The Day of the Great Victory: День Победы!

The 9th of May in Russia is a nearly sacred day, the day of victory in what they name 'The Great Patriotic War', and what we know as the Second World War. Russians view the victory largely as theirs alone, and in many respects it was. A majority of the fighting took place on Soviet Union territory, the battle of Stalingrad and the siege of Leningrad were two of the most important pieces in the horrible puzzle, and Russia lost some 23 million people, according to the more conservative estimates. Even for a country the size of Russia, 23 million people is an incredible number. The banners and flags have been in place for a few weeks, the modern Russian flag hung alongside the red flag of the Soviet Union in most cases, and many buildings are draped with huge posters declaring 65 years of great victory, 1945-2010. War films and documentaries have dominated the television channels for some time, and almost every night on the news some new information or fact is given about the war and its heroes. There are more veterans still alive than I would have thought – given the life expectancy in Russia in general – but it is a pretty fluid number since everyone who survived the blockade in Leningrad is also considered a war veteran, and there are other nuances as well. And the critics always bring up that there would be more but Stalin had all those who had been in enemy prison camps repressed and sent to Siberia, and many say that all the money spent on the parade every year should go instead to making sure that veterans have good apartments and care, since their pensions are good but that’s about it, but on the 9th of May everyone rallies around those veterans cruising down Nevsky Prospect on their own two feet or in jeeps, regardless of all the discussion in the background. Young people buy carnations to present to veterans, veterans wives, and blockade survivors, who are all proudly adorned in their best outfits and absolutely covered in medals and ribbons. Walking up and kissing an old man on the cheek in Russia I'm pretty sure happens on only one day, the 9th of May.

The day begins early – I was in church so missed most of this part but caught it all later when they replayed it on TV – with a military parade simultaneously in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Our claim to fame is that the Navy brass is here, as well as the Naval Academy cadets, while the Moscow parade is much more impressive in terms of numbers and military technology, and of course the presence of the President and Prime Minister. Though those poor guys leading the parade in Moscow have to march on the much larger Red Square – and they do the stiff-legged high kick march, Matthew does this have a name? so it must be exhausting by the time they make it all the way across – rather than our Palace Square. It was depressing to see the difference on television, Moscow was sunny and everyone looked almost hot, while we were shrouded in fog and pulling out our gloves in the morning. The day turned out to be by turns beautiful and stormy, thankfully I have lots of experience at umbrella battling after spending 7 hours standing in the rain in Berlin in November. The military parade was at 10 am, and from then until 5 pm when the citizens parade, the one in which the veterans march, we had lunch at a delicious pizza place on Nevsky while listening to the Soviet anthem over the loudspeakers in the restaurant, did a significant amount of people watching and finding free paraphanalia, got the email address of a militia member after we took a picture of a big group of them standing doing absolutely nothing, ate some St. Petersburg fried donuts, said hello to a few veterans with big smiles, and staked out a spot about 4 to wait for the parade to make its way down from Ploshad Vosstania where the train station to Moscow is. This was honestly – as one of the guys from church noted in the morning – the first day when it was clear that 5 million people do live in this city, and they were all out on the street. The funny thing was that many of the people on the street had come in for the weekend, blockade survivors especially, and plenty of Russian and international tourists to witness the festivities in the big city. It led to a rather crazy atmosphere, but we lucked into seats everywhere we went and until the metro at the end of the day it never really felt out of control.

The highlight of the day is the citizens parade, veterans and their families are driven in jeeps or march down the parade route behind the flags of their regiments and fronts, and blockade survivors march with the unions that have been created to unite and remember them. One woman told of how her mother had returned from the dacha to find her husband sent to the western front, in the summer before the beginning of the siege of the city. She only received one letter from him and then the news that he had been killed, and her story is sadly not unique. The celebration of the veterans, and the cries of спасибо, which means thank you, that can be heard more often than anything else, are also really celebrations of all of those who were lost, and on the 9th of May Russia remembers them all. Life here may still be difficult in many respects, but the victory that they celebrate on this day every year rises above all of that, to a level beyond even national pride. It was a wonderful feeling on the streets all day, and during the parade when the rain started pouring down no one was phased, compared to what the veterans have seen rain must be absolutely meaningless, and the city celebrated on. The parade ended in palace square, where a concert started up that saw the veterans dancing up a storm with many young uniformed men and women and their families. At this point, we all headed home to be able to watch it on TV since it was all blocked off, and successfully made it through the metro chaos and all the way home in time to see most of it. Pasha and I watched with huge smiles as the veterans danced to classic victory day songs and more modern ones as well, some with their spouses and others with dashing young service members trying to keep up with the veterans. They all knew all the words to the songs, and the sense of solidarity was tangible even from our apartment.

At 10 pm a military salute takes place in St. Petersburg from the Peter and Paul Fortress, just before the fireworks begin in Moscow. It was really interesting to go from watching the Neva where it was still pretty light outside to Moscow where at 10 pm it was absolutely dark and perfect for fireworks. The fireworks display was magnificent, set to a live orchestra performance of mostly Tschaikovsky, and went on for maybe 15 minutes. It was quite the spectacle, and red square was full of people looking up to the sky. Pasha and I were curled on my bed with tea and ice cream, and when the fireworks ended a concert started in Moscow with some of the most famous names in Russian music singing classic songs of victory and a ten-year-old boy who won a competition singing a new song about the important holiday. There were subtitles with the lyrics which was fun because Pasha knew most of the songs and he made me sing too since I could read the Russian on the screen. So it turned into quite the sing-a-long evening and occasionally we could hear mom laughing at us from the other room when one of us would sing incorrectly or the audio would cut out and suddenly we could hear ourselves and would start laughing. The songs were patriotic and emotional, and absolutely everyone knew all the words in the audience, I'm going to pay more attention to our 4th of July concerts and see if they are comparable. And we're going to have to skype because they want to see what our fireworks are like and apparently they're not shown on TV here. So that should be entertaining! Victory day ended at about midnight, but you could go on forever about the implications and special meanings found in the celebration. I am very grateful that I had the chance to experience this sacred holiday, and will be very sad the day there are no dancing veterans around to bless the bricks of Palace Square with their dancing feet. Thankfully, the importance of their sacrifice is definitely imprinted in the blood of this country and her people, so Victory Day will live on as will their legacy.