Last week, I wrote about women’s head-dresses. Today, as promised, I’ll add the male version of that post. Basically, it’s …
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5 Kinds of Folk Hats Russian Women Wore
Do you ever wish that hats would come back in fashion? I do. I still sometimes wish I could pull off the Maltese Falcon look, …
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5 Unusual Remnants of old Rus
Last week, you may have seen my review of Miles Cameron’s The Dread Wyrm. Mr. Cameron, in preparation for the release of his new …
Russian Winter: Five Fascinating Folk Traditions
In last week's post, I explained why Russians prefer to get married in the beginning of winter, on October 1 (October 14 by …
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Why the Feast of the Protection is the Best Day for a Russian Wedding
What do you think is the best day for a wedding? Maybe late spring or summer, I would say. Good weather, good wedding, right? …
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Seven Typical Russian Gestures
Recently, a friend and I had a long overdue lunch. The food was good (Burmese), the company lively, and the conversation fruitful. …
Five Interesting Facts about Russian Ritual Lamentation
Yesterday, I had a remarkably fruitful writing session at the pool. No, I didn’t swim, but my kids' squeals of delight …
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5 Unusual Codes of Behavior in Old Russia
I’ve had a wonderful few weeks, both in terms of work and rest. My kids are growing up fast and beautiful, my work is rewarding, …
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15 Russian expressions you’ve never heard of
I’m having a great time getting into the exciting bits of my new novel. Bear-riders have appeared, my main character is in the …
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7 Things You’ve Never Heard about Russian Weddings
Recently, my darling wife and I celebrated our third anniversary. In the midst of writing long swathes of my second novel about …
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Five Myths about Russian Cuisine
Yesterday, I got back from an amazing trip to Saratov, Russia, where I was one of 41 men recording sacred music for a men’s choir …
How Alexander the Great Became Popular in Russia
Recently, my wife and I finished reading aloud the amazing new Russian novel Laurus by Evgenii Vodolazkin. I loved it. First of …
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Russian Village Windows: the Eyes of the Russian Soul
Those of you who’ve been following me, especially on Pinterest, know that I love traditional Russian village windows, which …
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Slavic “fake-lore”: was Slavic mythology made up?
In the 18th century, Russia entered the grand stage of European history. It threw aside its "primitive Easternness", and did …
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Bright Week
The Bright Seven Days The first week of Easter is like an extended single day of feasting. Joyful and bright. …
How Iconographers Draw the Soul
In my second novel (tentatively titled The Garden in the Heart of the World), one of the characters is given a …
Seven Ways Russians Used to Celebrate the Coming of Spring
As I’ve begun to delve deeply into my second novel, I’m considering using the time of the year as a contrast to the characters’ …
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Things you never knew about the Russian cradle
A criticism of an early version of my first novel was that it was not grounded enough, too “out there,” too interested in the …
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