Each resident of the country involved in any type of activity celebrates his professional holiday once a year . Students have their own holiday. The day of Tatiana is celebrated. annually The 25th of January.
Why exactly Tatyana?
Saint Tatiana (Tatiana) is considered the patroness of students since ancient times. Historical facts testify to the existence of this person at the beginning of the 3rd century AD. Martyr Tatyana was born in Rome, in a rich and noble family. The father, a secret follower of the Christian faith, raised his daughter in the spirit of worship and worship of God. Tatyana spent all her youth in the monastery, helping the needy and caring for the sick. In 226 AD, during the next persecution of Christians, the girl was captured by the Gentiles. Legend has it that when she was brought to the temple of Apollo for sacrifice, the nun prayed, and the earthquake struck in the history of the country, the statues of idols were smashed into tiny fragments, under which many priests died.
The crowd, which came to its senses, rushed at the girl who heroically carried all the torment she had prepared. Eight pagan executioners who saw angels descend on the saint from heaven and divert blows from it, believed in the existence of Christ and fell to pray at the feet of Tatiana, after which everyone was executed. However, the girl’s torment continued for several days, during which she was subjected to severe torture (public scourging, meeting with angry hungry lions, imprisonment in a dungeon), and at the end they cut off her head. The great martyr Tatyana was recognized as a saint who sacrificed her life for her faith, and the feast named in her honor was considered special among the rest of the patronal festivals of Moscow.
On January 25, 1755, on the day of the angel Tatiana, Empress Elizabeth signed a decree establishing the university in Moscow. Later, by decree of Nicholas I, the celebration was announced not of the day the university was opened, but of the day of signing the decree on its construction. So Russian students got their professional holiday - St. Tatyana's Day.
In the 18-19 centuries, Tatyana's day was celebrated somewhat differently than now. It began with the performance of choirs and solemn prayers in the churches of Moscow. The temple of St. Tatiana, erected at the Lomonosov University, was closed only with the advent of Soviet power in the country.
In 1994, on Tatyana’s traditional day, His Holiness Patriarch of All Russia Alexei II served a festive prayer in the church. At the same time, the All-Church Congress of Orthodox Youth created at the University began its work.
Many historians also suggest paying attention to the fact that January 12 (January 25 in a new style) is the birthday of the daughter of Nikolai the Second Princess Tatyana Nikolaevna Romanova, who was shot with the whole imperial family in 1918.
It was at the beginning of the 20th century that Tatyana's day turned into a favorite holiday of the student fraternity also because its celebration coincides with passing the exams of the winter session and the beginning of the holidays. The traditional amusements of this time were youth revels with evening gatherings in restaurants, raffles of venerable professors, sleigh rides from the mountains, chanting walks in Moscow at night. In those days there was no more fun and noisy celebration of youth.
In Soviet Russia, like most holidays, Tatyana’s Day was rarely remembered. The Church of St. Tatiana was reopened only in 1994, at the same time in the assembly hall of the university the best students were awarded those established in honor of its founders - M.V. Lomonosov and I.I. Shuvalov Prize. Today, thanks to the revival of past traditions, as well as the old days, charity balls, student discos at universities and private parties in honor of the holiday are organized. Students of the whole country celebrate Tatyana's Day.