Our ideas about fasting during Lent in the past, like so many of our ideas about pre-revolutionary life in general, are often very far from reality. The common belief is that centuries ago all Russians…
Category: Life
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In Photos: Muslims Celebrate Eid al-Fitr in Russia
Thousands of Muslim believers across Russia on Sunday celebrated Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.Many Muslims celebrate Eid by joining communal dawn prayers at mosques, followed by a…
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Victoria Lomasko’s ‘The Last Soviet Artist’ Chronicles Russia’s Path to Dictatorship
Victoria Lomasko’s new book “The Last Soviet Artist” was presented last week in the New York office of her American publisher, n+1.Together with her two previous works, “Forbidden Art” and “Other Russias” “The Last…
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How a Singer, a Writer and a Cook Spent Their Vacation in 1916
The Fyodor Shalyapin House Museum in St. Petersburg has a rare and fascinating document on exhibit: a 96-page ruled notebook with almost a thousand recipes written by the great opera singer’s personal…
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What We Know About Jude Law’s Upcoming Turn as Vladimir Putin
The first on-set photos of English actor Jude Law in his portrayal of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Olivier Assayas’ “The Wizard of the Kremlin” were released this week.
The film, an adaptation of Italian-Swiss writer…
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Russia’s Tatarstan, Central Asian Diaspora Celebrate Nowruz
Last week, Persian and Turkic communities worldwide joined in celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year.Rooted in ancient Zoroastrian rather than Islamic traditions, the holiday experienced a revival across formerly Russian-dominated…
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Azerbaijani Soup and a Greedy Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
One of the eternal disputes among Russians is whether shashlyk (shish kabob) should be made with lamb or pork. The debates are as passionate as the debates over whether the soup okroshka should be made…
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