Editor's Blog

It seems to me that society adopts stereotypes on purpose – not going into any detail and therefore make life easier. Stereotypes themselves have a certain summary, which are used to describe specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things.

For instance, if you ask a foreigner what he knows about Great Britain, 99% of answers would be the Queen, Big Ben, 5 o’clock tea and the rainy weather. In the same situation I doubt that British people say the same things due to their knowledge, understanding and personal associations with their Motherland.

The same situation exits with Russians. If you ask me what comes to my mind when we talk about Russia, I would say anything except vodka, bears, frost, the KGB or whatever Europeans have to say about it. Russia is more than that.

There are not that many things that leave an impression on our memory for a long time, probably only the most exciting and important moments of our life. For me one of the most remarkable was in May 2011, when Russian Media Solutions launched their new publication called RussianMind. I would even say “gave birth”, because since then we perceived the magazine as our ‘baby’ would grow!

The name of the ‘newborn’ was not chosen accidentally, it reflects in itself the approach to understand who Russian people are. The Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev said that “Russia cannot be understood with the mind”, but RM aimed to prove the contrary.

By looking at the background and history of the CIS countries, analysing their political, economic and business situations; observing the development of art and culture and the most important – communicating with prominent people, we have tried to understand the mindset of the Post Soviet people.

In London people differ by race, religion, cultural habits and even dress preferences, but it seems they all feel comfortable living together in this big city.
To be honest, I hesitate as to whether the Brits consider new entrants as their peers, probably some even hate the international flow into their country, but they never seem to show their annoyance, seemingly tolerant to every single nation that finds their harbour on this island.
In Russia, the word “tolerance” came into use in the 2000s. Maybe it was used before, but at the beginning of the new century, we all went crazy, using it left, right and centre. The word itself isn’t the point, but it seems to me when it appeared in the vocabulary of the average citizen, only than did they start thinking about its meaning.

Russians have an amazing trait – they like to huddle together when doing something. It can be a small company of close friends who attend yoga classes together or a large community that unites thousands of participants with a particular interest. Anyway, the core remains the same: Russians hate to do things on their own.

It all goes far back to the Soviet regime where people were obligated to do everything together. From early childhood till old age, people were participating in a variety of Soviet organisations, social activities and meetings. The truth is that the propaganda of “unity” was aimed at brainwashing society into supporting the Communist ideology. And it actually worked for almost a century. During that time people lived all together as one big country and one big community.

When the USSR collapsed, the philosophy of unity became redundant.

Whilst Britons end their holiday celebration marathon with New Year’s night, for Russians it’s just the beginning. However, despite it being almost a month since 2012 officially started, Russian people are still enjoying the New Year’s spirit. Even returning back to work they continue congratulating each other and wishing all the best.

Moreover, post-Soviet countries celebrate the New Year twice – the traditional, for the whole world New Year on 1st January and the Old New Year, on 14th January.

The background of the Old New Year goes back to the times of the Julian calendar, according to which the year starts 13 days after the New Year on the Gregorian calendar. Although, the Georgian calendar was officially adopted by Soviet Russia in 1918, the Russian Orthodox Church continued to use the Julian calendar. That is why the New Year became a holiday which is celebrated by both calendars.