It is reported that some Russian tourists will be arriving in Sri Lanka for a winter break. Russians will be visiting Sri Lanka – welcome! It is not possible to find two countries so different on the face of the earth. In many ways, we are remarkable opposites, yet we are both multi-ethnic democratic republics with great literature and cultural traditions. The peoples of both countries are open minded with democratic thinking; justice and fair-play are high on our list of priorities. The Russians are mostly Orthodox Christians but have in their Federation three states which are Buddhist. Sri Lanka is opposite – mostly Buddhist with a few Christians too.
But the geographic and climate opposites found in our two countries are stark and marked. These affect greatly how we live, our way of life, our culture, our history, our agriculture, and prosperity.
Because Russia is located in the north of Asia, and stretches across nine time zones, and stretches northwards into the Arctic Circle, it is the largest country in the world! It has long winters and short summers. These long winters have a big influence on both economic and social activities of Russians. It means that the agricultural growing season is short, and winters are long and cold.
In contrast, Sri Lanka is an island, a thousand times smaller and is located close to the equator, and it is warm most of the year and sometimes quite hot. Because of its warm position, the food growing season lasts for most of the year, whereas Russia’s growing season starts late in spring, and harvesting in October with snow arriving in November, giving perhaps only a five month growing season at most.
Sri Lanka is surrounded by warm sea, and has deep sea ports on the North, South and West. In the past, sea-born invaders could be repelled. The sea acts as a moat – a barrier which prevents raiders from entering easily, they must have sea worthy ships, manned by men with navigating and sea-faring experience.
Russia’s land borders are long, and any army can enter and rob, but it would take several million soldiers to fully occupy it and conquer it.
Sadly, Russia’s history is, indeed, one of being attacked from all sides over the centuries, so Russians have been obliged to be militarily strong. Historically, both Napoleon and Hitler invaded it from Europe and Mongols from the East, so the Russians have been involved in many desperate struggles for survival. The last century has been very painful with great tumult and loss of life, the invasion by Hitler alone, cost 27 million Russian deaths, so now Russians seek peace and stability. The population currently is said to be around 175 million people.
Russia lacks all-the-year-round, ice-free sea access. It is a problem for them. It has great long coasts lines – but they are frozen for most of the year with no ice-free ports for cargo ships (or war ships!) to use all the year round. They are cut off from the Atlantic by Denmark who controls the passage of boats, and in the East, boats sailing from Vladivostok are blocked by the Sea of Japan. They have a shallow port in the Crimea but there, they have to go through the Dardanelles controlled by Turkey. Their all season sea access is controlled by others!
The way our two peoples lead our lives is very different. Sri Lankans can go out freely, in good weather; children play cricket all year long; only waterproofs are needed for Sri Lankans. For Russians, on the other hand, it can be warm in late summer and fashionable light warm clothing is possible, but in autumn and winter it is necessary to go out wearing thick warm clothes. In deep winter time temperatures may fall to around minus 30o C, or more (even down to – 55oC). These are dangerously low temperatures with the danger of frostbite: ears and nose alert! It causes people to cough when breathing this cold air and is known to cause heart attacks as in the case of Venerable Soma, Thera.
Every New Year’s Eve, at midnight, in Moscow, President Putin addresses all Russians on TV. You will see him, bare headed in a strong coat, speaking his good, wise words just before the chimes of the Spassky Tower Clock start chiming for the coming New Year – in the freezing midnight cold!
Long cold, dark nights and dark cold winter days, with grey skies – for seven or eight months – have consequences. All homes must have some form of central heating.
Because there are great forests, most houses in the countryside are made of wood and kept warm by central heating with wood or oil-fired stoves. In every room there are cast iron radiators connected by pipes to the stove. Every autumn these stoves and pipes are carefully inspected to ensure a warm winter with no accidents! This is the time wolves howl in the Taiga (mountains and forests) and come close to the villages, looking for food!
Towns and cities have great blocks of housing perhaps of twelve stories high, which is illogical for such a large, spacious country. The reason is that because of the cold, it is easier to keep warm in centrally heated housing blocks.
Russians are confined to their homes, village halls and churches for long periods of the year and their choice of activities is limited. Village people use village halls to make music and dance and sing. All Russians read a lot, sing, play music and they study; in fact, most are cultured and well educated.
Russia literature is famous for its many writers. They are highly respected worldwide by educated people. In the Soviet era, men confined to the Gulag camps wrote great literature for the benefit of the whole world. There have been world famous Russian music composers, pianists, musicians, ballet dancers, gymnasts and so on. Mendeleev was the first man to figure out how chemical elements, metals and gases are atomically connected and come together to make the Periodic Table used in Chemistry throughout the world today.
In Russian cities there is more scope for relaxing activitis; there are choirs, and and groups of people come together to play instruments and make music. All the children know all the traditional songs off by heart. Concerts are held and they sing them to piano accompaniment or other instruments. Nowadays, electric music bands hold concerts and young singers display their talent by singing modern songs. American songs are much liked and played.
Thanks to their Communist past, the major cities have saunas, trampolines and gymnasiums where Russians come to exercise and work-out during the long winter days. Russian gymnasts and ballerinas are another aspect of this active, resourceful nation. There are some 30 “Rhythmic Gymnastics Schools” in towns across the country where young children enter rhythmic gymnastics classes.
They are trained to move elegantly, bend, stretch and spin round, and follow routines with hoops, balls, ribbons and skipping ropes in gymnastics, to music. Clubs and Schools hold keenly fought competitions, each town enters its own team and the best gymnasts gain certificates! Older champions get Gold Medals! Needless to say this is an immensely healthy activity for those stuck indoors for up to nine months each year. The unspoken benefit is that they keep their fitness, youth and shape well into middle age. Such children are considered ‘little treasures’.
All the cities have the internet and it is widely used. People order food from shops by E-Mail and it is delivered to them without them going out!
In the summertime, things are different. People spend as much time outdoors as possible. The pedestrian areas are clean and flat and children use motorized foot scooters to tour round seeing the town squares, rivers and bridges.
Young women will dress up to look attractive and walk around the center of their town to enjoy the warm afternoon and precious sunlight! People walk their dogs. Almost no-one speaks Sinhala, but a few can speak English, and may practice it with visitors. It is a great time to talk, meet old friends and socialize generally.
Because of Russia’s enormous size, in the past roads were few and impassable, so, over the years governments have developed a huge network of railways connecting all the cities, factories and mines. They have even built links to all the neighboring capital cities; going to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, China, etc. You can travel 8,000 kilometers from Moscow to Beijing by railway. The cities west of the Ural Mountains, close to Europe, are now fully electrified with fast connections. The rest of the country is served by unglamorous but functional diesel electric-driven engines. Because of its vast rail network, Russia possesses an enormous collection of old steam engines many of which are still kept in working order.
Russians mark important historical anniversaries such as the driving out and defeat of Nazi Germany, by holding impressive military parades in Red Square on May 9th every year. They also hold musical concerts where old rousing, war-time songs are sung. They parade out a few of their old steam engines on these occasions, too, because steam engines played an important role in winning World War II. Every May 9th some old engines are ‘steamed up’ for show. Russia has steam engines of all types and sizes. It has its tank (small) steam engines for shunting trucks around, and it still has its big cross continental steam engines in working order. These are great giants of steel, which can travel the vast distances across the country pulling twelve or more coaches filled with tired engineers and foreign tourists. See these great dragons in winter, giving off vast amounts of smoke and steam as they charge through countless miles of tunnels of snow covered trees, with their dark trunks and tops all decorated with white, frozen snow and ice!
Now, these engines are kept immaculate with shiny black paint, trimmed with red-painted wheels, clanking con-rods, with front lights and a red star. The displays of old engines are held on electrified track, where they chuff! chuff! chuff! along, displaying their great power! It gives one a thrill to see them, steamed-up hot, defiantly powerful in the snow-covered countryside and icy-cold weather.
Russia is all about how its brave, strong people have overcome their problems – they are survivors! Welcome Russian Tourists! PH. 2/2021