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 home-folks. 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 linden’s 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, simple-minded 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 today’s 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 forest’s 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 didn’t 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 centuries-long 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, well-known 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 devil’s 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.kino-teatr.ru

Qualifications and filmography

Baba Yaga is used by authors of modern Russian fairy tales, and from the 90-s 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 God’s 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, don’t 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 Peter’s 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 couldn’t 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 (150°C) 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 world’s 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 don’t 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 don’t 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.