RUSSIA-Kievan Rus

As the world’s largest country, Russia encompasses nine time zones and contains within its borders dozens of ethnic groups.  Russia has a very interesting history. The story goes that Kievan Rus  was a powerful East Slavic state dominated by the city of Kiev. Shaped in the 9th century it went on to flourish for the next 300 years. The empire is traditionally seen as the beginning of Russia and the ancestor of Belarus and Ukraine. From those ancient times comes a popular proverb “Your tongue will take you to Kiev”. If you’re wondering how or why a part of your body would transport you to a European capital, here’s the story. Legend has it that in 999 a Kiev resident called Nikita Shchemyaka got lost in the far-away steppes and was caught by a militant nomadic tribe. Nikita’s tales of Kiev’s wealth and splendor impressed the tribe’s chief so much, he hooked Nikita by the tongue to his horse’s tail and went to wage war against Kiev. That’s how Nikita’s tongue took him home. Now that is a story I will not forget.

                                                                   

 

 


 Russia is one of the world’s most diverse societies – as many as 160 ethnic groups live there. The population of about 142 million may look like a lot but its density is low because of the country’s vast size. It’s also very unevenly spread, with most people clustered in European Russia, near the Ural Mountains and in southwest Siberia. Most Russians are an urban breed – three-quarters of them live in cities. The two major ones are the capital Moscow with more than 10 million people, and St. Petersburg with more than four million. Roughly 80 per cent of the population is ethnic Russian. The rest is a mix of other ethnic groups, with the Tatars and Ukrainians making the largest minorities.


For about seventy years, it existed as the Soviet Union—a communist superpower considered by much of the world to be an “evil empire”. The Cold War tension between the Soviets and the United States very nearly led to nuclear war on several occasions, until the dissolution of the USSR on Christmas Day, 1991.

                                                                

 

 

 

 

Russians take great pride in their cultural heritage, and in the Soviet era nearly everyone, factory worker and collective farmer included, made regular visits to theater, concert hall, or opera house. The generous Communist subsidies that made such widespread cultural appreciation possible shriveled in the 1990s, but both performers and theatergoers are now climbing out of the post-Soviet slump and finding a balance between honoring the classics and testing new artistic directions.

 

 

Russia's rigorous ballet traditions have relaxed little in the past 200 years, and that commitment to physical perfection carries over into every form of dance represented in today's Russia. Even strippers often have classical training. The wave of departures by Russian ballet prodigies for richer Western companies has ebbed in recent years, and a new generation is carrying on the traditions of Baryshnikov, Nureyev, and Nijinsky in their homeland. Russia's reputation makes it a top destination for dance festivals, offering a great opportunity to see international superstars or smaller European and Asian companies.

For classical music fans, there's no better way to pay tribute to the homeland of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky, Scriabin, Shostakovich, and Rimsky-Korsakov than to hear their works played in a Russian conservatory by their dedicated heirs. Russia's musicians -- like its athletes and dancers -- are trained from preschool age, with strict discipline and devotion to classicism.
                                                               

 

 

 

 

 In the 1950s, the space program because something of a microcosm for the entirety of the Cold War, with American and Soviet scientists scrambling to be the first to reach various milestones. The Soviets achieved the first major success with Sputnik in 1959, as well as the first manned flight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

 

 

Russia is a multi-ethnic and multi-faith nation. Decades of Soviet rule have left their mark: Up to half of Russians declare themselves atheists, although figures vary. Among believers Orthodox Christianity dominates, but smaller Christian denominations also exist.

Orthodox Christianity is Russia's largest religion with 75% of the population belonging to the Orthodox Christian denomination. Islam is professed by 5% of the population. Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism and Buddhism are professed by 1% of the population each. Other religious denominations represent 1% of the population, while 8% consider themselves atheists.
                                                       

Russian may be all that and more but it’s certainly not the only language spoken in Russia. About 100 others are used across the country. But you don’t need to know all of them – Russian is official throughout the nation, although there are various co-official languages in different regions.

                 

                                                                  

Russian belongs to the Indo-European family, which ties it to Greek and Latin. Its closest spoken relatives are Ukrainian and Belarusian. Over the centuries, its vocabulary and style have been influenced by German, French and English.The Russian alphabet, known as Cyrillic, goes back to the ninth century. Its most ancient version was devised by two Greek missionaries – brothers Cyril and Methodius, both outstanding scholars and linguists. The alphabet assumed its modern shape in the 17th century under Peter the Great, while the written Russian of today was introduced by the Soviet government in 1918.

 

                                                                        

 

 

 

The final death toll of World War Two remains a subject of contention, but there can be little doubt that the Soviets suffered far more casualties than any other nation. Charged with single-handedly defending an entire front against the Germans, the Soviets may have lost in excess of thirty million people, including civilians—around fourteen percent of their entire population. In the Battle of Stalingrad alone, it is believed that more Soviets died than the Americans lost during the whole war.

 

 

 

 

In prehistoric times, the people we now call Native Americans moved over a land bridge that crossed the Bering Strait from Russia, and they began to colonize the New World. The land crossing has since been replaced with impassable ocean, but Russia has begun to advance a program which would see three tunnels constructed beneath the sea, joining Russia with Alaska.

The project, dubbed the TKM-World Link, is estimated to cost about $65 billion. Once completed, it would certainly rank as one of the most phenomenal feats in the history of engineering. Construction is already nearing completion on a railway which would allow the movement of supplies to the farthest reaches of Siberia.

Some people have questioned the practicality of the project, given the remoteness and the challenging climate of the region—but others allege that the tunnels could save billions in shipping costs. And the idea of driving from New York to London does seem pretty cool.

 

 

 This week we cooked the quintessential Russian meal. Homemade Buckwheat Blini pancakes with Caviar and Crème Fraiche. Although we did not purchase real Russian Caviar( A bit to expensive for my taste) we did enjoy Danish Black Lumpfish Caviar and Icelandic Red Capelin Caviar. My 7 year old really enjoyed the Red Capelin with Crème Fraiche on her Blini. I must admit, I preferred it as well. While the eggs were smaller and had less "Mouth Appeal" as they say when comparing caviar, it was less salty than its Danish counterpart. The Buckwheat Flour for our traditional Russian Blinis was a bit tricky to find, but luckily our local HEB did carry it. Blinis are eaten for breakfast all over Russia, usually with condensed milk, sour cream, or jam. They are said to represent the sun. The mixture had a somewhat sour smell to it at first, but after cooking them, they were nutty and delicious! The crème Fraiche was a lovely creamy pairing to the saltier caviar. Together-a perfect marriage.

Here is the recipe we used this week:

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/noodlesdumplings/r/blini.htm