In the four years since the start of the Special Military Operation, military funerals in Russia have become entirely routine. Funeral brigade workers do not openly condemn the war, but their negative attitude toward what is happening becomes clear in conversation.

#WarinUkraine #lifeinRussia #everydayculture #personalexperience #MinistryofDefense #society #thefuneral #deathinRussia

Read more

Khovanskoye Cemetery, January 27, two o'clock in the afternoon. A group of four people stands by a black minivan. They are dressed in identical black jackets and hats. Next to them, on metal trestles, is a four-sided coffin with no handles. People in work uniforms are nailing the base of the coffin. About 5 meters from the coffin—just one grave away—stand several gravediggers, ready to take the coffin in their hands and lower it into the grave. We only need to cover those 5 meters. But three out of the four people in black take turns falling, bumping the bottoms of the coffin into the grave fences. Only the fourth one managed to stay on his feet. That was me.

#WarinUkraine #lifeinRussia #everydayculture #personalexperience #Moscow #society #precariat #reportage #deathinRussia #LaborandCapital

Read more

The story of how the Soviet Grinch stole Christmas is telling in many ways. At first, the totalitarian regime shamelessly declared established family traditions to be barbaric. Then, after failing, Stalinism retreated a bit and, as a compromise, offered Soviet citizens a new holiday—with recognizable trappings, but stripped of its original meaning. Soon, the next generation came to perceive the Soviet New Year as an unshakable custom from time immemorial.

#householdandchildren #state #ideology #History #everydayculture #lenin #newYear #society #holidays #religion #theUSSR #Stalin #traditions

Read more