Defender of the Fatherland Day
Dear Diary,
Today is DAY 15 of my writing challenge and it is a special day – Russian Men holiday.
I won’t bore you with history lesson (in both Soviet and Russian history), you can read for yourself (link above). What I will do is to share with you my role in this holiday, on this day.
When I was little girl, I used to make greeting cards for my dad (aviation) and grandad (navy). We used to have guests and feasts. Women would give men presents (whatever they could find).
Then, at school, we used to make a special presentation for boys in the class, includings songs, jokes and presents. We would bake cakes and sweets and bring them to school. The epitome of this holiday was school disco… all in honour of boys, future defenders of the motherland.
Coming to Australia has changed the attitude a bit. For one, the holiday is in summer. Then, people here, even Russian-speaking do not remember or pretend not to remember about this holiday. And, of course, most of my friends have never been to war (thankfully) or served in the army.
BUT
Here it is. The holiday, the greetings, the presents
(the most hated – by men – socks, jocks, shower gel and deodorants..)
On a more serious note, this holiday is the day to celebrate manhood, bravery, comradery and history (stuff we should not forget ever).
This day is as much about what used to be as it is about what will be. How we treat our boys will be the way they treat us as men…
Happy Defender’s Day granddads, uncles, fathers and brothers…
Svetlana Tishchenko 