Russian culture is rich and spans centuries of history, encompassing art, traditions, literature and more. Traditional toys included matryoshka nesting dolls, which are colorful wooden dolls that fit inside one another. A popular drink is tea served in a samovar, while common foods include bread, soups, potatoes and desserts like piroshki. Popular sports are football, hockey and basketball. Pastimes also include activities like swimming, fishing and chess. Music includes folk music featuring balalaikas and accordions, while ballet is a beloved art form with works by Tchaikovsky. The Russian mentality values family and hospitality.

1. Russian culture
Russian mentality
Russian soul

2. Russian culture is rich, spanning
centuries of Russian history. Russian
culture encompasses art, food,
traditions, literature, attitudes and
more. The culture of Russia is both a
point of pride for Russians
themselves and a major draw for
travelers who plan trips to Russia.

3. What are Matryoshka Dolls?
Until the early 1900’s, Russian toys
were made at home out of wood.
Wood was the easiest material to get,
and the cheapest for the people. It
was used to make puppets and many
different kinds of animals. A favorite
toy among the children was the
colorful Matryoshka nesting dolls.
These dolls fit one inside the other,
with the biggest one holding all of the
rest. They are all meant to be a family
with the baby as the smallest.
These dolls are now popular tourist
souvenirs.

4. Valenki
Valenki are traditional
Russian felt boots
worn to keep feet
warm during the
winter. Valenki make
great souvenirs from
Russia or practical
purchases for winter
travel.

5. Russian Food

6. What do Russians like to drink?
The most popular drink for both adults
and children in Russia is tea. The tea
is brewed and served in the fancy
metal container you see at the left,
which is called a samovar. This boils
the water and keeps it warm. A small
teapot rests on top which contains a
very strong tea. A little bit of that is
combined with the water from the
samovar. While samovars have fallen
out of everyday use, samovars are still
used for some occasions. In addition,
antique samovars are sometimes
family heirlooms and decorative
Russian Samovar reminders of the past.

7. What do Russians like to eat?
Russians eat lots of bread, and prefer
to buy it while it’s hot. The most
popular bread is dark rye bread. They
like to eat salads. Soup is also very
popular, especially cabbage soup. All
kinds of meats are eaten, with a
variety of vegetables and the well-
known potato pancakes. What about
dessert? Russians like piroshki, or
fritters, along with very thin jam-filled
pancakes called blini. Kissel, or fruit
puddings are popular, along with
marozhinaya, or ice cream.

8. Delicious Russian Recipes
Blini (Russian
Oliviet (Russian Salad)
Pancakes)
1. Put 1 cup of flour in a bowl. Add 1 1. Boil 2 medium potatoes and 2
tablespoon of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of medium carrots in their skins. Let
baking soda, 1/2 tablespoon of baking cool, then peel and dice.
powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
2. In a new bowl, beat 1 egg. Add 2 cups
2. Using about 2 tablespoons of
of buttermilk and 1/8 cup of cooking mayonnaise, mix the above
oil. ingredients with: 3-4 diced hard
3. Combine the bowls and beat. boiled eggs, 2-3 diced medium
4. Cook in oil. Eat and enjoy! pickles, 1/4 cup diced fresh
Russians eat these with a variety of cucumber, and 2-3 tablespoons of
toppings. chopped onion.
Those toppings include: caviar (fish
eggs!), sour cream, jam, and honey. 3. Season to your liking with pepper
and enjoy!

11. Popular Russian Sports
Russia is one of the most successful
countries at a number of sports and
continuously finishing in the top
rankings at the Olympic Games. Among
the most played sports in Russia are
football, ice hockey and basketball.
Other sports widely played in Russia
include gymnastics, boxing, wrestling,
volleyball, rugby union and skiing.

12. Hobbies and Games
Russians enjoy a wide variety of activities.
In the summertime, they enjoy swimming,
long walks in the countryside, and fishing.
Skating, cross-country skiing and ice
fishing are their favorite winter activities.
Mushroom picking is a favorite activity for
people of all ages in the fall. A favorite
board game among Russians is chess. In
fact, Russian children begin learning how
to play chess in kindergarten! They get
very serious about chess in fifth grade
when they learn plays of the famous
champions. Many world champions are
from Russia!

13. Russian Banya
The Russian banya (or steam bath or sauna) is still very popular at
Russian dachas. Sometimes accompanied by bouts of drinking,
sometimes accompanied by birchbark "whisking" (the process of
whipping the limbs with birchbark branches to improve circulation), the
banya experience is a social one usually followed by the participants
jumping into cold water. As with other elements of Russian culture, the
banya centers around tradition, the wisdom of generations past, and the
practicality of life in Russia. Though individuals don't usually go to the
banya in place of taking a shower at home, going to the banya is still
considered healthful and a well-established Russian custom.

15. Russian Music and Dance

16. What kind of music do Russians like to listen to?
The people of Russia enjoy
listening to all kinds of music.
Folk music is very old and popular
kind of music. This dates back to
medieval times, in the 1800s,
when someone would play a string
instrument, and the peasants would
sing and dance. At the right is the
popular balalaika, a three-stringed
instrument. It is very old, but still
widely played in villages and folk
music bands.

17. Balalaikas and Russian Folk Instruments
What is balalaika? It is a
triangular stringed instrument
sort of like a guitar. This
traditional instrument is
sometimes brightly painted with
Russian designs and scenes from
Russian folktales. The music of
accordions, which are also
pictured, feature in Russian folk
music as well, along with pipes
and other stringed instruments.

18. The Nutcracker
Ballet is very popular in Russia, and
dates back to the 1700s. Many
wonderful ballets, dancers, and
choreographers have come out of
Russia. We have all seen a portion
of the well-known Nutcracker
ballet. Well, music to Swan Lake,
one of the dances of the Nutcracker,
was written by Tchaikovsky. He is
the first of many great Russian
composers.

19. The Russian Mentality
Russian mentality is truly different from the usual thinking of a West
European or North American person. Russians may seem quite reserved,
harsh and distant at first, but in most cases just in a few minutes they will
open up and you will have a great conversation and maybe even a new
friend!
Russians will gladly invite you to their home even after hardly knowing
you at all. They are very curious about foreigners; that must be an effect of
many years of communism, when one could hardly meet a foreigner
anywhere.
Russian women take great care of themselves, in spite of many life's
difficulties a Russian lady looks good, groomed and very feminine.
Russian guys are very attentive and caring for their women. They spend
fortunes to make them happy and do not forget to give compliments each
and every time.

20. The Russian Soul
In the history of Russian thought, it is known
that the Russian soul is a mystery.
Feodor Tjutchev wrote the most famous poem
about this.
Russia can’t be understood by reason,
Russia isn’t measured by common means.
It is quite unique.
Russia can only be believed in.

21. 1. What do Russians like to eat?
-Sushi - Pizza - Hamburgers - Piroshkis
2. What kinds of sports are popular in Russia?
- Baseball - Hockey - Races - Ping-Pong
3. Who wrote the most famous poem about Russian
soul?
- Dostoevsky - Chehov - Tjutchev -Fet

22.  www.goeasteurope.a Sources an
bout.com materials
 www.russian-
crafts.com
 www.becomeabetter
baker.com
 Figes, Orlando.
Natasha's Dance: A
Cultural History of
Russia New York:
Picador, 2002.
 Valliere, Paul. Change
and Tradition in
Russian Civilization.
Westland: Hayden-
McNeil Publishing,
Inc., 1995.
