1 of the most prominent Russian traditions is major ingesting. Peter the Terrific was popular for his ingesting exhibitions. If you have go through ‘Khrushchev Remembers’, you can’t fail to remember his descriptions of Stalin’s prolonged nightly drinking bouts.
Russian winters are prolonged and chilly. The Soviet governing administration usually stored vodka relatively low-priced.
Lynn Visson’s “Wedded Strangers” discusses the motive for Russian cultural attachment to alcohol:
“For many years, liquor was the only sort of amusement. Russians are pretty reverent toward ingesting and drunks. There is a tenderness and even passion that sober Russians have toward their intoxicated brethren.”
Refusing to drink as considerably as the rest of the organization is thought of disrespectful.
The more you can consume and maintain your liquor, the a lot more the Russians will maintain you in large regard. Consuming on your own is considered alcoholic. Consuming in organization, even to extra, is viewed as regular conduct.
Russians usually have a purpose to consume. They drink on vacations, with firm, on exclusive events, with company they drink to births, fatalities, and marriages.
They drink to new buys — they connect with this ‘washing’ the new acquisition. A Russian hardly ever operates out of motives to consume.
A toast is produced by just one member of the group right after the eyeglasses are filled. Soon after the toast, the shot glass sized eyeglasses of tricky liquor (ordinarily vodka) are drained by every single member of the occasion.
Everyone normally takes a change earning a toast. A very simple toast for you to bear in mind is ‘Nas darovia’, which implies ‘To Your Health’