When we set out the morning of May 9th to celebrate Victory Day, the holiday that commemorates the Red Army’s victory over the Nazis in World War II (called the Great Patriotic War by most Russians), I didn’t really know what to expect. Once we had been walking around Moscow for a while, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons with my experiences of Independence Day in Boston and of Bastille Day in Paris. There were a lot of similarities – the massive crowds of people, the ice-cream, jets flying overhead, patriotic emotions, music, fireworks, and of course a sunburn.
Jets paint the Russian flag across the sky
What stood out to me the most about Victory Day was the huge amount of respect that Russians give to their veterans. It’s a common practice to carry a poster with the photo and name of a relative who served. Veterans go out in uniform. Signs in the metro read something along the lines of, “Today we stop, we remember, we feel proud.” My favorite moment during the course of the day was when I saw a little boy giving a veteran a traditional red carnation, and noticing that the boy’s eyes were all lit up and that his mouth was agape in awe. I think that this really shows the nature of Victory Day, the immense amount of pride that Russians have for their military, and the respect that youth have for older generations.
A choir dressed in period-uniforms, carrying red carnations and singing “Katyusha”
We finished off the day by watching the Salute (fireworks) in Sparrow Hills, right on the river.