November 4, National Unity Day is a little-known holiday with a long history. But we will try to figure it out, based on historical facts and the arguments of the mind.
In Russia, they always loved to relax and celebrate something. Most of the celebrated dates wander from year to year, gradually losing their original meaning, overgrown with legends, losing their true face. It's just that people are used to resting at this time, and the government does not want to go against the masses. So the New Year remained with us, having outlived even Stalin with his "anti-Pope reforms." On March 8, we congratulate all the ladies, and almost no one recalls the "solidarity of working women" and the "march of empty pots" - this happened with most of our holidays. The history of National Unity Day was no exception, but it is interesting for its intriguing plot and ambiguous castling. If the rest of the holidays at least somehow retained their original appearance, then the day we are discussing at times sometimes departed from its roots. But first things first.
Start
So, Day of National Unity. The history of the holiday began back in 1612, when Minin and Pozharsky were able to unite the people and the army in order to liberate Moscow from invaders from Poland. It happened on 10/22 according to the old style (04/11 in a new way). Subsequently, Tsar Alexei Romanov established this date to celebrate annually. And we are happy! And so it all began. For three centuries, the people of Russia celebrated this day with festivities and amusements, proud of the strength, power and independence of their own, which awakened in him without orders and exhortations.
Continuation of a story
What happened next? When the Bolsheviks arrived, it turned out that this holiday was not pleasing to them. But the people celebrated it for several centuries in November! After all the wars, hardships, deprivations, it was unacceptable to take a holiday from exhausted people. But leave honoring the events of tsarist Russia is also impossible. How to be The date was slightly changed, and already on November 7 they began to celebrate the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Unity Day is gone, is the holiday history over? Not!
In 1996, we officially forgot about the revolution, and the date of November 7 became the Day of Accord and Reconciliation. This formulation is generally a dark matter. The presidential decree (December 2004) states the need to unite and rally the social strata of the Russian population.
Denouement
In 2004, the Interreligious Council of Russia put forward the idea of returning not only the original date, but also the wording. The following year, the government signed an order - the Day of National Unity returned to us, the history of the holiday continues ...
What is the attitude of the modern generation to this day? Ambiguous. Unfortunately, few people know its history. But young people like to be "united and invincible." The state is trying hard to ensure that this holiday finds its traditions and ardent admirers, especially among young people. Concerts, corporate events, sporting events - cities across the country are trying to actively fill this weekend with mass entertainment and festivities. This, of course, is good, because in this way campaigning for an active and healthy life is carried out, national pride, patriotism, friendship and trust are promoted.
However, many older people consider this holiday meaningless. For the people, he is a thing of the past, history. And even the day when the siege of Leningrad was lifted is not a day off, let alone Minin and Pozharsky. People do not understand whom and with what to congratulate, and the government uses the “November habit”. This is a tradition - one day, but in November, people should rest. Although in essence this is simply the date of the next (of course, significant) military battle. In this sense, the October Revolution has even more rights to the "red day of the calendar" - after all, the change of social poles, the overthrow of the autocracy.
So what about National Unity Day? The history of the holiday is being discussed. Some say that the monument on Red Square is enough to remember the feat of the people. Others advocate the revival and preservation of traditions, sincerely believing that Russia needs more national and official significant dates. And the third most important thing is a day off, let there be at least a day of the global flood. What is most typical for Russia - the "third" majority! This is probably why the largest percentage of people surveyed who correctly named the wording of the holiday since 2007 is 23. The only good news is that it is growing, at the time of the start of the polls its value was only 8%.