Women's Day

Shortly after Maslanitsa is one of the biggest celebrations in Russia--Women's Day on March 8. This holiday is not just for mothers--it's for all women! Like I've said earlier, Russians know how to celebrate. A few days before the actual holiday I began getting boquets of flowers from my students. Then the gifts started pouring in from each class. I left for home two days in a row toting huge and heavy bags of gifts and flowers.

The boys in the classes also give gifts to the girls-not just the teachers. The kids (parents) go in on a gift that is all given to each girl. The boys lined up on Friday morning each carrying a gift bag. Then each boy said something nice about the girls that he appreciated. Then they gave them the gifts. It was some nice lotions, bath wash, etc.





All over the city that weekend, men and women were carrying around big bags of flowers and gifts. I've just never seen anything like it.

I ended up putting all my gifts on the fireplace mantle just to see the amount of it. As you can see by the picture here it is quite overwhelming. Let's see: there are 5 bouquets of flowers, 1 boquet of chocolate, and a basket with coffee, sweets, chocolate, and biscuits; a bottle of wine, a bottle of champaigne, perfume, and makeup; another box of chocolate, a wall hanging, and a couple of gift certificates to grocery stores and makeup stores. All in all, it's almost ridiculous what you get for just being born a girl. Kinda fun too though! I certainly will enjoy it while I am in Russia, because I know that when I leave I will never get this kind of thing again.