![😀]()
Happy International Women’s Day! ![😀]()
This was sent in a mass email wishing all female staff members a Happy International Women’s Day.
In Russia, International Women’s Day, or Международный женский день (Me-zhdu-na-rod-nii zhen-ski dyen), is very important. It’s also called the Day of Spring and Flowers; I’ve never seen so many people walking around with flowers, which is already hard to beat in Russia since one thing you’re guaranteed to see every day is people with beautiful flowers.
The first thing all my students said about International Women’s Day is that you (not just men) give flowers and gifts to the special women in your life, including your mother, grandmother, and other close female relatives. One student explained to me that you have to give, at the very least, one flower to every important woman in your life. It is mothers’ one day off to be pampered, spoiled, and off duty. Gifts are important too, but flowers are first and foremost.
Russian men enjoy giving women flowers, but they seem to enjoy giving flowers and gifts for International Women’s Day on a different level. Russia doesn’t have Mothers’ Day, and I’ve been told that International Women’s Day is a perfect substitution. When I asked about Mothers’ Day several months ago during a lesson about holidays and special events, my class immediately brought up International Women’s Day. 
I had no idea that it was a national holiday here in Russia. I also had no idea about the history behind it until one of my colleagues told me that it dates back 100 years! On March 8th, 1917, a Women’s Day political demonstration in St. Petersburg, which was Petrograd at the time, sparked the Russian Revolution. Women went on strike for bread and peace because they demanded the end of the First World War and the end of czarist rule. The Soviets declared it a national holiday after the Russian Revolution.
However, I doubt that a lot of people know or think about the origins of International Women’s Day in Russia. People are simply full of joy and optimism whenever the subject comes up. No Russian I’ve spoken to said anything about it.
Since it’s a national holiday, I have the day off like most people since it was decreed a non-working day in 1965. I’m going to enjoy a very relaxing, lazy day off.
I don’t have a special man in my life to pamper me or anything for today, but like all the other female staff members, I was surprised with three beautiful tulips, a box of chocolates, and a bottle of wine. ↓
My gifts from coworkers. Thank you!
Are you doing anything special
for International Women’s Day?
The post International Women’s Day in Russia appeared first on Trekking with Becky.