23 of February – the Defender of Fatherland day!

[alexandral]

This is one of the strangest and also one of the biggest Russian holidays. The history of the holiday itself is interesting. In 23 February 1918, during the First World War, an enrolment into the newly created Soviet "Red" army was announced because of the wide advancement of Kaiser German troops and fleeing of Soviet Russian troops. But this was unsuccessful and on 24 of February Soviets signed German ultimatum.

The holiday itself was introduced in 1923. Later on, a mythical story of the Russian victory over German troops on that day in Narva and Pskov was invented. Stalin himself was responsible for support and propaganda of this myth. I remember being told about the "victory over German troops on 23 February " on my history class.

There are some talks at the present about moving the holiday to a date of some real victory, but I don't really know how this will go.

But not surprisingly, people of Russia over the years widely ignored the propaganda-relatedness of this holiday. By "my time" 23 of February became a Russian version of Father's day when women give presents and cards to the men in their life.

My favourite 23rd of February card is below. And speaking of strong women! The lady wishes good health to all "blokes", by the way..





This navy guy is looking with hope to the future.



Red colour was very important.



HAVE YOU ENROLLED INTO THE RED ARMY??????



A Stake-out guy with a bizarre text: "If you are spying, check everything, even tree branches. Don't sleep on stakeout, you are responsible for everyone!"



Look after your ammunition well and it will help you in a battle!



This guy is kissing his gun??? "Look after your gun as if it is your life", the card states.



Vasnetsov's painting got somehow dragged into this too.



A grumpy modern-day guy. Protecting the little houses under his feet?



Also a present-day card. Gun-kissing never goes out of style.



I WANT this hat. Seriously.



A really really modern-day card.

Comments

[savepureness.livejournal.com]

Happy February 23rd to you! I love the first card, as well as the one featuring the three riders :).

(there was a question in my mind, lingering there for a while: do you happen to know if there is a big difference between the Russian and the Bulgarian languages? I know the alphabet is a tad different, but I was wondering about the words per se)

Also, my favourite football club, Rapid Bucharest, was founded in 1923 :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I love the first card, as well as the one featuring the three riders :).

The one with the riders is taken from a GREAT Russian painting by Vasnetsov and it is from his set of paintings of illustration to Russian fairy-tales. The men are three mighty warriors and good friends.

(there was a question in my mind, lingering there for a while: do you happen to know if there is a big difference between the Russian and the Bulgarian languages? I know the alphabet is a tad different, but I was wondering about the words per se)

I think out of all Slavic languages Bulgarian is one of the closest to Russian. Ukranian is close too..

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Wow, those are just incredible. Thank you for sharing this.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am glad you found this interesting. The history is so sad, in a way. I remember thinking "OK, Russian army was founded on 23 of February. How did they manage to have a victory on the same day?". Really strange when you think about it.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Hey! Those Russians stole Detroit's own Rosie the Riveter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_riveter)! "Humph!"

However, Happy Russian Father's Day!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

OMPH!!!!!!!!! And I never knew this!!!! Thank you for pointing it out - this makes it even more bizarre as I remember seeing thins lady on the Russian propaganda art of the past!

[rika-66.livejournal.com]

Просвещением занимаетесь, мадам? ;)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

HE- HE! I miss Russian holidays. :D

Thank you so much for the card!

[wistfulmemory.livejournal.com]

Those are some really interesting cards. Thanks for the history lesson. I find it very interesting (and informative as my school's world history class didn't cover information like this).

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am glad you found this interesting - I only recently learned the full history behind the holiday ..

[dianora77.livejournal.com]

Man, I want that hat too!
I'm trying to read what it says on the cards in Russian (I learned cyrillics in elementary school, cause it was mandatory since we were still part of Yugoslavia, and Serbs and Macedonians write in cyrillics.) "Kerepkogo vam zdorovlje/i, mužiki?" Dunno what the reversed R stands for.
"S dnem zašitnika otečestva."

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I saw some hats like this on e-bay. One day I am going to buy. :D

YAY! Your reading of Russian is perfect! The reversed R is a Russian vowel that sounds like "Ya".

since we were still part of Yugoslavia, and Serbs and Macedonians write in cyrillics.

You know, I had a little incident at the post office when I was sending your package. The post-office guy who took my package didn't know where Croatia is. Is it in Europe? He said!!! I felt quite ashamed for him, really!!! ** rants inside **

[baleanoptera.livejournal.com]

Oooh! This is so interesting! *adds to memories*

I had no idea this holiday existed, so thank you for sharing. It's also interesting to hear how the holiday has evolved, and has become something akin to "father's day".

And I can understand why you want that hat. It is pretty cool.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I had no idea this holiday existed, so thank you for sharing. It's also interesting to hear how the holiday has evolved, and has become something akin to "father's day".

I find it very interesting that we tend to always change everything to suit our daily interests. :D

And I can understand why you want that hat. It is pretty cool.

Isn't it just? I was trying to find a hat like this when we visited in Russia last year, but the ones I saw in the shops were only of souvenir variety.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you have Rosie the Riveter (that first picture), too! My friend Rosie is a realtor, and one of her artistic friends turned that into a "Rosie the Realtor" magnet for her.

And the modern guy in green, with the tiny houses? Looks like a Monty Python graphic!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Hee! Rosie is excellent - isn't she an embodiment of a strong female character? :D

[himmapaan.livejournal.com]

Most interesting! Thank you for sharing it.

I love Vasnetsov's painting!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I love Vasnetsov's painting!

His style is quite unusual, very fairy-tale like but also very realistic at the same time..

If you would like to see more of his paintings, click the link below
.

http://www.abcgallery.com/V/vasnetsov/vasnetsov.html

[teh-haley.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for posting these! You know that this kind of things makes me happy - and thanks for sharing the history of this holiday! I think sometimes people give a meaning to something even if that something didn't start in a good way - I don't know if this is clear. I mean, okay, some propaganda was invented, but people are REAL and what they celebrated had a REAL meaning for them...

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I agree with you! I also love how people always manage to find "sense" in anything. The holiday itself doesn't make much sense , but at the same time - it is always all about the people in your life, isn't it?

[arathesane.livejournal.com]

wow those are all amazing! thanks for posting.

though it is odd to me that they would appropriate Rosie the Riveter, in the first one.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

though it is odd to me that they would appropriate Rosie the Riveter, in the first one.

Me too! I am also confused: I seem to remember seeing this lady in the past on the Soviet propaganda art (did they appropriate her long time ago?). Or was it just a similar looking lady? I was inclined to the first option at first but my memory can be playing tricks on me, may be it was later that Rosie was "used" for a card? Just as Vasnetsov's painting was?

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

It's a different kind of day of remembrance here. It's the day my hometown pretty much got completely destroyed in 1945 by an air raid.
(That probably sounds more serious that it is intended to, but I just thought I mention it.)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry! I guess this is a sad day of remembrance for you and your family! And I am glad you mentioned this - I made this post because I find the history of the holiday and the way it "evolved" quite controversial and interesting. It gives even more food for pondering when you think what the same history meant to other people.. All the history of wars is terribly sad, really. I lost both of my grandfathers and a grandmother to the WW2 (I never knew them) and I guess your family has many scars too. Oh gosh, this DID sound too sad!!! I just wanted to say that I understand.

[i-delyagin.livejournal.com]

Да, был нам на 23 февраля подарок, B-2 разбился.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am glad that no one died or was heavily injured.