Izhevsk
Birthdays
Birthday in the Forest near Izhevsk
December 15, 2003
Today is Seth’s birthday so our first class was consumed by Russian tradition. Tatiana
had the class sang happy b-day to Seth in English then they sang songs in Russian,
including their birthday song, an overly dramatic drawn out tune.
For much of the time we held hands in a circle around Seth and went around counterclockwise
singing, then we all went towards him, leading with our hands and tickled him. For
such a closed off society, this seemed like an invasion of privacy. Seth then had
to pick a “young lady,” which is odd for a 28 year old to pick out a 17 year old,
but he did because Tatiana made him. We sang another song with similar actions and
everyone in the circle wished something well for Seth.
Once the singing ended, we pulled Seth’s ears because the lymph system is there
and it is supposed to help the body; one pull for each year. After this we opened
the window, took snow off the window’s ledge, and started a snow ball fight in the
classroom, which was quite fun.
The following class had a test so Tatiana, Seth, and I went to the back of the classroom,
drank tea, and ate chocolate and cake. As we ate, Tatiana told us about Russian
tradition/superstition: a person may never celebrate his or her birthday before
his actual birthday because its bad luck. What’s worse is if you do celebrate early
you’ll die early so you can only celebrate an early birthday for a deceased friend.
Ironically, the Russians don’t think that they are superstition and I’ve been asked
on a number of occasions why we believe such superstitious nonsense. They however
have so many more superstitions and they are followed as if they're teachings
in the Bible.
Back to Russian tradition, the buying of a cake or cookies and organizing a party
is the birthday person’s responsibility; only after your friends see the cake (ideally
in the morning) will they know it’s your birthday and then they take some time during
the day to buy the birthday person a present. The birthday celebration should take
place… at least for part of the celebration at the birthday person’s house and festivities
should never run past 11:00pm.
So much Russian logic is beyond me.
December 28, 2003
Today I went to a birthday party for a girl named Masha, who I had never met, but
she was kind enough to invite me through a mutual friend. We picked Masha up then
went to the market where they were selling everything imaginable: from motorcycle
engines to live animals and carcasses at the meat shop; the live chickens beside
the huge ax were enough to steal my appetite. We got everything we needed and jumped
on the trolley bus (basically a bus with two long metal arms connecting it to wires
running above the street) through Leninsky District to the opposite side of town
to the middle of the forest.
After hiking into the forest we found a nice little location, shoveled, set up a
metal frame, started a fire, and threw a pot of water over the fire. While the water
was heating up, we each tied a cup and fork to a ribbon, which was tied to our coats
around our necks. “This is so our cup is always close to us in case we need to drink.”
For a birthday it’s necessary to drink vodka so we finished a bottle by about noon,
then ate salad, cucumbers, fish, and pelmani. We all ate too much so temporarily
lied around, but we soon perked up to play some very strange games then went sledding
on plastic bags.
After eating, drinking, and sledding, we went back to our halfway point where we
stopped on the way over; this was an interesting place, the walls were shedding
three or four layers of wall paper all one on top of the next and each peeling off.
The lights were hung by a wire that was just connected to the switch, all stapled
onto the wall; all wiring was external. The ceilings were plain and my eye was drawn
to the open wires and hanging lights. The floor was fine and furniture nearly non-existent.
There were only two chairs, a couch, table, stool, and dresser in the whole place.
The saddest part was that the baby lived in a stroller to sleep and I guess that’s
all they can afford. What surprised me was that they were very hospitable and gave
us tea, chocolate, bread, and other snacks, when it seemed they had so little.
The highlight of the day was Misha, he was very proud of this house, which belonged
to his brother and sister-in-law. We had two hosts here, Misha’s sister-in-law and
another girl of about 20 or 25, each had a baby and they continuously joked about
how they have to remodel the place.
From lunch until the end of the day Misha and I talked a lot; the 20 year old works
in the steel factory, doesn’t speak English, has no motivation, is going no where,
yet he’s one of my favorite people I’ve met in Russia. He’s very proud of his job
in the steel factor and told me about it’s history as the first factory in the city
and his role working with the furnace; he’s proud of everything they make and their
exports. He didn’t seem excited when I asked if he liked the job, but he was very
proud, he showed me the company’s brochure: Izhstal. He’s not egotistical or arrogant,
he’s not rich, he’s not educated, he works hard just to survive and he knows nothing
else. He seems like an outcast in life and even here at this party, but I’m glad
he came.
After getting back to town, Masha and her mom made us dinner, it was good and I
ate a lot, plus it had been a long day and was already evening. Dinner consisted
of a pastry with potatoes and mushrooms inside then served with tomatoes and a sauce
kind of like a mayo/sour cream hybrid. With dinner we drank a bottle of wine and
afterwards played more games. Masha had to do all the work and served all of her
guests; it sounds like an awful birthday to me since she had to do everything, but
she seemed to enjoy every minute of it.
Over dinner, the group told me about how Izhevsk was completely closed off from
the rest of the USSR because of the steel and gun factories so no foreigner had
been to Izhevsk until 1991 or 92. They also told me about a city in the Urals that’s
still closed off to everyone except those born in the city.
After dinner, we sang songs; the same we sang to Seth. As is tradition, the festivities
had ended by 11:00pm.