing business is not like making lapti, one Russian proverb says. However, despite lapti-plaiting being such an easy task, legend has it that Peter the Great, who could build ships and perform surgery, once tried to plait lapti and failed to do it. Lapti are usually differentiated by the type of the plaiting or by the sort of bast. The best bast for lapti is the bast from the lindens bark. For one pair three young lindens had to be stripped. The peasants also must have known a way to strip the bark from the tree without killing it. In Russian folklore, lapti hold a prominent place. There are songs about them Oh, Lapti Moi (Oh, My Lapti), Skripiat Moi Lapti (My Lapti Are Creaking), many proverbs and idioms. For example, to ring the lapti means wander idly to and fro. In the Soviet times, lapti also became a symbol of lack of culture. Uneducated, simpleminded countryman could be referred to as eating soup with his lapti. Dream guides say that seeing lapti in a dream presages a long and interesting journey. If one sees oneself making lapti, they will be respected by their friends, but if one is buying lapti they are likely to get in trouble.

Written by Olga Pigareva for RT Matryoshka Photo from http://mylove.ru/ Vodka or bears may first come to mind when you think of Russia, but nesting dolls also known as matryoshkas are perhaps the national souvenir. Sold in many tourist shops and markets, the dolls decrease in size, with the smallest fitting into the next doll and so on until all are hidden away into the largest. Each is wooden and painted brightly, usually with the image of a woman dressed in a large scarf on the outermost doll. However, there are some more modern ones that carry the images of famous celebrities and high-ranking political figures. The dolls come with the same themes such as peasant life or fairytales and are usually in a set of five. Some craftspeople, however, are skilled enough to produce more from one block of wood. The first matryoshka was produced in 1890 by woodcarver Vasily Zvyozdochkin and designer Sergey Maliutin in a Moscow workshop on the estate of industrialist and patron of the arts Savva Mamontov. The dolls came in an eight-piece set of girls, boys, and a baby. But the largestmatryoshka was crafted in 1970. It consisted of 72 pieces and cost 3,000 rubles at todays rates, roughly $100, although the money was worth much more back then. At that time, one of the most popular Soviet cars cost around $200 more than the doll. The mammoth matryoshka was dedicated to the birthday of Vladimir Lenin and put on exhibition in Japan. Matryoshkas are so named based on the Latin mater, which means mother. In Old Russian, the name Matryona or Matriosha was very popular among peasants. Thus, the name is connected to the image of a mother of a big peasant family. Written by Staci Bivens for RT Blini Image from Izosoft Clipart The history of blini Blini, or pancakes, are thin, flat cakes prepared from

batter and cooked on a hot frying pan - first on one side and then flipped to cook on the other side. The origins of this traditional Russian dish, which recently celebrated its thousandth birthday, can be traced back to ancient times. Its ancestor was made from oat jelly; a hungry traveler wishing to warm the composition up on the fire probably got distracted by something very amusing, leaving the jelly to fry and thus creating the first blin. Since then blini have changed, but not dramatically they are now made not only from oats but also wheat, rye, buckwheat and barley. The sun on your plate Image from www.calend.ru In pagan times blini were made for Maslenitsa, also known as Butter Week, Pancake Week or Cheese Fare Week. It was and still is - celebrated during the last week before the Great Lent. Maslenitsa was a sun festival, celebrating the imminent end of winter and the coming of spring. It lasted for a week, during which time people tended to eat nothing but pancakes. The blin itself, round and golden, symbolized the sun.Tradition has it that if a woman prepares many tasty pancakes spring and summer would bring a rich harvest, health and success. Blini traditionally accompanied a person from birth to his very last day a woman who had just delivered a child was given a pancake that was supposed to bring luck to the newborn and when a person died blini were an absolute must at the funeral feast. Blini are eaten with as many fillings and as one can possibly imagine mushrooms, meat, wild berries, sour cream, onions and potatoes, fish, honey, condensed milk, jam, caviar, cheese and what not. Traditions associated with blini Image from Izosoft Clipart The process of preparing pancakes used to be long and mysterious. First, a good housewife made sponge dough from warm

water, yeast and some flour. The mere place where the sponge dough was prepared was of great significance women set off to lakeshores or the forests edge. The first pancakes were put on windowsills for the poor. Griddles on which bliny were made were cast-iron and without a handle. Such griddles were to be used for preparing blini only; no other dish could be cooked on it. Blini didnt burn on such frying pans, and it was possible to jolt them high into the air while flipping them to the other side. In ancient Russia special races were held, where people had to run while jolting blini. Blini in books Nowadays blini remain not only one of the quickest, tastiest and diverse dishes (due to the large variety of fillings), but they are also much written about - and not just in cookery books. Many Russian writers including Chekhov , Pushkin and Gogol have dedicated pages and even stories to blini. They also appear in many poems, songs and proverbs. Over the last thousand years much has changed in the process of cooking blini and many traditions have been linked to Russian pancakes. But one thing remains unaltered these small, tasty symbols of the sun are still loved and eaten everywhere. Borshch Photo from

http://www.gourmet.com.ua The reddish-purple soup borshch is well-known as a trademark of Russian and Ukrainian culinary traditions. History Historically, borshch used to be the national food in Ancient Rome, where cabbages and beets were specifically cultivated for that purpose. However, various sources suggest the

modern version of borshch appeared around the 15th century. One of the popular but unproved legends says the first-ever borshch was cooked by the Cossacks in 1637 during a two-month siege of the Azov fortress in Southern Russia, which was occupied by the Turkish army. Feeding four thousand Cossacks in a camp was problematic, so they collected anything edible they could find and threw it all together. Everyone liked this thick and nourishing mix of vegetables and meat, and came up with the name borshch, supposedly making an anagram of a popular fish soup called shcherba. Other sources suggest the name came either from the plant borshchevik one of the key ingredients of the older-time borshch, or from the word brshch, which meant beet in Old Slavonic. The beet is of course the vegetable honored to make up the basis of the classic borshch. Recipes Photo from http://dwalls.ru Despite its centurieslong history, there is no consistent recipe for borshch. Each Russian family cooks it in its own way, passing on the secret from one generation to another. The most important thing about preparation is that the soup must be both fiery red and clear, with the fat on the surface slightly orange. Commonly this course is made in a big pot to feed everybody for several days. Impressively, it seems only more delicious the next day. A classic borshch formula includes beetroot, cabbage, potato, onion, carrot, tomatoes, garlic, rib of pork and what is most important mature bacon. These ingredients are usually long-stored and contain all necessary nutrients. People in some Russian regions make a special sauce, which is used as the base for cooking borshch all year round. Shortly before serving, one can put a spoon of sour cream and chopped fresh greens into the plate. Varieties There are also vegetarian, tomato paste-based, orange and green (zelyony in Russian) borshch or sorrel soup available. Trenchermen can taste chicken, apples and even white wine among the ingredients. In times of mass flu epidemics, this soup is irreplaceable not only due to the variety of vitamins it contains, but also as an efficient antimicrobial

because of the garlic, pepper and onion. And finally, if you want a smart and easy diet, eat nothing except borshch at dinner - and enjoy quick results! Written by Evgenia Skorchenko for RT Baba Yaga Image from 1-www.lki.ru Grandmother Witch Baba Yaga is a famous witch of the East, wellknown in Russia. She has spooked and scared little children across Eastern Europe for many centuries. The name of Baba Yaga is composed of two elements. Baba means "grandmother" or "old woman" in most Slavic languages. There are two versions of the origin of this name. Yaga is probably a diminutive of the feminine name Jadwiga, in turn, is a Slavicized form of the Germanic Hedwig. Another version is saying the name of Baba Yaga comes from the old Russian verb yagat which means to abuse, to find fault. Martial status Image from www.playcast.ru Baba Yaga is single, presumably old spinster. However, some Russian peasants saw her living with a daughter Marinka (short from Marina). Some say Baba Yaga is the devils grandmother, which means she apparently had children. Residence She lives on the edge of the forest in a wooden hut, but it's like no other that you have ever seen, for it stands on a pair of giant chicken legs. It usually has no windows, sometimes not even a door. The house does not reveal the door until it is told a magical

phrase: Turn your back to the forest, your front to me. The fence surrounding Baba Yaga's palisade is made of human bones with skulls on top, often with one pole lacking its skull, leaving space for another victim. Appearance Baba Yaga is usually shown as an ugly old woman and quite unclean. Baba Yaga is often represented as little, ugly, with a huge and distorted nose and long teeth. This can be explained by the lady's place of residence. Far from the civilized world, her hut doesn't have any modern facilities like hot running water or shower. And she has been enduring these unbearable conditions for an untold number of years, as nobody else knows the age of this lady. Image from vip.karelia.ru However, Baba Yaga knows something that women of all times and ages have been desperately trying to learn: the secret of turning from old into young in a blink of an eye. Baba Yaga knows a recipe of a special potion that helps her when needed to turn young. Unfortunately she has been known to use this her skill not to arrange her single private life, but to misguide and deceit strangers. She is also rumoured to have only one leg, which is sometimes explained by her relation to a snake. Preferred means of transport In Russian tales, Baba Yaga is portrayed as a hag who flies through the air in a mortar, using the pestle as a rudder and sweeping away the tracks behind her with a broom made out of silver birch. Baba Yaga usually uses the chimney to fly in and out on her mortar. Image from www.sueverija.narod.ru Food preferences It has long been rumored that she likes to eat children, however she would not strain at a grown up stranger in her forest. Personality

She is a very controversial character. Baba Yaga is not good, but is not entirely evil. She can't be portrayed as a good mixer or a very easy-going person. She needs a special approach. In most Slavic folk tales, she is portrayed as an antagonist. There are stories in which she kidnaps children and threatens to eat them. There are also stories where she provides misleading information to strangers who were unlucky to lose their way in the deep forest she lives. However, some characters in other mythological folk stories have been known to seek her out for her wisdom, and she has been known on occasion to offer guidance to lost souls, help people with their quests, although this is seen as rare. Seeking out her aid is usually portrayed as a dangerous act. An emphasis is placed on the need for proper preparation and purity of spirit, as well as basic politeness. It is said she ages one year every time she is asked a question, which probably explains her reluctance to help. This effect, however, can be reversed with a special blend of tea made with blue roses. Image from www.kinoteatr.ru Qualifications and filmography Baba Yaga is used by authors of modern Russian fairy tales, and from the 90s of XX century - in "Russian fantasy". In particular, Baba Yaga appears in Andrey Belyanin's books in his Secret service of Tsar Pea, etc. The childhood and youth of Baba Yaga for the first time was described in Russian fantasy writer Andrey Aliverdiev's tale U Lukomoria. In some fairy tales, such as Finist Yasny Sokol (The Feather of Finist the Falcon), the hero meets not with one but three Baba Yagas. Such figures are usually benevolent, giving the hero advice or magical presents, or both. Baba Yaga is a favorite subject of Russian films and cartoons. The film Vasilissa Prekrasnaya (the Beautiful) by Aleksandr Rou, featuring Baba Yaga, was the first feature with fantasy elements in the Soviet Union. Georgy Milliar, a male actor, portrayed Baba Yaga in numerous movies from 30's to 60's, among them Vasilissa Prekrasnaya andMorozko. Lubok "The Mice are burying the Cat". An 18th-century Russian lubok print

Lubok is a colored woodcut or lithographical print, usually - a sequence of pictures accompanied by simple text explaining the images, much like a page from a comic book. Nowadays, luboks can be seen only in museums, but in the 17th-19th century one could meet lubok sellers at every market. For common peasants, most of which could barely read and had no opportunity to get a book or a newspaper, luboks served as information sources, decorations and a good laugh too. People usually consider lubok being originally Russian, but this is not true. The lubok was originally invented in China. From there, it came to Europe. In the beginning of 17th century, the first German funny paper sheets appeared on Russian counters. Most of them were not in fact funny, and depicted saints and Biblical scenes. The Tsar and his family members hung luboks in their rooms, nobility took after the royalties and step by step luboks left the palaces and reached the huts. Russian craftsmen learned the technique and began to make prints by themselves. The first Russian luboks were black and white, but then someone came up with the idea of coloring. Artisans originally used a cheap coarse brush, but it was a difficult task and the pictures often came out rather untidy. Buyers, however, were unpretentious they just liked bright colors and short stories. As luboks spread, their plots of pictures became less and less biblical. Among the prints, there were illustrations of tales and proverbs or folklore and heroic epics, retellings of newspaper articles and foreign novels. One could buy The Story of the Wayward Son to look at and to think about Gods mercy and wisdom, or something like A Fireproof Man or Peasant Girl Marfa, Who Spent 33 Years Under the Snow and Came Out Alive. They sound an awful lot like contemporary newspaper headlines, dont they? People, monsters, clowns and saints on luboks usually looked kind and funny. Nobody wanted to buy something frightening. Caricatures of political figures were rather popular too. The most famous one is How Mice Buried a Cat. It is an illustration from a folklore tale. Once upon a time, a cat pretended to be dead, and mice decided to give him a proper burial. On the way to graveyard, the cat jumped up and ate the whole funeral procession. Where is the satire? This picture appeared soon after Peter I death, and many mice on it have certain resemblance to Peters associates. Text on the lubok also implies on Peter. By the middle of 19th century every literally every peasant decorated his home with luboks. Children used them to learn how to read. In these times, many famous Russian novels and poems were retold by lubok printers, so common people got to know Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov. Although these retellings were usually primitive and inaccurate, it was venertheless very hard for a peasant to get a real book. It was around this time that a figurative meaning of the word lubok appeared: bad art or cliche art. Lubok died in the beginning of 20th century, soon after the October Revolution of

1917. Libraries and schools were opened in villages, and luboks became unnecessary. Nowadays, one can see a collection of luboks in the State Literature Museum in Moscow. Written by Olga Pigareva, RT Kvas Image from www.nakormym.ru Bread drink A fizzy bread drink sometimes referred to as Russian cola, kvas literally means leaven. Its origins go back fifty centuries (fifty is not a typo!) to the beginnings of beer production. Kvas was first mentioned in Old Russian Chronicles in the year 989. But how the recipe was discovered and by whom remains a mystery to this day. Some say the drink was invented by mistake. According to one legend, a bag of grain got wet and the grain started to grow. A farmer decided to save the product and make flour out of it. He couldnt use it to make bread and instead, invented malt. He added some water, let the liquid ferment and created the first ever kvas. Nutritional properties While the production process is similar to beer making, kvas has very low alcohol content (0.05 - 1.44%) and it is considered a non-alcoholic drink. The main ingredient of true kvas is rye bread, and the drink can contain unfiltered yeast in it. Kvas has a high content of vitamin B, it is considered to be a good appetizer and healthy source of energy. The drink is recommended for sportsmen who are trying to increase their muscle weight. In 1913 Russian bacteriologists proved that kvas is a germicide by showing that typhus bacteria die in the drink. Making your own Kvas has been consumed in most Slavic countries (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland) as well as in ex-Soviet states since ancient times. In some countries one can still

see kvasvendors on the streets. Similar beverages around the world include Malta, Chicha, Ibwatu, Pulque and Rivella. There is a famous saying "Bad kvas is better than good water." House kvas is made with black or rye bread baked into sukhari (croutons), yeast and zakvaska(kvas fermentation starter). The taste depends on the proportions of these essential ingredients. There are numerous variations of the following basic recipe. Ingredients: -rye bread -sugar -active dry yeast -water -raisins. Method: 1 Slice rye bread (250g) and bake in a pre-heated oven (150C) for about 20 minutes until crispy. 2 After that put the bread in a bowl, cover with boiling water and set aside in a warm spot for about four hours. 3 Dissolve yeast in about 200ml of lukewarm water and add sugar. When the four hours are up strain the bread mixture through a colander lined with muslin or cheesecloth, keep the liquid. 4 Stirr in the yeast mixture into this liquid, cover the bowl and set aside in a warm place for about ten hours. 5 Strain the liquid once more through cheesecloth before and than pour it into clean bottles. Add two raisins into each bottle, then cork them and set aside in a cool place for three days to mature. 6 This is just one version of kvas; every household has its own special approach to kvasmaking and some even have their own secret ingredients. In Russia kvas is used in some cold soup recipes such as okroshka, an ancient Russian dish made with vegetables and cold boiled meat and/or fish (in proportions one to one). Not Cola! Commercial kvas is occasionally mixed with other soft drinks, carbonated water and

flavorings. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Western soft drinks such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi decreased the demand for commercial kvas in Russia. But today the drink is back on the market and is on the rise once again. The Russian company Nikola (in Russian the name sounds like not cola) has promoted its brand of kvas with an advertising campaign emphasizing "anti cola-nisation." However in 2008 Coca-Cola itself started producing bottled kvas for the Russian market under the labels Kruzhka and Bochka (which literally mean Mug and Barrel). At an international soft drink contest held in Yugoslavia in 1975, Russian kvas received 18 points while another well-known drink, Coca-Cola, received only 9.8 points. Taiga Photo from http://geography.kz The Russian miracle Taiga is the largest type of forest on the Earth. Its huge territory accounts for one-fifth of the world's total forested land and contains as much as one-half of the world's evergreen forests. The taiga is one of the worlds largest terrestrial ecosystems. It is a great example of how nature strives through the harshest of weather conditions.The word taiga comes from Turkish and it means coniferous forests. These forests represent the largest, oldest and snowiest type of land territory, covering extremely large areas in northern Russia, mostly Siberia. In some places, the width of these forests reaches several thousand kilometers. The taiga takes up about 11 percent of the Northern Hemisphere. Similar forests can be found in areas of Eurasia and North America, and mountain regions of Northern Europe. The areas covered by this type of forest are larger in Russia than anywhere else in the world. The taiga is sometimes referred to as a Russian miracle. Harsh climate

The taiga forests have one of the coldest biomes on Earth its temperatures vary considerably in the winter and summer. The temperature in the summer is usually around 10 degrees Celsius and never higher than 20 degrees. Even though summers are mostly warm, they are very brief - for a large part of the year, the sun does not rise too far above the horizon. Winters last up to six months, with the average temperature far below freezing. Most of the year, however, the temperature of minus 50 degrees Celsius is considered normal. The lowest temperature that can be experienced in the taiga is said to be MINUS 68 degrees Celsius. Those who have experienced the taiga, say living there is cold and lonely. The spring and autumn are so brief, you hardly know they exist at all. Taiga flora and fauna - adapting to the weather Photo from http://geography.kz The soil in the taiga is thin and poor in nutrients. This contributes to the fact that most trees in the taiga grow close to the ground and their roots dont go too far into the soil. Even though the taiga is mostly coniferous dominated by larch, spruce, fir, and pine, some broadleaf trees can also been seen here. For example birch, aspen, willow, and rowan. A lot of the trees found in the taiga change their biochemistry throughout the year, so they have the strength to better resist freezing. Taiga is also no stranger to moss and bogs. Nowhere else in the world is there such a large number of furry animals than in the taiga. Large herbivorous animals and small rodents are residents in these forests bears, weasels, raccoons, wolves, lynxes, rabbits and squirrels. They are well adapted to the harsh weather. Often, the larger animals eat a lot during the warmer months, gain a lot of weight, and then sleep through the colder months when they hibernate. The animals that dont hibernate generally become less active.

Brown bears are among the largest and most widespread across taiga. About 300 species of birds spend summers in the taiga. Only about 30 species stick around for the winter the ones with more feathers to keep them warm. The taiga produces an enormous amount of oxygen it is said to generate enough oxygen on its own to re-generate enough oxygen for the entire planet. Taiga in danger One of the most serious threats to the taiga is deforestation for human purposes. And this practice has been on the rise in recent years. A lot of animals of the taiga are hunted and trapped for their rich furs. This plays a major role in the decline of their populations. Global warming is also a reason for concern.